Twelve verses from psalms that describe deep sadness from the inside, grouped by how it feels.
The psalms have no word for depression, but they describe it closely. There are tears eaten as food, a heart withered like grass, forgetting to eat, eyes dim from grief and a soul that refuses to be comforted. Some of these psalms turn toward hope by the end. At least one, Psalm 88, does not. They are here because they say the low out loud and say it to God, not because they make it disappear.
The picks are grouped by how the low feels: dragging on, felt in the body, sliding into despair, and the first signs of a way up. Tick the ones you want and print them. This page is scripture, not treatment. If low mood is affecting your life, please also speak to a doctor, and if you are thinking of harming yourself, contact emergency services now.
For the kind of low that does not lift from one day to the next.
How long shall I take counsel in my soul,having sorrow in my heart every day?How long shall my enemy triumph over 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?
Sorrow in my heart every day. The question how long is asked four times in the first two verses, which is what a long low feels like.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord.My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired.My soul refused to be comforted.
In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord: my sore ran in the night, and ceased not: my soul refused to be comforted.
The writer prayed through the night with hands stretched out, and still says my soul refused to be comforted. The turn only comes at verse 10, when he chooses to remember what God did in the past.
The psalms describe sorrow physically: tears, lost appetite, tired bones, no strength.
My heart is blighted like grass, and withered,for I forget to eat my bread.
My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.
A heart blighted like grass, and I forget to eat my bread. The heading calls this a prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed.
I am weary with my groaning.Every night I flood my bed.I drench my couch with my tears.
I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
Weary with groaning, the bed flooded with tears every night. By verse 8 the writer says the LORD has heard, but the tears come first.
For my life is spent with sorrow,my years with sighing.My strength fails because of my iniquity.My bones are wasted away.
For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.
My life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. This is sadness measured in years rather than days.
My soul is weary with sorrow;strengthen me according to your word.
My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
My soul is weary with sorrow. The request that follows is small and specific: strengthen me according to your word.
For the lowest point, where hope is hard to find. These psalms speak from inside it.
My God, my soul is in despair within me.Therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan,the heights of Hermon, from the hill Mizar.
O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
My soul is in despair within me. Around it, verses 5 and 11 ask the soul why it is in despair, so the psalm argues with its own low mood.
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me.My heart within me is desolate.
Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.
My spirit is overwhelmed. My heart within me is desolate. The verse before says the enemy has made the writer live in dark places, like those long dead.
You have laid me in the lowest pit,in the darkest depths.
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps.
The lowest pit, the darkest depths. Psalm 88 is the one psalm on this page with no turn at all: its last word is darkness.
Psalms that describe coming out, told as testimony after the fact. They do not promise a timetable.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit,out of the miry clay.He set my feet on a rock,and gave me a firm place to stand.
He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.
Out of a horrible pit and the miry clay, and onto a rock. Verse 1 says this came after waiting patiently, not at once.
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.
Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning. The psalm sets a night of weeping against the morning, and a moment of anger against a lifetime of favor.
The LORD preserves the simple.I was brought low, and he saved me.
The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
I was brought low, and he saved me. Plain words, and the next verse tells the soul to return to its rest.
Psalm 88. Its heading names Heman the Ezrahite and the sons of Korah, and it has no turn to praise. The writer says he has cried day and night, that his eyes are dim from grief, and that God has put lover and friend far from him. The last word is darkness. Even so, it is addressed to God from its first line: LORD, the God of my salvation.
Psalm 30 says you have turned my mourning into dancing (verse 11). Psalm 13 moves in six verses from how long to I will sing to the LORD. Psalm 40 opens after the wait is over and remembers the pit. In each case the change is described after it happened, not promised in advance.
Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 are the closest match, with their repeated question: why are you in despair, my soul. Psalm 13 is shorter and moves from how long to trust in six verses.
No psalm uses the word, but several describe it. Psalm 102 speaks of forgetting to eat, Psalm 6 of a bed flooded with tears, and Psalm 88 of the darkest depths.
Psalm 31:10 says my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. Psalm 119:28 says my soul is weary with sorrow, and asks for strength.
Psalm 42, Psalm 43, Psalm 88 and Psalm 143 all speak from despair. Psalm 42:6 uses the word itself: my soul is in despair within me.
Psalm 30:5. The King James Version reads: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Psalms for Anxiety, Worry and StressPsalms of LamentPsalms of HopePsalms for LonelinessPsalms for Grief and the Loss of a Loved OnePsalms about Self Worth and Being Loved by God