1Até quando te esquecerás de mim, Senhor? para sempre? até quando esconderás de mim o teu rosto?
2Até quando consultarei com a minha alma, tendo tristeza no meu coração cada dia? Até quando se exaltará sobre mim o meu inimigo?
3Attende-me, ouve-me, ó Senhor meu Deus; alumia os meus olhos para que eu não adormeça na morte;
4Para que o meu inimigo não diga: Prevaleci contra elle; e os meus adversarios se não alegrem, vindo eu a vacillar.
5Mas eu confio na tua benignidade: na tua salvação se alegrará o meu coração.
6Cantarei ao Senhor, porquanto me tem feito muito bem.
📖 Chapter study
Summary
In a brief and intense lament, David asks four times 'how long' God will seem to forget him, but ends the psalm trusting in God's goodness and promising to sing praises.
Explanation
This is a classic example of the 'individual lament psalm,' a genre that fills a good portion of the Psalter: it begins in deep anguish and ends in renewed trust, without the external circumstances necessarily having changed. The repetition of 'how long' expresses a real emotional pain in the face of God's silence, something universal in human experience. The final turn does not deny the suffering, but chooses to trust in spite of it — a model of honest prayer that does not pretend everything is fine, yet does not give up hope either.
Fun facts
- The pattern of lament followed by trust, found here, is the most common structure among the 150 psalms — about a third of the book follows this complaint-to-praise format.
- This psalm's short length (only 6 verses) makes it one of the most used models for personal prayer in moments of anguish, thanks to its brevity and emotional honesty.