Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
Parallel translations
- WEB My eyes are dim from grief. I have called on you daily, Yahweh. I have spread out my hands to you.
- BSB My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.
- NKJV My eye wastes away because of affliction. Lord, I have called daily upon You; I have stretched out my hands to You.
- NASB My eye grows dim from misery; I have called upon You every day, Lord; I have spread out my hands to You.
- NLT My eyes are blinded by my tears. Each day I beg for your help, O Lord; I lift my hands to you for mercy.
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
His eyes fail from grief, yet he calls on the LORD daily and spreads out his hands in prayer. Even in despair, he keeps praying.
Overview
Worn down by sorrow, Heman nonetheless persists in daily prayer, spreading his hands toward God. This perseverance shows that faith can endure even when relief does not come. Such steadfast crying out, even from the depths, models the prayerful endurance perfected in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Job 11:13If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
- Ps 38:10My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
- Ps 86:3Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.
- Ps 143:6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
- Ps 42:3My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?
- Job 16:20My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God.
- Ps 68:31Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
- Job 17:7Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
- Ezek 17:11Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
- Ps 55:17Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
- John 11:35Jesus wept.
- Ps 44:20If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god;
- Ps 88:1O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee:
- Lam 3:48–49Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
- Ps 6:7Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
- Ps 102:9For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 88:9 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.