I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
- KJV That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
- NKJV that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart.
- NASB that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.
- NLT My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief
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
Paul confesses that he carries great sorrow and unceasing anguish in his heart. His grief is over his fellow Israelites who have not embraced the Messiah.
Overview
Having sworn his sincerity in v. 1, Paul now states its cause: a deep, continual heartache. Though he does not yet name the reason explicitly, the following verses make clear it is Israel's unbelief in Christ. This sorrow shows that the doctrine of God's sovereign election (the chapter's theme) does not produce coldness but rather intensifies compassion for the lost.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Phil 3:18For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ.
- Jer 13:17But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
- Lam 3:51My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
- Ps 119:136My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.
- Rom 10:1Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is for their salvation.
- Luke 19:41–44As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it
- Jer 9:1Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
- Ezek 9:4“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”
- Lam 3:48–49Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- 1 Sam 15:35And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
- Rev 11:3And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
- Isa 66:10Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,
- Lam 1:12Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 9:2 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 Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.