I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.
Parallel translations
- WEB My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
- KJV O my God, I cry in the day time, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.
- NKJV O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; And in the night season, and am not silent.
- NASB My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.
- NLT Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.
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 sufferer cries out day and night but receives no answer and finds no rest. His prayer seems to meet only silence.
Overview
The relentless, unanswered crying deepens the sense of abandonment in verse 1. The sufferer is not faithless; he keeps praying, even when God seems silent. This honest lament gives voice to the believer's experience of unanswered prayer and supremely anticipates Christ's anguish, who bore the silence of forsakenness in our place.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Luke 18:7Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?
- Ps 42:3My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Luke 22:41–46And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed,
- Ps 88:1A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choirmaster. According to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.
- Ps 55:16–17But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.
- Luke 6:12In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and He spent the night in prayer to God.
- Lam 3:8Even when I cry out and plead for help, He shuts out my prayer.
- 1 Th 3:10Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking from your faith.
- 2 Tim 1:3I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience as did my forefathers, as I constantly remember you night and day in my prayers.
- Lam 3:44You have covered Yourself with a cloud that no prayer can pass through.
- Matt 26:44So He left them and went away once more and prayed a third time, saying the same thing.
- Ps 80:4O LORD God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 22:2 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.