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O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy.
Psalms 130:2 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
  • KJV Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
  • NKJV Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.
  • NASB Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the sound of my pleadings.
  • NLT Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer.

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

He pleads for the Lord to hear and attend to his cries for mercy. It expresses earnest, dependent prayer for God's attentive response.

Overview

The psalmist asks Yahweh to listen and be attentive to his supplications, casting himself wholly on God's mercy. The repetition shows the urgency of one who has nowhere else to turn. Believers can pray with confidence because in Christ God hears and answers His people.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • 2 Chr 6:40Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
  • Ps 61:1–2For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.
  • Isa 37:17Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.
  • Neh 1:11O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)
  • Ps 140:6I say to the LORD, “You are my God.” Hear, O LORD, my cry for help.
  • Ps 55:1–2For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. Listen to my prayer, O God, and do not ignore my plea.
  • Neh 1:6let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that we Israelites have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned.
  • Dan 9:17–19So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary.
  • Ps 17:1A prayer of David. Hear, O LORD, my righteous plea; listen to my cry. Give ear to my prayer—it comes from lips free of deceit.
  • Ps 64:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Hear, O God, my voice of complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
  • Ps 28:2Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
  • Ps 5:1–2For the choirmaster, to be accompanied by flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 130:2YouTube · 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 PsalmsMatthew 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

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 130:2 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.