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In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry entered His ears.
2 Samuel 22:7 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB In my distress, I called on Yahweh. Yes, I called to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry came into his ears.
  • KJV In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.
  • BSB In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried out to my God. And from His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for help reached His ears.
  • NASB “In my distress I called upon the Lord, Yes, I called out to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears.
  • NLT But in my distress I cried out to the Lord; yes, I cried to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

In his distress David cried out, and from his temple God heard his voice. The LORD attends to the prayers of his people in their extremity.

Overview

At the point of greatest danger, David turns to God, and his cry reaches the heavenly sanctuary. The verse assures us that God is never deaf to the desperate prayers of his own. It anchors the song's confidence: deliverance begins with the cry of faith that God always hears.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 15

  • Ps 18:6In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.
  • Jonah 2:7“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
  • Ps 116:4Then I called on Yahweh’s name: “Yahweh, I beg you, deliver my soul.”
  • Ps 34:15–17Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.
  • Ps 120:1A Song of Ascents. In my distress, I cried to Yahweh. He answered me.
  • Exod 3:7Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
  • Ps 27:4One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.
  • Hab 2:20But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
  • Ps 34:6This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
  • Jonah 2:4I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
  • Jas 5:4Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
  • Matt 26:38–39Then he said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch with me.”
  • Heb 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
  • 1 Kgs 8:28–30Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today;
  • Luke 22:44Being in agony he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — 2 Samuel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on 2 Samuel 22:7YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on 2 SamuelMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

God's covenant with David — a son whose throne and kingdom would last forever (7:12–16) — finds its yes in Jesus, the Son of David who reigns without end.

How 2 Samuel 22:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.