Bible Strands
Psalms 9:13
Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Yahweh directly, pleading for intervention while actively experiencing persecution. This request follows a declaration that God remembers bloodshed and does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
The words — The imperative חָנֵּנִי (chaneni) literally commands God to "show favor to me," while מְרוֹמְמִי (merommi) identifies Yahweh as the one who "raises me up." These terms frame the plea as a demand for divine action rather than passive hope.
The thread — The motif of deliverance from death appears in Psalms 30:3, 13:3, and 86:13, where similar appeals for rescue from Sheol precede vows of praise. This pattern links physical survival to public testimony within Zion.
Why it lands — The verse demands that the reader acknowledge human vulnerability as the necessary condition for divine intervention. It requires a posture of direct petition, framing survival as the prerequisite for declaring God’s praises.
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
Have mercy upon me, O Lord; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
Cross-references
- Psalms 30:3 O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.
- Psalms 13:3 Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,
- Psalms 86:13 For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol.
- Isaiah 38:10 I said, “In the prime of my life I must go through the gates of Sheol and be deprived of the remainder of my years.”
- Nehemiah 9:32 So now, our God, the great and mighty and awesome God who keeps His gracious covenant, do not view lightly all the hardship that has come upon us, and upon our kings and leaders, our priests and prophets, our ancestors and all Your people, from the days of the kings of Assyria until today.
- Psalms 25:19 Consider my enemies, for they are many, and they hate me with vicious hatred.
- Psalms 38:19 Many are my enemies without cause, and many hate me without reason.
- Psalms 51:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him after his adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your loving devotion; according to Your great compassion, blot out my transgressions.
- Psalms 56:13 For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
- Psalms 107:18 They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.