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Psalms 130:2

in Psalms 130

O Lord, hear my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my plea for mercy.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Lord, hear my voice: Let thine ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications.

KJV

Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.

This verse in Psalms 130

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)

Lord, hear my voice. It is all we ask; but nothing less will content us. If the Lord will but hear us we will leave it to his superior wisdom to decide whether he will answer us or no. It is better for our prayer to be heard than answered.

This site's exposition

Out of the depths I cry

on Psalms 130:1-2

The only detail is the cry out of the depths. Spurgeon read the depths as the abyss that silences what it swallows, and this was the voice it did not silence. The psalm asks the LORD to hear and to keep His ears attentive to a plea for mercy.

This site's exposition

let Your ears be attentive

The word for attentive stands only five times. Each describes the LORD's ear: Solomon asked at 2 Chronicles 6:40, the LORD promised at 7:15, and Nehemiah asked at Nehemiah 1:6 and 1:11. Spurgeon held that to have a voice heard is better than to have a prayer answered.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Augustine of Hippo

Exposition on Psalm 130 · Written before 430.

proposed

"Lord, hear my voice. O let Your ears consider well the voice of my complaint" [Psalm 130:2]. Whence does he cry? From the deep. Who is it then who cries? A sinner. And with what hope does he cry? Because He who came to absolve from sins, gave hope even to the sinner down in the deep. What therefore follows after these words: "If Thou, Lord, will be extreme to mark what is amiss, O Lord, who may abide it?" [Psalm 130:3]. So, he has disclosed from what deep he cried out. For he cries beneath the weights and billows of his iniquities....He said not, I may not abide it: but, "who may abide it?" For he saw that near the whole of human life on every side was ever bayed at by its sins, that all consciences were accused by their thoughts, that a clean heart trusting in its own righteousness could not be found.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): Lord, hear my voice, my complaint and prayer, and let thy ears be attentive to the voice both of my afflictions and of my supplications. We are taught to humble ourselves before the justice of God as guilty in his sight, and unable to answer him for one of a thousand of our offences (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

Lord, hear my voice,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Treasury of David, Vol. 7 (1885)

proposed

Lord, hear my voice. It is all we ask; but nothing less will content us. If the Lord will but hear us we will leave it to his superior wisdom to decide whether he will answer us or no. It is better for our prayer to be heard than answered. If the Lord were to make an absolute promise to answer all our requests it might be rather a curse than a blessing, for it would be casting the responsibility of our lives upon ourselves, and we should be placed in a very anxious position: but now the Lord hears our desires, and that is enough; we only wish him to grant them if his infinite wisdom sees that it would be for our good and for his glory. Note that the Psalmist spoke audibly in prayer: this is not at all needful, but it is exceedingly helpful; for the use of the voice assists the thoughts. Still, there is a voice in silent supplication, a voice in our weeping, a voice in that sorrow which cannot find a tongue: that voice the Lord will hear if its cry is meant for his ear. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplication. The Psalmist's cry is a beggar's petition; he begs the great King and Lord to lend an ear to it. He has supplicated many times, but always with one voice, or for one purpose; and he begs to be noticed in the one matter which he has pressed with so much importunity. He would have the King hearken, consider, remember, and weigh his request. He is confused, and his prayer may therefore be broken, and difficult to understand; he begs therefore that his Lord will give the more earnest and compassionate heed to the voice of his many and painful pleadings. When we have already prayed over our troubles it is well to pray over our prayers. If we can find no more words, let us entreat the Lord to hear those petitions which we have already presented.

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Lord, hear my voice - They could have no helper but God, and to him they earnestly seek for relief.
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

Lord, hear my voice - This is the prayer; this is what he cried. It is the language of earnest pleading. Let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications - Do not turn away from me; do not disregard my cry. See the notes at Psa 5:1.

The words behind it

8 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • אֲדֹנָי֮O Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →440 times

  • שִׁמְעָ֪הlisten !

    shimahH8085 →1159 times

  • בְק֫וֹלִ֥יto voice my

    vekoliH6963 →506 times

  • תִּהְיֶ֣ינָהmay they be

    tihyeinahH1961 →3559 times

  • אָ֭זְנֶיךָears your

    ʾazeneikhaH241 →187 times

  • קַשֻּׁב֑וֹתattentive

    kashuvotH7183 →

  • לְ֝ק֗וֹלto [the] sound of

    lekolH6963 →506 times

  • תַּחֲנוּנָֽי׃supplications my

    tachanunaiH8469 →18 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Nehemiah 1:11

    O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him…

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 1:6

      let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to hear the prayer that I, Your servant, now pray before You day and night for Your servants, the Israelites. I confess the sins that…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Nehemiah 2:8

      And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so that he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel to the temple, for the…

    • Nehemiah 2:1

      Now in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was set before him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad…

    • Proverbs 21:1

      The king’s heart is a waterway in the hand of the LORD; He directs it where He pleases.

    • Hebrews 13:18

      Pray for us; we are convinced that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.

  • Through

    2 Chronicles 6:40

    Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 116:2

      Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

    • 2 Chronicles 7:15

      Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.

  • Through

    Isaiah 37:17

    Incline Your ear, O LORD, and hear; open Your eyes, O LORD, and see. Listen to all the words that Sennacherib has sent to defy the living God.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 6:40

      Now, my God, may Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.

Where this verse is studied

About Psalms

The Ninth Wave. Ivan Aivazovsky, 1850. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.
The Ninth Wave. Ivan Aivazovsky, 1850. Wikimedia Commons. Public domain.

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 130; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 7; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.