to stretch or spread out · verb, hiphil perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
ear
אָזְנ֣וֹ'a.ze.No
H241
broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in ma… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
call
אֶקְרָֽא'ek.Ra'
H7121
to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
live
וּבְיָמַ֥יu.ve.ya.Mai
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 145:18-19 The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.
Psalms 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
Psalms 55:16-17 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
Psalms 31:2 Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.
Psalms 86:6-7 Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
Luke 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
Colossians 4:2 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 116:1-9
In this part of the psalm we have,
I. A general account of David's experience, and his pious resolutions (Psa 116:1, Psa 116:2), which are as the contents of the whole psalm, and give an idea of it. 1. He had experienced God's goodness to him in answer to prayer: He has heard my voice and my supplications. David, in straits, had humbly and earnestly begged mercy of God, and God had heard him, that is, had graciously accepted his prayer, taken cognizance of his case, and granted him an answer of peace. He has inclined his ear to me. This intimates his readiness and willingness to hear prayer; he lays his ear, as it were, to the mouth of prayer, to hear it, though it be but whispered in groani…
Because he hath inclined his ear unto me,.... Not as hard of hearing, for his ear is not heavy that it cannot hear; he is quick of hearing, and his ears are always open to the righteous; it rather denotes his readiness to hear; he hearkens and hears, he listens to what his people say, and hears them at once, and understands them, though ever so broken and confused; when their prayers are but like the chatterings of a crane or swallow, or only expressed in sighs and groans, and even without a voice; when nothing is articulately pronounced: moreover, this shows condescension in him; he bows his ear as a rattler to a child, he stoops as being above them, and inclines his ear to them.
Therefore…
Psalm 116:1-4
1. I have loved, because Jehovah shall hear the voice of my supplication. 2. Because he hath inclined his ear to me, and during my days I will call upon him. 3. The snares [375] of death compassed me, [376] and the sorrows of the grave found me: [377] I found tribulation and grief. 4. And I will call upon the name of Jehovah; I beseech thee, O Jehovah! deliver my soul.
1 I have loved, because Jehovah will hear the voice of my supplication. At the very commencement of this psalm David avows that he was attracted with the sweetness of God's goodness, to place his hope and confidence in him alone. This abrupt mode of speaking, I have loved, is the more emphatic, intimating that…
The Church Fathers
Because he has inclined his ear to me. Since we are small and lowly, and cannot stretch ourselves up and lift ourselves high, for that reason the Lord inclines his ear and deigns to hear us. And so, since we are human beings and cannot become gods, God became man and inclined himself, according to that which is written: "He inclined the heavens, and came down."
But whence hath he hoped for this? Since, he saith, "He hath inclined His ear unto me: and in my days I have called upon Him." I loved, therefore, because He will hear; He will hear, "because He hath inclined His ear unto me." But whence knowest thou, O human soul, that God hath inclined His ear unto thee, except thou sayest, "I have believed"? These three things, therefore, "abide, faith, hope, charity:" because thou hast believed, thou hast hoped; because thou hast hoped, thou hast loved. ...
And in my days I will call upon him. Here the question is asked: how is it that he calls upon him in the days, and does not call upon him in the nights? And how does he say in another place, "At midnight I rose to give praise to you," since the saints are more accustomed to pray in the nights? And in another psalm it is said: "In the nights lift up your hands to the holy places, and bless the Lord." How then does he say, And in my days I will call upon him? He did not say, I called; but, I will call, in the future. For while we are in this world, we call upon him in the night; in the world to come we call upon the Lord in the day. Therefore he said, in my days: for to sinners it is night, but to me it is day.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Temple, the Second — After the return from captivity, under Zerubbabel (q.v.) and the high priest Jeshua, arrangements were almost immediately made to reorganize the long-desolated kingdom. The body of pilgrims, forming…
Prayer, Answers To · A motive for continued prayer — A motive for continued prayer
Prayerfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Not only is כּי אהבתּי "I love (like, am well pleased) that," like ἀγαπῶ ὅτι, Thucydides vi. 36, contrary to the usage of the language, but the thought, "I love that Jahve answereth me," is also tame and flat, and inappropriate to the continuation in Psa 116:2. Since Psa 116:3-4 have come from Psa 18:5-17, אהבתּי is to be understood according to ארחמך in Psa 18:2, so that it has the following יהוה as its object, not it is true grammatically, but logically. The poet is fond of this pregnant use of the verb without an expressed object, cf. אקרא in Psa 116:2, and האמנתּי in Psa 116:10. The Pasek after ישׁמע is intended to guard against the blending of the final a‛ with the initial 'a of אדנ…
Because the Lord responds to the cry of his people (107:41; 113:6-8), the psalmist now strongly believes in prayer.
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 116:2
Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
Because he hath inclined his ear unto me :—bowing down from his grandeur to attend to my prayer; the figure seems to be that of a tender physician or loving friend leaning over a sick man whose voice is faint and scarcely audible, so as to catch every accent and whisper. When our prayer is very feeble, so that we ourselves can scarcely hear it, and question whether we do pray or not, yet God bows a listening ear, and regards our supplications. Therefore will I call upon him as long as I live, or "in my days." Throughout all the days of my life I will address my prayer to God alone, and to him I will…
