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.
- BSB For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. Of David. 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 4:6In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
- Ps 4:1For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments. A Psalm by David. Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness. Give me relief from my distress. Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
- Ps 86:6Hear, Yahweh, my prayer. Listen to the voice of my petitions.
- Ps 130:2Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my petitions.
- Ps 55:1–2For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David. Listen to my prayer, God. Don’t hide yourself from my supplication.
- Ps 54:1For the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments. A contemplation by David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding himself among us?” Save me, God, by your name. Vindicate me in your might.
- Ps 5:1–3For the Chief Musician, with the flutes. A Psalm by David. Give ear to my words, Yahweh. Consider my meditation.
- Ps 17:1A Prayer by David. Hear, Yahweh, my righteous plea; Give ear to my prayer, that doesn’t go out of deceitful lips.
- Ps 28:2Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
- Ps 64:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
- Ps 6:1For the Chief Musician; on stringed instruments, upon the eight-stringed lyre. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, don’t rebuke me in your anger, neither discipline me in your wrath.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.