Psalms 5:1

Amplified Bible

Listen to my words, O LORD, Consider my groaning and sighing.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Listen to my words, Lord;consider my sighing.

Hebrew Names Version
<> Give ear to my words, LORD. Consider my meditation.

King James Version
Give ear to my words, O Lord , consider my meditation.

English Standard Version

To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Lord ; consider my groaning.

New Century Version

For the director of music. For flutes. A psalm of David.

Lord , listen to my words. Understand my sadness.

New English Translation

For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; a psalm of David.

Listen to what I say, Lord ! Carefully consider my complaint!

New American Standard Bible
Listen to my words, LORD, Consider my sighing.

World English Bible
<> Give ear to my words, Yahweh. Consider my meditation.

Geneva Bible (1587)
To him that excelleth vpon Nehiloth. A Psalme of Dauid. Heare my wordes, O Lorde: vnderstande my meditation.

Legacy Standard Bible
Give ear to my words, O Yahweh,Consider my meditation.

Berean Standard Bible
For the choirmaster, to be accompanied by flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning.

Contemporary English Version

(A psalm by David for the music leader. Use flutes.)

Listen, Lord , as I pray! Pay attention when I groan.

Complete Jewish Bible
For the leader. On wind instruments. A psalm of David:

Darby Translation

To the chief Musician. Upon Nehiloth. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Jehovah; consider my meditation.

Easy-to-Read Version

To the director: With flutes. A song of David.

Lord , listen to me and understand what I am trying to say.

George Lamsa Translation
GIVE ear to my words, O LORD, and consider my meditation.

Good News Translation
Listen to my words, O Lord , and hear my sighs.

Lexham English Bible

For the music director; with the flutes. A psalm of David.

Hear my words, O Yahweh. Give heed to my sighing.

Literal Translation
To the chief musician, for flutes. A Psalm of David Give ear to my words, O Jehovah; consider my meditation.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Heare my wordes (o LORDE) considre my callynge.

American Standard Version

For the Chief Musician; with the Nehiloth. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Jehovah, Consider my meditation.

Bible in Basic English
Give ear to my words, O Lord; give thought to my heart-searchings.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For the Leader; upon the Nehiloth. A Psalm of David.

King James Version (1611)
[To the chiefe musician vpon Nehiloth, A Psalme of Dauid.] Giue eare to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Geue eare vnto my wordes O God: vnderstande thou my pensifnesse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Hearken to my words, O Lord, attend to my cry.

English Revised Version
For the Chief Musician; with the Nehiloth. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The title of the fyuethe salm. To the ouercomere on the eritagis, the song of Dauid. Lord, perseyue thou my wordis with eeris; vndurstonde thou my cry.

Update Bible Version
For the Chief Musician; with the Nehiloth. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Yahweh, consider my meditation.

Webster's Bible Translation
To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.

New King James Version
To the Chief Musician. With flutes [fn] . A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O Lord,Consider my meditation.

New Living Translation

For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by the flute.

O Lord , hear me as I pray; pay attention to my groaning.

New Life Bible
Hear my words, O Lord. Think about my crying.

New Revised Standard

To the leader: for the flutes. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Lord ; give heed to my sighing.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
To my words, give ear, O Yahweh, Understand thou my softly murmured prayer:

Douay-Rheims Bible
<Unto the end, for her that obtaineth the inheritance. A psalm for David.> (5-2) Give ear, O Lord, to my words, understand my cry.

Revised Standard Version
To the choirmaster: for the flutes. A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD; give heed to my groaning.

Young's Literal Translation
To the Overseer, `Concerning the Inheritances.' -- A Psalm of David. My sayings hear, O Jehovah, Consider my meditation.

THE MESSAGE
A David Psalm Listen, God ! Please, pay attention! Can you make sense of these ramblings, my groans and cries? King-God, I need your help. Every morning you'll hear me at it again. Every morning I lay out the pieces of my life on your altar and watch for fire to descend.

New American Standard Bible (1995)

For the choir director; for flute accompaniment. A Psalm of David.

Give ear to my words, O Lord , Consider my groaning.

Contextual Overview

¹Listen to my words, O LORD, Consider my groaning and sighing.²Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray. ³In the morning, O LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will prepare [a prayer and a sacrifice] for You and watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart]. ⁴For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil [person] dwells with You. ⁵The boastful and the arrogant will not stand in Your sight; You hate all who do evil. ⁶You destroy those who tell lies; The LORD detests and rejects the bloodthirsty and deceitful man.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 2:4
This is the history of [the origin of] the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day [that is, days of creation] that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens—

Genesis 5:26
Methuselah lived seven hundred and eighty-two years after the birth of Lamech and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:27
So Methuselah lived nine hundred and sixty-nine years, and he died.

