Seventeen psalms on mercy, grace and favour, from short cries for mercy to verses describing what God's mercy is like.
Many psalms ask for mercy outright: have mercy on me, be merciful to me. Others describe it in a line that comes back several times, that the LORD is merciful and gracious and slow to anger. The word grace appears only twice in the World English Bible psalms. Favour and graciousness appear more often, so this page takes them in as well.
The first group are prayers asking for mercy. The second describes what God's mercy is like, the third gathers the verses on grace and favour, and the last is for when mercy feels far away. Tick the ones you want and print them.
Short, direct requests. Most give a reason in the same breath.
Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me,for my soul takes refuge in you.Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge,until disaster has passed.
Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.
Be merciful to me is said twice, then the reason: my soul takes refuge in you. The picture is shelter under wings until disaster has passed.
Have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us,for we have endured much contempt.
Have mercy upon us, O LORD, have mercy upon us: for we are exceedingly filled with contempt.
Have mercy on us is also said twice. The reason given is contempt, so this is a plea from people who have been looked down on.
Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness.Give me relief from my distress.Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
Answer, relief, mercy and a hearing are all asked for in one verse. It is the opening line of the psalm, spoken from distress.
Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress.My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.
Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.
The request for mercy comes with a list of what grief has done: eye, soul and body wasting away. The psalm does not hide how bad it is.
Descriptions rather than requests. Several of these repeat almost the same words.
But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God,slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
Merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth. Almost the same line appears in Psalm 103:8 and Psalm 145:8.
Like a father has compassion on his children,so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Mercy is pictured as a father's compassion for his children. The KJV says pitieth, which puts the feeling plainly.
The LORD is good to all.His tender mercies are over all his works.
The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.
His tender mercies are over all his works. The verse widens mercy from people to everything God has made.
The LORD is gracious and righteous.Yes, our God is merciful.
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.
Gracious, righteous and merciful in one short line. It sits in a psalm about being delivered from death, so it is said from experience.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,for his loving kindness endures forever.
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
The refrain of the whole psalm, and it closes every one of its 26 verses. The KJV renders it his mercy endureth for ever.
Surely goodness and loving kindness shall follow me all the days of my life,and I will dwell in the LORD’s house forever.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
Goodness and loving kindness follow the writer all the days of his life. In the KJV the pair is goodness and mercy.
Grace as a word is rare in the psalms, so this group also takes in the verses on favour.
For the LORD God is a sun and a shield.The LORD will give grace and glory.He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
One of only two places the World English Bible psalms use the word grace. The LORD gives grace and glory and withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
For you will bless the righteous.LORD, you will surround him with favor as with a shield.
For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
Favour is pictured as a shield that surrounds the righteous. The protection is described as all around, not only in front.
Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us.Establish the work of our hands for us.Yes, establish the work of our hands.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
A request for the favor of the Lord to rest on us and for the work of our hands to be established. It ends a psalm about how quickly the years pass.
May God be merciful to us, bless us,and cause his face to shine on us. Selah.
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
Be merciful to us, bless us, make your face shine on us. The next verse gives the purpose: that God's way may be known on earth.
For his anger is but for a moment.His favor is for a lifetime.Weeping may stay for the night,but joy comes in the morning.
For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Anger for a moment, favor for a lifetime. The verse sets the two side by side and says which one lasts.
Psalms that ask where mercy has gone. They are honest about the gap.
Has God forgotten to be gracious?Has he, in anger, withheld his compassion?” Selah.
Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
Has God forgotten to be gracious? The psalmist asks it aloud, and two verses later chooses to remember God's past deeds rather than answer it directly.
Don’t withhold your tender mercies from me, LORD.Let your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me.
Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.
Don't withhold your tender mercies from me. It is asked in a psalm that began by thanking God for lifting the writer out of a pit, so he knows what he is asking for.
No psalm is titled that in its own heading. Psalm 51 opens with have mercy on me, God, and asks for mercy because of sin, so it is covered on the forgiveness page. Psalm 136 repeats his loving kindness endures forever in every one of its 26 verses, and the KJV renders that line his mercy endureth for ever.
The psalms that put the two together are short requests. Psalm 67:1 asks God to be merciful, to bless and to make his face shine. Psalm 106:4 asks, remember me, LORD, with the favor that you show to your people. Psalm 119:58 says, I sought your favor with my whole heart, be merciful to me according to your word. None of them treats favour as a reward for saying the right words.
The psalms describe it by what it does: God is slow to anger, has compassion like a father, and does not deal with people according to their sins. Psalm 103:8 to 13 is the fullest description.
Psalm 103:8, Psalm 86:15 and Psalm 145:8 all say it in nearly the same words. Psalm 111:4 and Psalm 116:5 say it more briefly.
The word grace appears twice in the World English Bible psalms, in Psalm 84:11 and Psalm 45:2. Psalm 84:11 says the LORD will give grace and glory.
Psalm 123 is four verses long, and verse 3 says have mercy on us, LORD, have mercy on us. Psalm 57:1 says be merciful to me twice in one line.
Often, yes. Psalm 23:6 reads goodness and loving kindness in the World English Bible and goodness and mercy in the King James Version.
Psalms about God's LovePsalms for Forgiveness and RepentancePsalms About God's FaithfulnessPsalms for HelpPsalms for Blessing and FavorPsalms for Comfort and Strength