Psalms 38:9
in Psalms 38O Lord, my every desire is before You; my groaning is not hidden from You.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Lord, all my desire is before thee; And my groaning is not hid from thee.
KJV
Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
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This verse in Psalms 38
Commentary
15 notes on this verseLord, all my desire is before thee. If unuttered, yet perceived. Blessed be God, he reads the longings of our hearts; nothing can be hidden from him; what we cannot tell to him he perfectly understands. The psalmist is conscious that he has not exaggerated, and therefore appeals to heaven for a confirmation of his words. The good Physician understands the symptoms of our disease and sees the hidden evil which they reveal, hence our case is safe in his hands. And my groaning is not hid from thee.
This site's exposition
my every desire is before You
on Psalms 38:9-11
What has not been said aloud is already before God, the groaning included. The body keeps failing, a pounding heart, spent strength, and the light of the eyes faded. Friends and kinsmen keep their distance from the disease.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
And who observed and noticed the cause of his groaning? "All my desire is before You" [Psalm 38:9]. For it is not before men who cannot see the heart, but it is before You that all my desire is open! Let your desire be before Him; and "the Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you." [Matthew 6:6] For it is your heart's desire that is your prayer; and if your desire continues uninterrupted, your prayer continues also. For not without a meaning did the Apostle say, "Pray without ceasing." [1 Thessalonians 5:17] Are we to be "without ceasing" bending the knee, prostrating the body, or lifting up our hands, that he says, "Pray without ceasing"? Or if it is in this sense that we say that we "pray," this, I believe, we cannot do "without ceasing." There is another inward kind of prayer without ceasing, which is the desire of the heart. Whatever else you are doing, if you do but long for that Sabbath, you do not cease to pray. If you would never cease to pray, never cease to long after it. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer. You will be ceasing to speak, if you cease to long for it. Who are those who have ceased to speak? They of whom it is said, "Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." [Matthew 24:12] The freezing of charity is the silence of the heart; the burning of charity is the cry of the heart. If love continues still you are still lifting up your voice; if you are always lifting up your voice, you are always longing after something; if always longing for something absent, you are calling "the Sabbath rest to remembrance." And it is important you should understand too before whom the "roaring of your heart" is open. Now then consider what sort of desires those should be, that are before the eyes of God. Should it be the desire for the death of our enemy? […]
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 7 -- Second Discourse on the Fear of God · Written before 523.
proposed
Whosoever feareth sleepeth not, and if he sleepeth, he seeth in his dream the cause of his fear; he eateth not, and he drinketh not, and if the force of natural craving compel him, fear is mingled with his meat and drink. Everything which attacketh …
The Medieval Church2 voices
"O Lord, before you is all my desire." Here is set forth the remedy of consolation. And first he shows that in God alone is the remedy of his consolation. Second, he shows that this is necessary for him, because he has nothing in himself …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 22 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
When the soul does what it can, grace lifts it up easily and God works in it, so that there be a worthy admission of divine matters, corresponding to the Thrones. "O Lord, all my desire is before You; from You my groaning is not …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Thou knowest the burdens I groan under and the blessings I groan after." The groanings which cannot be uttered are not hidden from him that searches the heart and knows what is the mind of the Spirit, Rom. viii. In singing this, and praying it over, whatever burden lies upon our spirits, we would by faith cast it upon God, and all our care concerning it, and then be easy.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
8 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Lord, all my desire is before thee,....
Thou knowest the burdens I groan under and the blessings I groan after." The groanings which cannot be uttered are not hidden from him that searches the heart and knows what is the mind of the Spirit, Rom. viii. In singing this, and praying it over, whatever burden lies upon our spirits, we would by faith cast it upon God, and all our care concerning it, and then be easy.
The Nineteenth Century6 voices
Lord, all my desire is before thee. If unuttered, yet perceived. Blessed be God, he reads the longings of our hearts; nothing can be hidden from him; what we cannot tell to him he perfectly understands. The psalmist is conscious that he has not exaggerated, and therefore appeals to heaven for a confirmation of his words. The good Physician understands the symptoms of our disease and sees the hidden evil which they reveal, hence our case is safe in his hands. And my groaning is not hid from thee. "He takes the meaning of our tears, The language of our groans." Sorrow and anguish hide themselves from the observation of man, but God spies them out. None more lonely than the broken hearted sinner, yet hath he the Lord for his companion.
