Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let my prayer enter into your presence. Turn your ear to my cry.
- KJV Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;
- BSB May my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry.
- NASB Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry!
- NLT Now hear my prayer; listen to my cry.
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
He asks that his prayer reach God's presence and that God turn His ear to his cry. He longs to be heard in his suffering.
Overview
Heman pleads for access, that his prayer would enter God's presence and find a listening ear. The intensity reflects a soul desperate yet still turning to God. Such pleading anticipates the assurance believers have through Christ, by whom they draw near with confidence even in suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 31:2Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me.
- Ps 141:1–2A Psalm by David. Yahweh, I have called on you. Come to me quickly! Listen to my voice when I call to you.
- Lam 3:8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
- Ps 79:11Let the sighing of the prisoner come before you. According to the greatness of your power, preserve those who are sentenced to death.
- 1 Kgs 8:31“If a man sins against his neighbor, and an oath is laid on him to cause him to swear, and he comes and swears before your altar in this house;
Resources, by level
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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 88:2 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.