Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 142:6Attend unto my cry; for I am brought very low: deliver me from my persecutors; for they are stronger than I.
- Ps 61:1Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.
- Dan 9:18–19O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
- Ps 145:18The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
- Matt 15:8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
- 1 Jn 3:21Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.
- Ps 66:19But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
- Ps 86:1Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
- Ps 7:8The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
- 2 Chr 7:15Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.
- Isa 29:13Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:
- Ps 140:12I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
- Ps 18:20The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
- Ps 43:1Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
- Ps 5:2Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King, and my God: for unto thee will I pray.
- Ps 142:1I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.
- Ps 55:2–3Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;
- Neh 1:6Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
- Ps 18:44As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
- Jer 3:10And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith 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
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