📖 Psalms — Chapter 13 (KJV)
Read the complete King James Version chapter below, then explore the passage sections, check what you remember, and keep your private study notes.
Scripture source: Project Gutenberg KJV, ebook 10.
Psalms 13:1 How long wilt thou Rforget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Psalms 13:2 How long shall I Rtake counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?
Psalms 13:3 RConsider and hear me, O LORD my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Psalms 13:4 RLest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him; and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
Psalms 13:5 RBut I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation.
Psalms 13:6 I will sing unto the LORD, because he hath dealt bountifully with me.
📚 Study This Chapter
📖 What We’re Reading
Psalms 13:1–2 — How long?
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
Repeated questions express the feeling of being forgotten, daily sorrow, and an enemy's advantage. The psalm allows troubled believers to speak directly to God about prolonged waiting. These questions describe the speaker's experience; they do not settle that God has actually abandoned him.
Key Truth: Prayer can honestly name the pain of waiting.
Check What You Remember
1. What repeated question begins the lament? (Psalms 13:1)
Find it in Psalms 13:1 (KJV).
2. What does God seem to hide? (Psalms 13:1)
Find it in Psalms 13:1 (KJV).
3. What fills the speaker's heart daily? (Psalms 13:2)
Find it in Psalms 13:2 (KJV).
📖 What We’re Reading
Psalms 13:3–4 — A plea for renewed life
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
The speaker asks the Lord to consider and hear him, and to lighten his eyes before death overtakes him. He fears that enemies will celebrate his downfall. The prayer turns inward anguish into a direct appeal for God's attention, preservation, and intervention.
Key Truth: Bring urgent need directly to the Lord.
Check What You Remember
1. What does the speaker ask God to lighten? (Psalms 13:3)
Find it in Psalms 13:3 (KJV).
2. What sleep does he fear? (Psalms 13:3)
Find it in Psalms 13:3 (KJV).
3. Who might claim to have prevailed? (Psalms 13:4)
Find it in Psalms 13:4 (KJV).
📖 What We’re Reading
Psalms 13:5–6 — Trust and a song
🌱 What These Verses Teach Us
The final movement declares trust in God's mercy and rejoicing in salvation. The speaker intends to sing because of God's generous dealings. The poem does not explain whether circumstances changed before this confession; it shows lament and trust belonging within the same honest prayer.
Key Truth: Trust in mercy can grow within lament.
Check What You Remember
1. In what has the speaker trusted? (Psalms 13:5)
Find it in Psalms 13:5 (KJV).
2. In what shall his heart rejoice? (Psalms 13:5)
Find it in Psalms 13:5 (KJV).
3. What will he do unto the Lord? (Psalms 13:6)
Find it in Psalms 13:6 (KJV).
Related Scripture (KJV)
Lamentations 3:22 — God's enduring mercies sustain hope in sorrow.
This related passage is selected for its connection with this chapter. It is separate from the chapter text.
Reflect and Apply
Can you bring both your 'how long' question and a memory of God's mercy into one prayer?
Advanced Questions and Answers
Study this chapter’s wording, patterns, contrasts, and meaning in greater depth.
1. How does repetition develop the opening lament?
2. What three requests turn lament into appeal?
3. What danger joins feared death to the enemy’s response?
4. What sustains the change from sorrow to expectation?
5. What reason accompanies the final resolve to sing?
Notes
Write what you want to remember, questions to explore, or Scriptures to look up later. Your saved notes are private to your account.
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