[3] However, Charles Spurgeon asserts that any attempt to link it to a specific incident is conjecture; rather, the psalm gives voice to feelings that arise in any of the many trials that a person undergoes in life.

In the modern Liturgy of the Hours, Psalm 13 is recited or sung to the Office for Midday Prayer on the Tuesday of the first week of the four-weekly cycle.

[9] Heinrich Schütz wrote a setting of a paraphrase of Psalm 13 in German, "Ach Herr, wie lang willst du denn noch", SWV 109, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628.

In German, the psalm was set to music by Johannes Brahms for women's choir in three voices, "Herr, wie lange willst du".

The Canadian Christian singer-songwriter and worship leader Brian Doerksen wrote with others a song called 'How long, O Lord'.