O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
Parallel translations
- WEB Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.
- KJV O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
- NKJV O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
- NASB Lord, open my lips, So that my mouth may declare Your praise.
- NLT Unseal my lips, O Lord, that my mouth may praise you.
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 asks God to open his lips so his mouth may declare God's praise. Even the ability to praise is a gift of grace.
Overview
Sin and guilt had silenced David's praise, so he asks God Himself to open his lips for worship. Renewed fellowship results in renewed praise. The verse acknowledges that genuine worship is enabled by God's grace, the same grace that frees the redeemed to glorify Him through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Heb 13:15Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
- Ps 63:3–5Because Your loving devotion is better than life, my lips will glorify You.
- Ps 9:14that I may declare all Your praises—that within the gates of Daughter Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.
- Ezek 29:21In that day I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel, and I will open your mouth to speak among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
- Ps 119:13With my lips I proclaim all the judgments of Your mouth.
- Ezek 3:27But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you are to tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ Whoever listens, let him listen; and whoever refuses, let him refuse, for they are a rebellious house.
- Exod 4:11And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
- 1 Sam 2:9He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.
- Mark 7:34And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”).
- Ezek 16:63so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Matt 22:12‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless.
- Gen 44:16“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one who was found with the cup.”
- Rom 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
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 51:15 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.