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Psalm 130:3
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
1A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to you, LORD.
2Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
3If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?
4But there is forgiveness with you, therefore you are feared.
5I wait for the LORD. My soul waits. I hope in his word.
Notice
A record of sins makes the question of standing before God personal, while the word “who” leaves no one outside its reach.
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 103:10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.Psalm 130 asks about God keeping a record of sins; Psalm 103 declares that God has withheld the repayment those sins deserve.
Psalm 143:2Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.Both prayers acknowledge that no one could stand before God on the strength of personal righteousness.
Psalm 76:7You, even you, are to be feared. Who can stand in your sight when you are angry?Both ask who can stand before God, with Psalm 130 naming sins and Psalm 76 naming his anger.
Romans 3:20–24Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.Both exclude confidence in human righteousness before God; Romans names the law as exposing sin without justifying anyone through its works.
Ecclesiastes 7:20Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and doesn’t sin.The question in Psalm 130 reaches everyone, matching Ecclesiastes’ statement that no righteous person on earth lives without sin.
Job 25:4How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?Both use a question to challenge the possibility of a human being standing before God free from guilt.
John 8:7–9But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”Psalm 130 questions who could stand with sins recorded; Jesus makes sinlessness the condition for throwing the first stone.
Ezra 9:15LORD, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one …Both connect guilt with being unable to stand before God, while Ezra confesses the guilt of a surviving remnant.
Job 10:14if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.Both speak of God marking sin, though Psalm 130 frames it as a condition and Job voices it as his complaint.
Revelation 6:17for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”Both ask who is able to stand, with Psalm 130 naming recorded sins and Revelation naming the day of wrath.
Nahum 1:6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.Both question who can stand before God; Nahum describes the fierceness of his anger, while Psalm 130 names sins.
Malachi 3:2“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap;Both ask who can stand before the Lord, though Malachi focuses on his coming and compares him to a refiner’s fire.
Where this verse fits
Guilt and confession. sermon or Bible study notes.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The question leaves no one with a clean record to offer God. Yet the prayer continues, and the next line names forgiveness with the Lord.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 130:3. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).