O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need.
- BSB Do not hold past sins against us; let Your compassion come quickly, for we are brought low.
- NKJV Oh, do not remember former iniquities against us! Let Your tender mercies come speedily to meet us, For we have been brought very low.
- NASB ¶Do not hold us responsible for the guilty deeds of our forefathers; Let Your compassion come quickly to meet us, For we have become very low.
- NLT Do not hold us guilty for the sins of our ancestors! Let your compassion quickly meet our needs, for we are on the brink of despair.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The psalmist pleads that God not hold past sins against them but show mercy quickly. They confess deep need and dependence on grace.
Overview
Asaph asks God not to remember 'the iniquities of our forefathers' and to let 'tender mercies speedily meet us.' The prayer humbly acknowledges sin while casting the people wholly on God's compassion. This appeal to mercy rather than merit anticipates the gospel, where God forgives freely through Christ and remembers our sins no more.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Isa 64:9Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.
- Ps 142:6Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
- Ps 116:6The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
- Ps 21:3For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head.
- Rev 18:5For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
- Hos 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore he will remember their iniquity, he will visit their sins.
- Matt 23:32–36Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
- Exod 32:34Therefore now go, lead the people unto the place of which I have spoken unto thee: behold, mine Angel shall go before thee: nevertheless in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them.
- Ps 69:16–17Hear me, O LORD; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.
- Ezek 2:3And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day.
- Ps 130:3If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
- Dan 9:16O LORD, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
- 1 Kgs 17:18And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
- Ps 25:7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
- Gen 15:16But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
- Ps 106:43Many times did he deliver them; but they provoked him with their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity.
- Hos 8:13They sacrifice flesh for the sacrifices of mine offerings, and eat it; but the LORD accepteth them not; now will he remember their iniquity, and visit their sins: they shall return to Egypt.
- Deut 28:43The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 79:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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