Eighteen verses on being made, known, remembered and delighted in, with the full text and a printable sheet.
The psalms never use the phrase self worth. What they do instead is describe how God sees a person. Psalm 139 says he formed the writer in the womb and knows him completely. Psalm 56 says he keeps the writer's tears in his container. Psalm 18 says he rescued the writer because he delighted in him. The same psalms are frank that people are dust and breath, so the worth they describe is given rather than earned.
The verses are grouped by what they say: that you were made, that you are known and remembered, that God takes delight in his people, and what the psalms say to someone who feels worthless or ashamed. Tick the ones that help and print them together. This page is scripture, not counselling.
Verses that speak of God as the maker of a person, not only of the world.
For you formed my inmost being.You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
You formed my inmost being and knit me together in the womb. The making is described as close, careful handwork.
Your hands have made me and formed me.Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.
Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.
Your hands have made me and formed me. The writer moves straight from being made to asking to be taught.
Know that the LORD, he is God.It is he who has made us, and we are his.We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
It is he who has made us, and we are his. Belonging follows directly from being made.
The LORD will fulfill that which concerns me.Your loving kindness, LORD, endures forever.Don’t forsake the works of your own hands.
The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
The psalm ends by asking God not to forsake the works of his own hands. The writer counts himself among those works.
For the feeling of being overlooked. These verses say God sees and keeps track.
LORD, you have searched me,and you know me.
O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
You have searched me and you know me. The rest of the psalm follows from this first line.
You count my wanderings.You put my tears into your container.Aren’t they in your book?
Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
Wanderings are counted and tears are kept in a container. The heading places the psalm when the Philistines seized David in Gath.
But I am poor and needy.May the Lord think about me.You are my help and my deliverer.Don’t delay, my God.
But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
I am poor and needy. The writer asks, may the Lord think about me, and does not pretend to be more than he is.
For he knows how we are made.He remembers that we are dust.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
He knows how we are made and remembers that we are dust. Weakness is named here as a reason for compassion.
who remembered us in our low estate,for his loving kindness endures forever;
Who remembered us in our low estate: for his mercy endureth for ever:
He remembered us in our low estate. The refrain, his loving kindness endures forever, follows it.
For the question behind many searches: does God love me. These verses speak of delight, pleasure and care.
He brought me out also into a large place.He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
He delivered me because he delighted in me. The heading ties the psalm to the day David was delivered from Saul.
The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,in those who hope in his loving kindness.
The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him and hope in his loving kindness. In the verse before, he takes no pleasure in a horse's strength or a man's legs.
Keep me as the apple of your eye.Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings. The writer asks to be guarded as something precious.
For you have made him a little lower than the angels,and crowned him with glory and honor.
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
People are made a little lower than the angels and crowned with glory and honor. The verse is about humanity, not one favoured person.
who redeems your life from destruction,who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies,
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
He crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies. The crown here is kindness, not achievement.
For low days. These verses speak of a head lifted, a face without shame, and someone who stays when others leave.
But you, LORD, are a shield around me,my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
The one who lifts up my head. The heading places this psalm when David fled from his son Absalom.
They looked to him, and were radiant.Their faces shall never be covered with shame.
They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
Those who looked to him were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.
The LORD upholds all who fall,and raises up all those who are bowed down.
The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.
The Lord upholds all who fall and raises all who are bowed down. The word all appears twice.
When my father and my mother forsake me,then the LORD will take me up.
When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
If father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. The verse imagines the worst rejection and answers it.
No psalm uses those exact words. The nearest are Psalm 18:19, where the writer says God delivered him because he delighted in him, and Psalm 146:8, which says the Lord loves the righteous. Psalm 103:13 compares God's compassion to a father's compassion for his children. Psalm 139 does not use the word love at all, yet it belongs here because it describes being known completely.
Psalm 139 speaks to it most fully. It describes being formed in the womb, known completely, and never out of God's sight.
Psalm 139:14. The verse before it, Psalm 139:13, says God knit the writer together in his mother's womb.
Psalm 18:19 says he delivered me because he delighted in me. Psalm 149:4 says the Lord takes pleasure in his people, and Psalm 147:11 says he takes pleasure in those who fear him.
Psalm 145:14 says the Lord raises up all who are bowed down, and Psalm 3:3 calls him the one who lifts up my head.
Psalm 56:8 says God puts my tears into his container and asks whether they are not in his book.
Psalms about God's LovePsalms for LonelinessPsalms for DepressionPsalms about Humility and PridePsalms of EncouragementPsalms about Mercy and Grace