Turn thee unto me, and have mercy upon me; for I am desolate and afflicted.

PSALMS 25:16KJV
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Psalms 25:16 (KJV)

What does Psalms 25:16 mean?

Psalms 25:16 is a personal appeal to God from someone who feels alone and weighed down by trouble. The speaker asks God to give him attention and show him mercy in that condition.

“Turn thee unto me” pictures someone turning toward a person who needs help. After speaking of keeping his eyes on the Lord in verse 15, the speaker asks the Lord to turn toward him.

The Hebrew behind Psalms 25:16

  • “Turn” — פָּנָה (panah): This word can mean to turn toward someone. Here, the request presents God’s attention in the familiar picture of one person facing another.
  • “desolate” — יָחִיד (yachid): This word can describe someone who is alone or solitary. It gives a personal sense to the speaker’s distress: he feels without companionship or support.
  • “afflicted” — עָנִי (ani): This word often describes someone who is suffering or in need. The speaker’s trouble is more than a passing feeling of loneliness.

Why Psalms 25:16 matters

  • The speaker gives a reason for his request rather than making a claim to be owed help. The word “for” connects his plea for mercy to his being “desolate and afflicted.”
  • The verse begins a series of direct requests shaped by the speaker’s troubles. Verses 17–18 continue with appeals for relief and for God to look upon his suffering.

Where else these words appear

“desolate” Hebrew H3173 · used in 12 verses

  • Genesis 22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
  • Judges 11:34 And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, behold, his daughter came out to meet him with timbrels and with dances: and she was his only child; beside her he had neither son nor daughter.
  • Proverbs 4:3 For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.

“mercy” Hebrew H2603 · used in 72 verses

  • Genesis 33:5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant.
  • Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
  • Psalms 109:12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.

“afflicted” Hebrew H6041 · used in 78 verses

  • Exodus 22:25 If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, neither shalt thou lay upon him usury.
  • Psalms 35:10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto thee, which deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoileth him?
  • Ecclesiastes 6:8 For what hath the wise more than the fool? what hath the poor, that knoweth to walk before the living?

“Turn” Hebrew H6437 · used in 128 verses

  • Genesis 18:22 And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
  • Judges 15:4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
  • Psalms 119:132 Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.