Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB A Psalm by David. Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you.
- BSB A Psalm of David. I call upon You, O LORD; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to You.
- NKJV Lord, I cry out to You; Make haste to me! Give ear to my voice when I cry out to You.
- NASB Lord, I call upon You; hurry to me! Listen to my voice when I call to You!
- NLT O Lord, I am calling to you. Please hurry! Listen when I cry to you for help!
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
David urgently calls on Yahweh to come quickly and hear his voice. It opens a prayer marked by dependence and a longing for God's swift help.
Overview
This Davidic psalm begins with earnest, repeated pleas for God to listen and act without delay. The urgency reflects real distress and the conviction that God hears His people. Believers in Christ have even greater confidence to draw near, assured of a sympathetic High Priest who hears (Hebrews 4:16).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 70:5But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.
- Ps 71:12O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.
- Ps 40:13Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.
- Ps 143:7Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
- Ps 69:17–18And hide not thy face from thy servant; for I am in trouble: hear me speedily.
- Ps 22:19But be not thou far from me, O LORD: O my strength, haste thee to help me.
- Job 7:21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.
- Ps 143:1Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 141:1 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.