Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
Parallel Translations
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Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need. Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
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Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
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(142-7) Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low; deliver me from my persecutors; for they are too strong for me.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to Psalms 142:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 79:8 Don’t hold the iniquities of our forefathers against us. Let your tender mercies speedily meet us, for we are in desperate need.
- Psalms 116:6 Yahweh preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he saved me.
- Psalms 136:23 who remembered us in our low estate; for his loving kindness endures forever;
- Psalms 17:1 Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea; Give ear to my prayer, that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.
- 1 Samuel 24:14 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea?
- Psalms 3:1 Yahweh, how my adversaries have increased! Many are those who rise up against me.
- Psalms 18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.
- Psalms 38:19 But my enemies are vigorous and many. Those who hate me without reason are numerous.
- Psalms 57:3-4 He will send from heaven, and save me, he rebukes the one who is pursuing me. God will send out his loving kindness and his truth. My soul is among lions. I lie among those who are set on fire, even the sons of men, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.
- Psalms 59:3 For, behold, they lie in wait for my soul. The mighty gather themselves together against me, not for my disobedience, nor for my sin, Yahweh.
- Psalms 143:7 Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- Romans 8:33 Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.
- Romans 8:37 No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
- Psalms 44:24-26 Why do you hide your face, and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust. Our body clings to the earth. Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness’ sake.
- Psalms 143:3 For the enemy pursues my soul. He has struck my life down to the ground. He has made me live in dark places, as those who have been long dead.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 142:6 Attend unto my cry; for I am…
Psa 142:6 Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
Ver. 6. For I am brought very low] Exhausted and drawn dry; utterly wasted, and disabled to help myself any way, Depauperatus sum (Vat.).
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Attend unto my cry,.... His prayer and supplication for…
Attend unto my cry,.... His prayer and supplication for help in his distress, which he desires might be hearkened unto and answered;
for I am brought very low; in his spirit, in the exercise of grace, being in great affliction, and reduced to the utmost extremity, weakened, impoverished, and exhausted; wanting both men and money to assist him, Psa 79:8;
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deliver me from my persecutors; Saul and his men, who were in pursuit of him with great warmth and eagerness;
for they are stronger than I; more in number, and greater in strength; Saul had with him three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, ablebodied men, and expert in war; veteran troops, and in high spirits, with their king at the head of them; David had about six hundred men, and these poor mean creatures, such as were in distress, in debt, and discontented, and in want of provisions, and dispirited; see Sa1 22:2. So the spiritual enemies of the Lord's people are stronger than they, Jer 31:11.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. I am brought very low] Never was…
Verse 6. I am brought very low] Never was I so near total ruin before.
Deliver me from my persecutors] They are now in full possession of the only means of my escape.
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They are stronger than I.] What am I and my men against this well-appointed armed multitude, with their king at their head.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 142:6-7. Attend unto my cry, &c. — O…
Psa 142:6-7. Attend unto my cry, &c. — O let my importunate cry prevail for some relief; which will come most seasonably in this exceeding great necessity; for I am brought very low — And if thou do not help me I shall quite sink. Deliver me from my persecutors — Either tie their hands, or turn their hearts; break their power, or blast their projects; restrain them, or rescue me. For they are stronger than I — And it will be to thine honour to take part with the weakest. Deliver me from them, or I shall be ruined by them; for I am not yet myself a match for them. Bring my soul out of prison — Not only bring me safe out of this cave, but bring me out of all my perplexities, and set me at perfect liberty; that I may praise thy name — Not that I may enjoy myself and my friends, and live at ease; no, nor that I may defend my country: but that I may praise, glorify, and serve thee; the end this, which we ought to have in view in all our prayers for deliverance out of trouble, or for any other blessing. The righteous shall compass me about — Shall flock to me from all parts, partly to see such a miracle of the divine power and mercy; and partly to rejoice and bless God with me and for me, and for all the benefits which they expect from my government. Observe reader, “this prayer of David was heard and answered; he was delivered from his persecutors, enlarged from his distress, exalted to the throne, and joined by all the tribes of Israel.” And let not us fear, though we be brought very low, and our persecutors, the world, the flesh, and the devil, be too strong for us; but God will deliver us, if we cry earnestly to him, from the bondage of sin and all our enemies, and redeem us from the prison of the grave, that we may join the great assembly before the throne, and there praise him for ever. — Horne.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Attend unto my cry - Give ear to me…
Attend unto my cry - Give ear to me when I cry to thee. Do not turn away and refuse to hear me.
For I am brought very low - I am reduced greatly; I am made very poor. The language would be applicable to one who had been in better circumstances, and who had been brought down to a condition of danger, of poverty, of want. It is language which is commonly applied to poverty.
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Deliver me from my persecutors - Saul and his followers.
For they are stronger than I - More in number; better armed; better suited for battle.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 6. A mosaic of phrases which occur elsewhere. Cp.…
6. A mosaic of phrases which occur elsewhere. Cp. Psa_17:1; Psa_79:8; Psa_7:1; Psa_31:15; Psa_18:17.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very…
Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low. (comp. Psa_79:8; and see also Deu_28:43 Jud_1:6:6 Psa_116:6) In the cave of Adullam David had but four hundred outlaws to defend him against Saul, who was at the head of all the thousands of Israel. (1Sa_22:2) Deliver me from my persecutors. Saul, Doeg, the Ziphites, and the armed bands with whom Saul "hunted David in the mountains". (1Sa_26:20) For they are stronger than I; or, "too strong for me."
