For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer.
Parallel translations
- WEB For the Chief Musician. For a stringed instrument. By David. Hear my cry, God. Listen to my prayer.
- KJV Hear my cry, O God; attend unto my prayer.
- NKJV Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer.
- NASB Hear my cry, God; Give Your attention to my prayer.
- NLT O God, listen to my cry! Hear my prayer!
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 earnestly pleads for God to hear his cry and listen to his prayer. It expresses heartfelt dependence on God's attentiveness.
Overview
This psalm opens with David's urgent appeal for God to hear him, a fitting start for one in distress. The repetition of hear and listen conveys the intensity of his need. Such confidence that God attends to his people's cries undergirds all true prayer and is secured for us through Christ our mediator.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Phil 4:6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
- Ps 4:1For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of David. Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved my distress; show me grace and hear my prayer.
- Ps 86:6Hear my prayer, O LORD, and attend to my plea for mercy.
- Ps 130:2O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy.
- Ps 55:1–2For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. Listen to my prayer, O God, and do not ignore my plea.
- Ps 54:1For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Maskil of David. When the Ziphites went to Saul and said, “Is David not hiding among us?” Save me, O God, by Your name, and vindicate me by Your might!
- Ps 5:1–3For the choirmaster, to be accompanied by flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.
- Ps 17:1A 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.
- Ps 28:2Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
- Ps 64:1For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. Hear, O God, my voice of complaint; preserve my life from dread of the enemy.
- Ps 6:1For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 61:1 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
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.