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Psalm 69:29
But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.
27Charge them with crime upon crime. Don’t let them come into your righteousness.
28Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
29But I am in pain and distress. Let your salvation, God, protect me.
30I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31It will please the LORD better than an ox, or a bull that has horns and hoofs.
Notice
The turn from judgment against enemies to “pain and distress” exposes the speaker's own vulnerability, as the prayer becomes a plea for God's protection.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What, if anything, would you name as “pain and distress” in a prayer today?
Write on thisWhat kind of protection are you hoping for when you read this plea for God's salvation?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
11 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 70:5But I am poor and needy. Come to me quickly, God. You are my help and my deliverer. LORD, don’t delay.Both prayers name the speaker's need and appeal to God for help, with Psalm 70 adding an urgent request against delay.
Psalm 91:14–16“Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.Psalm 69 asks for God's saving protection; Psalm 91 speaks of God's deliverance for the person who loves him.
Psalm 40:17But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.Both speakers acknowledge their need before God and seek his help as the source of deliverance.
Proverbs 29:25The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in the LORD is kept safe.God's protection is the shared thread: the psalm asks for it, and Proverbs connects safety with trust in the LORD.
Isaiah 53:3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t …Pain and distress in the psalm share the language of suffering with Isaiah's description of a despised and rejected man.
Psalm 109:22for I am poor and needy. My heart is wounded within me.Both speakers state their suffering without concealment, naming pain and distress in Psalm 69 and a wounded heart in Psalm 109.
2 Corinthians 8:9For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.The connection is limited: the psalm names pain and distress, while Paul describes Christ becoming poor for others.
Philippians 2:9–11Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name,God is the one appealed to for protection in the psalm and the one who exalts in Philippians.
Isaiah 53:2–3For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we …The link is slight: Psalm 69 names distress, while Isaiah describes a figure without good looks or majesty.
Ephesians 1:21–22far above all rule, authority, power, dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.The connection is indirect: the psalm asks for protection; Ephesians describes a position above every rule and power.
Matthew 8:20Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”The psalm's pain and the Son of Man's lack of a resting place both describe hardship.
Where this verse fits
Chronic pain. anxiety or panic. injustice and anger.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Pain and distress do not have to be hidden when you pray. The plea here rests on God's salvation, even while the speaker remains in need of protection.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 69:29. 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).