Bible Strands
Psalms 25:17
The troubles of my heart increase; free me from my distress.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to God in a moment of acute loneliness and affliction, immediately following a request for divine attention and preceding a plea for sin removal.
The words — The Hebrew verb הִרְחִיבוּ (hir.Chi.vu) literally means "they have made wide," describing how troubles physically expand the psalmist's heart. The imperative הוֹצִיאֵֽ/נִי (ho.tzi.'E./ni) commands God to "deliver me" from these distresses.
The thread — This pattern of crying out in trouble and receiving rescue appears in Psalms 107:6 and Psalms 34:19, while 2 Corinthians 4:8 later describes enduring comparable pressure without being crushed.
Why it lands — The text demands a direct petition for God to intervene in expanding personal affliction rather than relying on human coping mechanisms.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The troubles of my heart are enlarged: O bring thou me out of my distresses.
Cross-references
- Psalms 107:6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.
- Psalms 34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.
- 2 Corinthians 4:8 We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;
- Psalms 38:1 A Psalm of David, for remembrance. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
- Psalms 42:7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.
- Psalms 77:2 In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted.
- Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,
- 1 Corinthians 4:11 To this very hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.