Passage

Psalms 103.13

Book: Psalms · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"11. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is his lovingkindness toward them that fear him. 12. As far as the east is from the west, So far hath he removed our transgressions from us."

"13. Like as a father pitieth his children, So Jehovah pitieth them that fear him."

"14. For he knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust. 15. As for man, his days are as grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourisheth." (Psalms 103:11-15, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"11. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him. 12. As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

"13. Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him."

"14. For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust. 15. As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes." (Psalms 103:11-15, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"11. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. ^{as: Heb. according to the height of the heaven} 12. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."

"13. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him."

"14. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust. 15. As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth." (Psalms 103:11-15, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"11. For, as the height of the heavens [is] above the earth, His kindness hath been mighty over those fearing Him. 12. As the distance of east from west He hath put far from us our transgressions."

"13. As a father hath mercy on sons, Jehovah hath mercy on those fearing Him."

"14. For He hath known our frame, Remembering that we [are] dust. 15. Mortal man! as grass [are] his days, As a flower of the field so he flourisheth;" (Psalms 103:11-15, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: David (superscription)
Audience: worshipping Israel; the psalmist's own soul (vv. 1-2, 22)
Location: Israel
Time period: Davidic composition c. 1000 BC

Theological reading

The verb at the center of the verse is racham, the verbal form of H7356 - rachamim (compassions). The simile, "as a father has compassion (rachem) on his children, so YHWH has compassion (rachem) on those who fear Him," explicitly maps God's rachamim onto paternal-familial tenderness, while the underlying lexeme draws on maternal-womb imagery (the noun rechem = womb). The full-orbed scriptural picture of God's compassion is therefore both paternal-protective and maternal-visceral. The verse is foundational to the OT case that the God of Israel is not a distant cosmic enforcer but a tenderly invested parent, and it grounds NT pastoral appeals (1 Peter 5:7; Hebrews 4:15-16) that God's compassion is the ground of confident approach in weakness.

Key words

H7356 - rachamim, rachamim (Strong's H7356) and its verbal form racham. The womb-rooted, parental-visceral compassion that the verse names twice.

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.