A 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB A Prayer by David. Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea; Give ear to my prayer, that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.
- KJV Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
- NKJV Hear a just cause, O Lord, Attend to my cry; Give ear to my prayer which is not from deceitful lips.
- NASB Hear a just cause, Lord, give Your attention to my cry; Listen to my prayer, which is not from deceitful lips.
- NLT O Lord, hear my plea for justice. Listen to my cry for help. Pay attention to my prayer, for it comes from honest lips.
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 prays for God to hear his just plea offered from sincere lips. It matters because the righteous can appeal to God with honest, undeceitful prayer.
Overview
David opens his prayer asking God to hear his righteous cause, stressing that it comes from lips free of deceit. His appeal rests on integrity rather than pretense. Believers approach God in Christ with the same sincerity, knowing he searches and welcomes the honest heart.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ps 142:6Listen to my cry, for I am brought quite low. Rescue me from my pursuers, for they are too strong for me.
- Ps 61:1For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.
- Dan 9:18–19Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.
- Ps 145:18The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call out to Him in truth.
- Matt 15:8‘These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me.
- 1 Jn 3:21Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,
- Ps 66:19But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer.
- Ps 86:1A prayer of David. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
- Ps 7:8The LORD judges the peoples; vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and integrity.
- 2 Chr 7:15Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
- Isa 29:13Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
- Ps 140:12I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.
- Ps 18:20The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.
- Ps 43:1Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; deliver me from deceitful and unjust men.
- Ps 5:2Attend to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to You I pray.
- Ps 142:1A Maskil of David, when he was in the cave. A prayer. I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift my voice to the LORD for mercy.
- Ps 55:2–3Attend to me and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and distraught
- 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.
- John 1:47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, He said of him, “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit.”
- Ps 18:44When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me.
- Jer 3:10Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.
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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 17:1 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.