5 Psalms to Read when Life is Miserable

Making the Psalms a consistent part of our time studying the Bible is enriching and important. The Psalms are meant to be sung and prayed, and there are specific psalms that were written to help us when life it bleak and we feel miserable.

The individual and communal laments are the largest category of psalms. These psalms lay a troubling situation before the Lord and ask him for help. They can be about broad community problems or individual struggles. There are also songs of confidence and comfort – these psalms enable worshippers to deepen trust in God by reminding us of God’s goodness and plan for us.

Here are 20 psalms, mostly psalms of lament and songs of comfort, to help you as you struggle through a hard season of life. We pray they will move you to remember the mighty love of God for you – he is steadfast, always rich in mercy, and will never leave your side.

1. Psalm 5—When You are Persecuted

Give ear to my words, O Lord;
consider my groaning.

2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,
my King and my God,
for to you do I pray.

3 O Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for youa] and watch.

4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
evil may not dwell with you.

5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;
you hate all evildoers.

6 You destroy those who speak lies;
the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you.

8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies;
make your way straight before me.

9 For there is no truth in their mouth;
their inmost self is destruction;
their throat is an open grave;
they flatter with their tongue.

10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;
let them fall by their own counsels;
because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,
for they have rebelled against you.

11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy,
and spread your protection over them,
that those who love your name may exult in you.

12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;
you cover him with favor as with a shield.

2. Psalm 6—When You are Depressed

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath.

2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;
heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

3 My soul also is greatly troubled.
But you, O Lord—how long?

4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;
save me for the sake of your steadfast love.

5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
in Sheol who will give you praise?

6 I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.

7 My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping.

9 The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.

10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

3. Psalm 16—When You are Confused

Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.

2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
I have no good apart from you.”

3 As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones,
in whom is all my delight.

4 The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply;
their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
or take their names on my lips.

5 The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.

6 The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

7 I bless the Lord who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.

8 I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.

10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol,
or let your holy one see corruption.

11 You make known to me the path of life;
in your presence there is fullness of joy;
at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

4. Psalms 17—When You Feel Alone

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry!
Give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit!

2 From your presence let my vindication come!
Let your eyes behold the right!

3 You have tried my heart, you have visited me by night,
you have tested me, and you will find nothing;
I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.

4 With regard to the works of man, by the word of your lips
I have avoided the ways of the violent.

5 My steps have held fast to your paths;
my feet have not slipped.

6 I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my words.

7 Wondrously show your steadfast love,
O Savior of those who seek refuge
from their adversaries at your right hand.

8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;
hide me in the shadow of your wings,

9 from the wicked who do me violence,
my deadly enemies who surround me.

10 They close their hearts to pity;
with their mouths they speak arrogantly.

11 They have now surrounded our steps;
they set their eyes to cast us to the ground.

12 He is like a lion eager to tear,
as a young lion lurking in ambush.

13 Arise, O Lord! Confront him, subdue him!
Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword,

14 from men by your hand, O Lord,
from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their womb with treasure;

they are satisfied with children,
and they leave their abundance to their infants.

15 As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.

5. Psalms 18—When Life Feels Precarious

I love you, O Lord, my strength.
2 The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
3 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of destruction assailed me;
5 the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.

7 Then the earth reeled and rocked;
the foundations also of the mountains trembled
and quaked, because he was angry.

8 Smoke went up from his nostrils,
and devouring fire from his mouth;
glowing coals flamed forth from him.

9 He bowed the heavens and came down;
thick darkness was under his feet.

10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
he came swiftly on the wings of the wind.

11 He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him,
thick clouds dark with water.

12 Out of the brightness before him
hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

13 The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
and the Most High uttered his voice,
hailstones and coals of fire.

14 And he sent out his arrows and scattered them;
he flashed forth lightnings and routed them.

15 Then the channels of the sea were seen,
and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

16 He sent from on high, he took me;
he drew me out of many waters.

17 He rescued me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.

18 They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.

19 He brought me out into a broad place;
he rescued me, because he delighted in me.

20 The Lord dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his rules were before me,
and his statutes I did not put away from me.

23 I was blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my guilt.

24 So the Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.

25 With the merciful you show yourself merciful;
with the blameless man you show yourself blameless;

26 with the purified you show yourself pure;
and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.

27 For you save a humble people,
but the haughty eyes you bring down.

28 For it is you who light my lamp;
the Lord my God lightens my darkness.

29 For by you I can run against a troop,
and by my God I can leap over a wall.

30 This God—his way is perfect;
the word of the Lord proves true;
he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him.

31 For who is God, but the Lord?
And who is a rock, except our God?—

32 the God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless.

33 He made my feet like the feet of a deer
and set me secure on the heights.

34 He trains my hands for war,
so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

35 You have given me the shield of your salvation,
and your right hand supported me,
and your gentleness made me great.

36 You gave a wide place for my steps under me,
and my feet did not slip.

37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them,
and did not turn back till they were consumed.

38 I thrust them through, so that they were not able to rise;
they fell under my feet.

39 For you equipped me with strength for the battle;
you made those who rise against me sink under me.

40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
and those who hated me I destroyed.

41 They cried for help, but there was none to save;
they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them.

42 I beat them fine as dust before the wind;
I cast them out like the mire of the streets.

43 You delivered me from strife with the people;
you made me the head of the nations;
people whom I had not known served me.

44 As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
foreigners came cringing to me.

45 Foreigners lost heart
and came trembling out of their fortresses.

46 The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock,
and exalted be the God of my salvation—

47 the God who gave me vengeance
and subdued peoples under me,

48 who rescued me from my enemies;
yes, you exalted me above those who rose against me;
you delivered me from the man of violence.

49 For this I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations,
and sing to your name.

50 Great salvation he brings to his king,
and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
to David and his offspring forever.