Psalms 88:2

Let my prayer come before thee: incline thine ear unto my cry;

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
prayer	תְּפִלָּתִ֑י te.fi.la.Ti	H8605	intercession · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
come	תָּב֣וֹא ta.Vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
before	לְ֭פָנֶיךָ Le.fa.nei.kha	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
incline	הַטֵּֽה ha.teh-	H5186	to stretch or spread out · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
ear	אָ֝זְנְךָ֗ 'a.ze.ne.kha	H241	broadness. i.e. (concrete) the ear (from its form in ma… · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
cry	לְרִנָּתִֽי le.ri.na.Ti	H7440	properly · preposition + noun, common feminine singular 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 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 141:1-2 LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.
Lamentations 3:8 Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
Psalms 79:11 Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee; according to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are appointed to die;
1 Kings 8:31 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:1-9

It should seem, by the titles of this and the following psalm, that Heman was the penman of the one and Ethan of the other. There were two, of these names, who were sons of Zerah the son of Judah, Ch1 2:4, Ch1 2:6. There were two others famed for wisdom, Kg1 4:31, where, to magnify Solomon's wisdom, he is said to be wiser than Heman and Ethan. Whether the Heman and Ethan who were Levites and precentors in the songs of Zion were the same we are not sure, nor which of these, nor whether any of these, were the penmen of these psalms. There was a Heman that was one of the chief singers, who is called the king's seer, or prophet, in the words of God (Ch1 25:5); it is probable that this also was a…

Read the whole note in the console

John Gill on Psalms 88:2

Let my prayer come before thee,.... Not before men, as hypocrites desire, but before the Lord; let it not be shut out, but be admitted; and let it come with acceptance, as it does when it ascends before God, out of the hands of the angel before the throne, perfumed with the much incense of his mediation, Revelation 8:3, incline thine ear unto my cry; hearken to it, receive it, and give an answer to it; Christ's prayers were attended with strong crying, and were always received and heard, Hebrews 5:7.

John Calvin on Psalms 88:1-5

Psalm 88:1-5 1. O Jehovah! God of my salvation! I cry day and night before thee. 2. Let my prayer come into thy presence: incline thy ear to my cry; 3. For my soul is filled with troubles; and my life is drawing near to the grave. 4. I am numbered with them that go down to the pit: I have been as a man who hath no strength: 5. Free among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from thy hand. 1 O Jehovah! God of my salvation! Let me call upon you particularly to notice what I have just now stated, that although the prophet simply, and without hyperbole, recites the agony which he suffered from the greatness of his sorrows, yet his pu…

Read the whole note in the console

Keil & Delitzsch

The Church Fathers

"O let my prayer enter into Your presence, incline Your ear unto my calling" [Psalm 88:2]. For even our Lord prayed, not in the form of God, but in the form of a servant; for in this He also suffered. He prayed both in prosperous times, that is, by "day," and in calamity, which I imagine is meant by "night." The entrance of prayer into God's presence is its acceptance: the inclination of His ear is His compassionate listening to it: for God has not such bodily members as we have. The passage is however, as usual, a repetition.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 88

"Let my prayer come in before thee." "Into thy hands, Father, I commend my spirit." "Let my prayer come in before thee. Incline thine ear to my petition." Where are the anthropomorphites, who suppose that God has bodily members? "Incline thine ear, O God." It is the voice of the Son to the Father, speaking in our person. "Incline thine ear." It is a mark of great weakness, if, when He wishes to hear, He needs to incline His ear, so as to hear more closely. See how wretched it is to say that the Father cannot hear the Son unless with head inclined. Scripture speaks with human frailty, so that we may more easily understand what is said.
— Jerome, Homily 65, on Psalm 87 (Alternate Series)

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

Ezrahite — A title given to Ethan (1 Kings 4:31; Ps. 89, title) and Heman (Ps. 88, title). They were both sons of Zerah (1 Chr. 2:6).
Job, Book of — A great diversity of opinion exists as to the authorship of this book. From internal evidence, such as the similarity of sentiment and language to those in the Psalms and Proverbs (see Ps. 88 and…
Leannoth — For answering; i.e., in singing, occurs in the title to Ps. 88. The title “Mahalath (q.v.) Leannoth” may be rendered “concerning sickness, to be sung” i.e., perhaps, to be sung in sickness.
Mahalath — A lute; lyre. (1.) The daughter of Ishmael, and third wife of Esau (Gen. 28:9); called also Bashemath (Gen. 36:3). (2.) The daughter of Jerimoth, who was one of David’s sons. She was one of…
Mahalath Leannoth Maschil — This word leannoth seems to point to some kind of instrument unknown (Ps. 88, title). The whole phrase has by others been rendered, “On the sickness of affliction: a lesson;” or, “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).

Psalms 88:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:1-9

John Gill on Psalms 88:2

John Calvin on Psalms 88:1-5

Keil & Delitzsch

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 88:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 88:1-9

John Gill on Psalms 88:2

John Calvin on Psalms 88:1-5

Keil & Delitzsch

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 88:1-5

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 88:2