--- title: "Psalm 13:1-2 | Bible Nudge" description: "Read Psalm 13:1-2 in the World English Bible and King James Version, with what surrounds the passage and a question to sit with." url: "https://biblenudge.com/context/psalm-13-1-2" lang: "en" image: "https://biblenudge.com/og/default.jpg" alternates: es: "https://biblenudge.com/es/contexto/salmo-13-1-2.md" --- [Your nudge](https://biblenudge.com/nudge) Read the passage # Psalm 13:1-2 World English Bible How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall my enemy triumph over me? In the King James Version How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me? King James Version (Public Domain) ## What surrounds this passage Psalm 13 is a short prayer of complaint. It opens with repeated questions about delay and about God seeming hidden, and turns toward trust only later. The verses on either side Psalm 13:1-5, World English Bible 1. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? 2. How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall my enemy triumph over me? 3. Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death; 4. Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall. 5. But I trust in your loving kindness. My heart rejoices in your salvation. A question to sit with What have you been waiting for longer than you expected? Why this one, and not these 3 passages were considered for this and turned down, each for a reason written at the time. Psalm 27:14 It instructs the reader to wait. Given to somebody who is already waiting, and has been for a long time, it is an instruction they are already obeying. Habakkuk 2:3 "It will not delay" is a promise about timing. Nobody can make that promise on God’s behalf to a particular reader about a particular thing. Isaiah 40:31 It promises renewed strength to those who wait, which answers a different question from the one being asked. Written about this passage - [Bible Verses for a Prodigal Child: Luke 15 From the Father's Side, for the Parent Still Waiting](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-a-prodigal-child) Praying for a grown son or daughter? Psalm 13 for the same prayer year after year, Luke 15 read from the father's side, and parents in Scripture who asked. - [Bible Verses for Chronic Pain: Sorrow Every Day, Psalms of the Body, and People in Scripture Who Stayed Hurt](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-chronic-pain) Pain every day, or a flare tonight? Psalm 13, psalms that name the body, Job's nights, and prayers short enough for a flare. - [How to Get Closer to God When You Feel Distant: Bible Verses and Ways to Pray](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-feeling-far-from-god) What to do when God feels far away: Psalm 13 to pray as it stands, practices from several traditions, and help if everything is flat. - [Bible Verses for Infertility: How Long, and a Prayer Poured Out at Shiloh](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-infertility) Psalm 13 for the long wait, Hannah's prayer at Shiloh read closely, the other women in these stories, and what churches actually teach about infertility. - [Bible Verses for Patience: For When You Are on Your Last Nerve](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-patience) Out of patience with a wait or with somebody? Psalm 13's four “how long”s, James 5's farmer, Paul on bearing with one another, and where those verses stop. - [Bible Verses for Waiting for a Spouse: How Long, and Whether to Pray for One](https://biblenudge.com/blog/bible-verses-for-waiting-for-a-spouse) Wanting to be married and not yet? Psalm 13 to pray as it is, whether to pray for a spouse, and Psalm 37:4 in its setting. - [Grief that comes back months later](https://biblenudge.com/blog/grief-that-comes-back-months-later) Why grief returns in the later months, what Cruse and Marie Curie say about the second year, and a psalm that asks the same question four times over. - [How Do I Know God Is Speaking to Me? What People Mean, How Traditions Test a Sense or a Thought, and Psalm 13 for the Quiet](https://biblenudge.com/blog/how-do-i-know-god-is-speaking-to-me) A thought that felt too clear, a verse that keeps returning, or only quiet? Psalm 13 for the quiet, and how several traditions test a sense. - [Is Sally a Biblical Name? Sarah Behind It, Her Long Wait, and Psalm 13 for the Question How Long](https://biblenudge.com/blog/is-sally-a-biblical-name) Sally comes from Sarah. Where the name comes from, how to say it, Sarah and Hagar in their own right, and Psalm 13 for the question how long. - [Prayer for Families of the Missing After a Flood or Storm: Where to Ask, What Helps, and Psalm 13 for the Wait](https://biblenudge.com/blog/prayer-for-families-of-the-missing-after-a-disaster) Somebody you love has not been found after the Nepal floods, Typhoon Dujuan or the Java Sea ferry. Where to ask tonight, what helps, and Psalm 13 for the wait. - [Still Rebuilding Two Years After Hurricane Helene: Where Recovery Stands, Help That Is Still Open, and Psalm 13 for the Long Wait](https://biblenudge.com/blog/still-rebuilding-after-a-hurricane) Two years after Hurricane Helene: dated recovery figures, help still open, and Psalm 13. - [Waiting on God when nothing is happening](https://biblenudge.com/blog/waiting-on-god-when-nothing-is-happening) When a wait has no news and no date, and every day looks like the last: Psalm 13 on turning it over alone, every day, and on God seeming to hide. - [Waiting on God's timing when the wait has gone on for years](https://biblenudge.com/blog/waiting-on-gods-timing) A psalm that asks how long four times and does not answer it, for people waiting on a pregnancy, a job or a visa, and the sayings that make it worse. - [When the answer to a prayer is no, or nothing](https://biblenudge.com/blog/when-the-answer-to-a-prayer-is-no-or-nothing) You asked for something specific and it did not happen, or nothing came back at all. Psalm 13 is a prayer still waiting for its answer, in the Bible. - [Who in the Bible Had Unanswered Prayers: Hannah, Daniel, Abraham, Elijah, the Syrophoenician Woman and Others, Person by Person](https://biblenudge.com/blog/who-in-the-bible-had-unanswered-prayers) People in the Bible who asked for years, or were refused: what each asked and what the text records next. [Return to nudge](https://biblenudge.com/nudge)