Psalms 5:1
Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.
BSB
ASV
Give ear to my words, O Jehovah, Consider my meditation.
KJV
Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.
Give ear to my words, O Lord. No one has this confidence except the Church. He who is a sinner has not dared to say, Give ear to my words, O Lord. He who is angry and curses has not dared to say, Give ear to my words, O Lord; but he wishes rather that God would close His ears.
There are two sorts of prayers—those expressed in words, and the unuttered longings which abide as silent meditations. Words are not the essence but the garments of prayer. Moses at the Red Sea cried to God, though he said nothing. Yet the use of language may prevent distraction of mind, may assist the powers of the soul, and may excite devotion. David, we observe, uses both modes of prayer, and craves for the one a hearing, and for the other a consideration. What an expressive word! "Consider my meditation."
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 19:14May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
leads to
May my meditation be pleasing to Him, for I rejoice in the LORD.
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.
Accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me Your judgments.
you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
Through
1 Peter 3:12For 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.”
leads to
The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and His ears are inclined to their cry.
We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.
The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.