Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;
Parallel translations
- WEB Attend to me, and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and moan,
- BSB Attend to me and answer me. I am restless in my complaint, and distraught
- NKJV Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,
- NASB Give Your attention to me and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and severely distracted,
- NLT Please listen and answer me, for I am overwhelmed by my troubles.
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 is restless and moaning under his complaint, begging God to attend and answer. It voices raw inner turmoil laid before God.
Overview
Unable to find peace, David tells God of his agitation and groaning. He does not hide his distress but presents it openly in prayer. Such honest lament shows that faith makes room for grief and confusion while still seeking God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Isa 38:14Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
- Ps 66:19But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
- Ps 77:3I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.
- Isa 59:11We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
- Ps 64:1Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
- Ps 38:6I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
- Ps 102:9–10For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
- Ps 43:2For thou art the God of my strength: why dost thou cast me off? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
- Ps 32:3When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
- Ps 13:1–2How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 55:2 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.