Psalm 13
Purpose: To ask God to see the psalmist's suffering and rescue him.
Content: YHWH, give light to my eyes! Lest I sleep in death, lest my enemy says: "I'm the victor!"
Message: Suffering does not change the psalmist's covenant relationship with God, so he can still call on God with confidence.
Author: David
Videos
Overview Video
Poetic Features Video
Exegetical Issues Video
Overview
Translation
Click 'Expand' to the right to see our Close-but-Clear translation of Psalm 13.
- 1. For the director. A psalm by David.
- 2. How long, YHWH? Will you ignore me forever?
- How long will you hide your face from me?
- 3. How long will I make futile plans?
- [How long] will sorrow be daily in my heart?
- How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
- 4. Consider! Answer me, YHWH my God!
- Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
- 5. lest my enemy say, ‘I have overpowered him!’
- [lest] my adversaries rejoice because I am shaken.
- 6. But I have put my trust in your loyalty.
- Let my heart rejoice because of your salvation!
- I will sing to YHWH, because he has repaid me!
The Close-but-clear translation (CBC) exists to provide a window into the Hebrew text according to how we understand its syntax and word-to-phrase-level semantics. It is designed to be "close" to the Hebrew, while still being "clear." Specifically, the CBC encapsulates and reflects the following layers of analysis: grammar, lexical semantics, phrase-level semantics, and verbal semantics. It does not reflect our analysis of the discourse or of poetics. It is not intended to be used as a stand-alone translation or base text, but as a supplement to Layer-by-Layer materials to help users make full use of these resources.
For links to other translations of Psalm 13, click here.
Verse-by-Verse
Click the link to view all of Psalm 13 Verse-by-Verse, or click on an individual verse below.
Layer-by-Layer
Exegetical Issues
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