Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Hear my prayer, Yahweh, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.
- BSB Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.
- NKJV “Hear my prayer, O Lord, And give ear to my cry; Do not be silent at my tears; For I am a stranger with You, A sojourner, as all my fathers were.
- NASB ¶“Hear my prayer, Lord, and listen to my cry for help; Do not be silent to my tears; For I am a stranger with You, One who lives abroad, like all my fathers.
- NLT Hear my prayer, O Lord! Listen to my cries for help! Don’t ignore my tears. For I am your guest— a traveler passing through, as my ancestors were before me.
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 begs God to hear his prayer and tears, confessing he is a stranger and sojourner like his fathers. He appeals as a pilgrim dependent on God.
Overview
Calling himself a 'foreigner' echoes Israel's identity as pilgrims who looked beyond this life (Hebrews 11:13). His tears become a plea for God's attention. The believer's transient earthly status fuels reliance on the eternal God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- 1 Pet 2:11Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
- Heb 11:13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
- Lev 25:23The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me.
- 2 Kgs 20:5Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD.
- Ps 116:3The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
- Ps 119:19I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.
- Gen 47:9And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
- 1 Pet 1:17And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
- 1 Chr 29:15For we are strangers before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers: our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
- Ps 56:8Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
- Heb 5:7Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
- Job 16:20My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
- Ps 102:1Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
- 2 Sam 16:12It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.
- 2 Cor 5:6Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
- Ps 119:54Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
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 39:12 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.