I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy.
Parallel translations
- WEB I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy.
- KJV I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
- NKJV I love the Lord, because He has heard My voice and my supplications.
- NASB I love the Lord, because He hears My voice and my pleas.
- NLT I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.
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
The psalmist loves the Lord because he hears his voice and cries for mercy. It matters because answered prayer kindles heartfelt love for God.
Overview
This psalm of thanksgiving opens with love born from experience: God listened in the worshiper's distress. Love responds to grace already received, not earned. Such confidence that God hears is fulfilled in Christ, through whom believers draw near with assurance that the Father hears (Heb. 4:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- 1 Jn 4:19We love because He first loved us.
- Ps 66:19–20But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.
- 1 Jn 5:2–3By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.
- Ps 34:3–4Magnify the LORD with me; let us exalt His name together.
- John 16:24Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
- Ps 69:33For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.
- Mark 12:33and to love Him with all your heart and with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, which is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
- Ps 40:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
- Gen 35:2So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
- Ps 119:132Turn to me and show me mercy, as You do to those who love Your name.
- John 21:17Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
- Ps 18:1–6For the choirmaster. Of David the servant of the LORD, who sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love You, O LORD, my strength.
- Ps 31:22–23In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from Your sight!” But You heard my plea for mercy when I called to You for help.
- 1 Sam 1:26“Please, my lord,” said Hannah, “as surely as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 116:1 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.