¶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.
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.
- KJV O remember not against us former iniquities: let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us: for we are brought very low.
- 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.
- 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 64:9Don’t be furious, Yahweh, and don’t remember iniquity forever. Look and see, we beg you, we are all your people.
- Ps 142:6Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. deliver me from my persecutors, For they are stronger than me.
- Ps 116:6Yahweh preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he saved me.
- Ps 21:3For you meet him with the blessings of goodness. You set a crown of fine gold on his head.
- Rev 18:5for her sins have reached to the sky, and God has remembered her iniquities.
- Hos 9:9They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.
- Matt 23:32–36Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
- Exod 32:34Now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
- Ps 69:16–17Answer me, Yahweh, for your loving kindness is good. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, turn to me.
- Ezek 2:3He said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the children of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even to this very day.
- Ps 130:3If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
- Dan 9:16Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.
- 1 Kgs 17:18She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”
- Ps 25:7Don’t remember the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions. Remember me according to your loving kindness, for your goodness’ sake, Yahweh.
- Gen 15:16In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”
- Ps 106:43He rescued them many times, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity.
- Hos 8:13As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it; But Yahweh doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.
- Deut 28:43The foreigner who is among you will mount up above you higher and higher, and you will come down lower and lower.
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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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.