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 6. Attend unto my cry. Men of God…
Ver. 6. Attend unto my cry. Men of God look upon prayer as a reality, and they are not content without having an audience with God; moreover, they have such confidence in the Lord's condescending grace, that they hope he will even attend to that poor broken prayer which can only be described as a cry.
For I am brought very low, and therefore all the prayer I can raise is a mournful cry. This is his argument with God: he is reduced to such a sad condition that if he be not rescued he will be ruined. Gracious men may not only be low, but very low; and this should not be a reason for their doubting the efficacy of their prayers, but rather a plea with the Lord why they should have special attention.
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Deliver me from my persecutors. If he did not get out of their hands, they would soon kill him out of hand, and as he could not himself effect an escape, he cried to God, "deliver me."
For they are stronger than I. As he before found a plea in his sadness, so now in his feebleness: Saul and his courtiers were in power, and could command the aid of all who sought royal favour; but poor David was in the cave, and every Nabal girded at him. Saul was a monarch, and David a fugitive; Saul had all the forms of law on his side, while David was an outlaw: so that the prayer before us comes from the weak, who proverbially go to the wall, a good place to go to if they turn their faces to it in prayer, as Hezekiah did in his sickness. The Lord is wont to take the side of the oppressed, and to show his power by baffling tyrants; David's supplication was therefore sure to speed. In these sentences we see how explicitly the man of God described his case in his private communings with his Lord: in real earnest he poured out his complaint before him and showed before him his trouble.
Ver. 6. Attend unto my cry.
Can I see another's woe,
And not be ill sorrow too?
Can I see another's grief,
And not seek for kind relief?
Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrow's share?
Can a father see his child
Weep, nor be with sorrow filled?
Can a mother sit and hear
An infant groan, an infant fear?
No, no; never can it be!
Never, never can it be!
And can he, who smiles on all,
Hear the wren, with sorrows small
Hear the small bird's grief and care,
Hear the woes that infants bear,
And not sit beside the nest,
Pouring pity in its breast?
And not sit the cradle near,
Weeping tear on infant's tear?
And not sit both night and day
Wiping all our tears away?
Oh, no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!
He doth give his joy to all;
He becomes an infant small;
He becomes a man of woe;
He doth feel the sorrow too.
Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,
And thy Maker is not by;
Think not thou canst weep a tear,
And thy Maker is not near.
Oh! he gives to us his joy,
That our grief he may destroy:
Till our grief is fled and gone,
He doth sit by us and moan.
William Blake (1757-1828), in "Songs of Innocence", 1789.
Ver. 6. I am brought very low, etc. However true this may have been of David lurking in a cave, while his enemy, Saul, was at the head of a powerful army, it is more literally true of Christ, who could truly say, "I am brought very low", because "he himself became obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross." He was also "brought very low", when he, that had the right of sitting on the cherubim, hung between two robbers. Truly also were his enemies "stronger than he" when "their hour came", and "power was given to darkness", so as to appear, for awhile, to eclipse the sun of justice itself. Robert Bellarmine.
Ver. 6. For they are stronger than I. But they are not stronger than Thou. Thou canst make us "stronger than our enemies": Ps 105:24. He who is stronger than the strong man armed (Lu 11:22), Israel's oppressor, and whose very "weakness is stronger than men" (1Co 1:25), shall "ransom" her "from him that was stronger than" she: Jer 31:11 Ps 18:17. Andrew Robert Fausset.
Ver. 6. Two petitions and two arguments.
Ver. 6-7.
1. The language of Despondency. "I am brought very low." "My enemies are stronger than I." "My soul is in prison."
2. Of Prayer. "Attend unto me." "Deliver me." "Bring me out of prison."
3. Of Praise.
a) For the congratulation of others.
b) For his own deliverance and prosperity.
G.R.
Ver. 6. Low and Lowly. Here is David,
1. In a low place; the depths of a cave.
2. In a low way: "very low"; "stronger than I."
3. But see, "with the lowly is wisdom" (Pr 11:2); he prays.
4. The Lord "hath respect to the lowly", Ps 138:6. He will not pray in vain.
W.B.H.
Psalms 142:7*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Listen to my call
Listen to my call
This is a call for help. See how you translated this in Psalms 5:1. AT: "Listen to me as I call to you now for help" (See: Metonymy)
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I have been brought very low
Possible meanings are 1) "I am very needy" and 2) "I am very weak." See how "we are very low" is translated in Psalms 78:8.
Bring my soul out of prison
This is a request. The "soul" represents the whole person. AT: "bring me out of prison" (See: Synecdoche)
give thanks to your name
The word "name" is a metonym for the person. See how you translated this in Psalms 5:11. AT: "give thanks to you" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
persecute
soul
prison
name
righteous
good
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 142:6-7 Though overwhelmed by loneliness and trouble, the psalmist…
142:6-7 Though overwhelmed by loneliness and trouble, the psalmist focuses on the Lord’s goodness and protection. He knows that the Lord alone is his Redeemer, so he offers his praise.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.