Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 103:13 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 13. 13Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 103:13: Within “Bless the LORD who forgives and remembers dust: Compassion, justice, and remembered dust,” the line “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth…” supplies one distinct parallel claim, image, address, or response.
Read It With
- Psalms 103:6–14
- Psalms 103:1–22
Read Psalms 103:13 with 103:6–14 and 103:1–22. Read alone, “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them…” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 103:6–14, the individual voice carries the movement “Compassion, justice, and remembered dust” as part of “Bless the LORD who forgives and remembers dust.” Its hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 103:6–14 intensifies “The self summoned to remember benefits” within Psalm 103 by carrying “Compassion, justice, and remembered dust.” The turn from “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s” to “The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed” explains why this movement occurs here. Within that relationship, Psalm 103:13 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 103:6–14; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 103:6–14, the individual voice carries the movement “Compassion, justice, and remembered dust” as part of “Bless the LORD who forgives and remembers dust.” Its hymn form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- The catalogue of benefits is praise, not a guarantee of immediate healing or permission to blame sick and grieving people.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 103:13 does not allow “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them…” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit. The complete movement is “Compassion, justice, and remembered dust.” The catalogue of benefits is praise, not a guarantee of immediate healing or permission to blame sick and grieving people.
What Remains True
Book IV gives Psalm 103:13 a larger home, while “Compassion, justice, and remembered dust” supplies its immediate one. Psalm 103:13 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit. Therefore, People in households and communities bear dignity beyond productivity, fertility, gender role, status, or usefulness; gifts of relationship never make another person property. The local movement is “Compassion, justice, and remembered dust.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The catalogue of benefits is praise, not a guarantee of immediate healing or permission to blame sick and grieving people.
How It Can Shape Life
- Keep the movement “Bless the LORD who forgives and remembers dust: Compassion, justice, and remembered dust” in view. Receive the person named or implied by “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them…” as a gift with agency and dignity, never as property, status, labor, fertility proof, or a weapon in family conflict. The textual reason is this verse's role: Psalm 103:13 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit.
Teach It Back
Starting from the verse role—Psalm 103:13 develops the poem's imagery or comparison through “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear…,” whose force comes from the parallel line and whole unit.—walk through the parallel lines of Psalms 103:6–14. State what remains true, how it shapes life, what remains uncertain, and why the poem does not authorize this use: The catalogue of benefits is praise, not a guarantee of immediate healing or permission to blame sick and grieving people.
Your explanation stays in this browser. It is not sent or saved.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 103:6–14 — Bless the LORD who forgives and remembers dust: Compassion, justice, and remembered dustSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 103:6–14, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 103:6–14
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 103:6–14.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 103 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 103:6–14
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Summary, Outline, Introductory Issues, and Theological Themes; applied to Psalms 103:6–14
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 103 for Psalms 103:6–14
Open NETS Psalms ↗