Lord, all my desire is before thee. If unuttered, yet perceived. Blessed be God, he reads the longings of our hearts; nothing can be hidden from him; what we cannot tell to him he perfectly understands. The psalmist is conscious that he has not exaggerated, and therefore appeals to heaven for a confirmation of his words. The good Physician understands the symptoms of our disease and sees the hidden evil which they reveal, hence our case is safe in his hands. And my groaning is not hid from thee.
IT is our earnest desire that all who are in Christ may be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I would earnestly wish to see such spiritual life among us that every man had reached the very height of holy manhood and was in possession of the utmost possible degree of spiritual vigor. It is a great calamity when there is a very large proportion of sick folks in any Christian community, for these must draw off the care and strength of the Church from aggressive movements. How favored would we be if it could be said of us as of Israel when they came out of Egypt, "There was not one feeble person in all their tribes." Oh that the day would come when the Word of God shall be fulfilled which says—"He that is feeble among them shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the Angel of the Lord before them." Let no man suppose that there is a necessity that he should always be weak in faith, always walk under a cloud, or that he should forever be a Mr. Feeble-Mind or Mr. Ready-to-Halt. Miracles of Grace are for saints as well as sinners! Feeble minds can be strengthened and crutches thrown away. We ought to grow out of the feebleness of our spiritual childhood. We should cry to God for Grace that we may get up "into the hill country" of holy confidence and there, like Mary, sing, "My soul does magnify the Lord." Oh that we might all attain to assurance, yes, to the full assurance of understanding, so that we should know why we are thus assured and so become rooted, grounded and settled in the faith—for then nothing would, by any means, remove us from the Truth of God or even move us in the Truth. May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds by Christ Jesus.
IT is our earnest desire that all who are in Christ may be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. I would earnestly wish to see such spiritual life among us that every man had reached the very height of holy manhood and was in possession of the utmost possible degree of spiritual vigor. It is a great calamity when there is a very large proportion of sick folks in any Christian community, for these must draw off the care and strength of the Church from aggressive movements.
Lord, all my desire is before thee - I long for nothing so much as thy favor; and for this my heart is continually going out after thee. Instead of אדני Adonai, Lord, several of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS. have יהוה Yehovah.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Lord, all my desire is before thee - That is, Thou knowest all that I would ask or that I need. This is the expression of one who felt that his only hope was in God, and that He fully understood the case. There was no need of repeating the request. He was willing to leave the whole case with God. And my groaning is not hid from thee - My sighing; the expression of my sorrow and anguish. As God certainly heard these sighs, and as He wholly understood the case, David hoped that He would mercifully interpose in his behalf.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲֽדֹנָי | ʾadonai | O Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| נֶגְדְּךָ֥ | negdekha | [is] before you | H5048 → | 151 times |
| כָל־ | khol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| תַּאֲוָתִ֑י | taavati | desire my | H8378 → | 20 times |
| וְ֝אַנְחָתִ֗י | veanchati | and sighing my | H585 → | 11 times |
| מִמְּךָ֥ | mimekha | from you | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נִסְתָּֽרָה׃ | nistarah | it is hidden | H5641 → | 80 times |
אֲֽדֹנָיO Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
נֶגְדְּךָ֥[is] before you
negdekhaH5048 →151 times
כָל־all
khol-H3605 →5413 times
תַּאֲוָתִ֑יdesire my
taavatiH8378 →20 times
וְ֝אַנְחָתִ֗יand sighing my
veanchatiH585 →11 times
מִמְּךָ֥from you
mimekhaH4480 →1188 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
נִסְתָּֽרָה׃it is hidden
nistarahH5641 →80 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
John 1:48“How do You know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 65:24
Even before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- John 2:25
He did not need any testimony about man, for He knew what was in a man.
- Isaiah 65:24
Through
Psalms 10:17You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,
it leads to
- Psalms 145:19
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.
- 2 Chronicles 34:27
because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its people, and because you have humbled yourself before Me and you have…
- Psalms 34:15
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
- 1 Peter 3:12
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
- Psalms 145:19
Through
2 Corinthians 5:2For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
it leads to
- Romans 8:23
Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
- 1 Corinthians 15:53–54
For the perishable must be clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.
- Romans 8:23
About Psalms
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 38; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 22; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1564: “Desires Towards God—a Sermon For The Weak” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 7 -- Second Discourse on the Fear of God and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.