My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me.

  • KJV King James Version

    My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.

  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    (55-5) My heart doth writhe within me; and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.

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Cross-references (12)

Passages linked to Psalms 55:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Psalms 116:3 The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
  • Mark 14:33-34 He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed. He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch.”
  • 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life. Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us out of so great a death, and does deliver; on whom we have set our hope that he will also still deliver us;
  • Psalms 18:4-5 The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.
  • Hebrews 5:7 He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
  • Psalms 6:3 My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Yahweh—how long?
  • Psalms 69:20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found none.
  • Psalms 88:3 For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
  • Psalms 102:3-5 For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch. My heart is blighted like grass, and withered, for I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin.
  • Isaiah 38:10-13 I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.” I said, “I won’t see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world. My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver. He will cut me off from the loom. From day even to night you will make an end of me. I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me.
  • Matthew 26:37-38 He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch with me.”
  • John 12:27 “Now my soul is troubled. What shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this time?’ But I came to this time for this cause.

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (17 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 4. My heart trembles within me Here we have…

4. My heart trembles within me Here we have additional evidence of the extremity of David’s sufferings. He that uses these words was no soft or effeminate person, but one who had given indubitable proofs of constancy. Nor is it merely of the atrocious injuries inflicted upon him by his enemies that he complains. He exclaims that he is overwhelmed with terrors, and thus acknowledges that his heart was not insensible to his afflictions. We may learn from the passage, therefore, not only that the sufferings which David endured at this time were heavy, but that the fortitude of the greatest servants of God fails them in the hour of severe trial. We are all good soldiers so long as things go well with us, but when brought to close combat, our weakness is soon apparent. Satan avails himself of the advantage, suggests that God has withdrawn the supports of his Spirit, and instigates us to despair. Of this we have an example in David, who is here represented as struggling with inward fears, as well as a complication of outward calamities, and sustaining a sore conflict of spirit in his application to the throne of God. The expression, terrors of death, shows that he was on the very eve of sinking unless Divine grace interposed.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 55:4 My heart is sore pained within me:…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain My heart is sore pained within me; with pains…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain My heart is sore pained within me,.... At the…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The terrors - Deadly terrors; such as seize upon…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. The terrors of death are fallen upon…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 55:4. My heart is sore pained within me…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain My heart is sore pained within me - Heavy…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain express great alarm.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Sore pained—Literally, writhes.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. terrors of death] Such terrors as the presence…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) Is sore pained.—Better, writhes with pain.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain My heart is sore pained within me. The attacks…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 4. My heart is sore pained within me.…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain The terrors of death are fallen upon me.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 My heart trembles within me
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 55:4-8 In the experience of deep anguish, the psalmist…

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