Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
Parallel translations
- WEB A Prayer by David. Hear, Yahweh, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
- BSB A prayer of David. Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
- NKJV Bow down Your ear, O Lord, hear me; For I am poor and needy.
- NASB Incline Your ear, Lord, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy.
- NLT Bend down, O Lord, and hear my prayer; answer me, for I need your help.
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 hear and answer because he is poor and needy. Humble dependence is the right posture for prayer.
Overview
This is the only psalm in Book III titled a prayer of David, opening with an appeal grounded in his own neediness rather than merit. Acknowledging poverty of spirit invites God's gracious help. It reflects the gospel principle that God hears the humble and that Christ pronounces blessed the poor in spirit.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Ps 31:2Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.
- Ps 40:17But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
- Dan 9:18O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
- Matt 5:3Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
- Ps 34:6This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.
- Jas 1:9–10Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
- Jas 2:5Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?
- Luke 4:18The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
- Isa 66:2For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.
- Ps 119:22Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.
- Isa 37:17Incline thine ear, O LORD, and hear; open thine eyes, O LORD, and see: and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent to reproach the living God.
- Ps 102:17He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
- Ps 142:1I cried unto the LORD with my voice; with my voice unto the LORD did I make my supplication.
- Ps 17:6I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.
- Ps 140:12I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.
- Ps 72:12–14For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.
- Ps 102:1Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
- Ps 10:14Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.
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 86:1 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.