Genesis 6:9
These are the records of the generations (family history) of Noah. Noah was a righteous man [one who was just and had right standing with God], blameless in his [evil] generation; Noah walked (lived) [in habitual fellowship] with God.

Genesis 10:1
These are the records of the generations (descendants) of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah; and the sons born to them after the flood:

1 Chronicles 1:1
Adam [his genealogical line], Seth, Enosh,

Ecclesiastes 7:29
"Behold, I have found only this [as a reason]: God made man upright and uncorrupted, but they [both men and women] have sought out many devices [for evil]."

Ecclesiastes 12:1
Remember [thoughtfully] also your Creator in the days of your youth [for you are not your own, but His], before the evil days come or the years draw near when you will say [of physical pleasures], "I have no enjoyment and delight in them";

Matthew 1:1
The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son (descendant) of David, the son (descendant) of Abraham:

1 Corinthians 11:7
A man ought not have his head covered [during worship], since he is the image and [reflected] glory of God; but the woman is [the expression of] man's glory.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Give ear to my words, O Lord,.... Meaning not his words in common conversation, but in prayer; the words which came out of his mouth, and were audibly expressed by him at the throne of grace, and design vocal prayer; and so stand distinguished from the meditation of his heart, sacred ejaculations, or mental prayer; see Psalms 54:2; and words in prayer to God ought to be few, at least not repeated, Ecclesiastes 5:2; and these should be a man's own words, as were the psalmist's; not what were suggested by another, or written in a book before him, but what were of his own composing and putting together, under the direction of the Spirit of God; who put words into his mouth, and furnished him both with words and matter, and which he freely uttered before the Lord: and this is the "parrhesia", boldness, freedom of speech, which the Scriptures speak of, Hebrews 4:16; and the saints are allowed to use in prayer before God; when they may pour out their souls unto him, and freely tell him all their mind, as the psalmist now did; to which he entreats the Lord to "give ear"; not that God has a corporeal ear as man has, but he that made the ear has the power of hearing: this is an anthropopathy, and is spoken after the manner of men; such as are of kind and benevolent dispositions do not turn away, but stop and hear what a poor miserable object has to say to them, to whom they listen and return an answer; and so this phrase is expressive of the kind regard God has to the prayers of the destitute, which he does not despise but delight in; and of his bowing and inclining his ear, or of the strict and close attention he gives to them; and of the full and suitable answer he returns, in his own time and way; and is what the psalmist most earnestly entreats. He adds,

consider my meditation; the prayer he had meditated: for meditation is requisite to prayer, and should go before it; which is necessary in order to pray with the understanding; nor should men utter anything rashly and hastily before the Lord: it may design mental prayer, in distinction from vocal prayer, signified by his words before, such as that of Moses at the Red sea, and of Hannah before Eli, Exodus 14:15 1 Samuel 1:13. The word also signifies inward mourning, and groans; the root from whence this is derived to mourn, and is so rendered in

Isaiah 38:14; where Hezekiah compares his prayers to the chattering of a crane and swallow, and the mourning of a dove; and are the same with the unutterable groanings with which the Spirit of God sometimes makes intercession for the saints, Romans 8:26; and which are not hid from God, Psalms 38:9; but are well known to him: he understands the language of a sigh or groan; and so the words may be rendered "understand my moan" c.

c חניני "murmur meum", Vatablus, Gejerus; "gemitum meum", Cocceius, Hammond; "gemitus et suspiria mea", Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

:Title

Upon Nehiloth - The title of Psalms 4:1-8 is, “upon Neginoth.” As that refers to a musical instrument, so it is probable that this does, and that the idea here is that this psalm was intended particularly for the music-master that had special charge of this instrument, or who presided over those that played on it. Perhaps the idea is that this psalm was specially designed to be accompanied with this instrument. The word here, Nehiloth - נחילות n^echı̂ylôth, plural. נחילה n^echı̂ylâh, singular - is supposed by Gesenius, Lexicon, to denote a flute, or pipe, as being “perforated,” from חלל châlal, to bore.” The word occurs only in this place. Very various opinions have been entertained of its meaning. See Hengstenberg, “Com.” The Latin Vulgate and the Septuagint understand it as meaning “inheritance” - the same as נחלה nachălâh, and as being somehow designed to refer to the people of God “as” a heritage. Latin Vulgate: In finem pro ca, quae hereditatem consequitur, psalmus David. So the Septuagint - ὑπὲρ τῆς κληρονομούσης huper tēs klēronomousēs. So Luther, Fur das Erbe. What was the precise idea affixed to this it is not very easy to determine. Luther explains it, “according to the title, this is the general idea of the psalm, that the author prays for the inheritance or heritage of God, desiring that the people of God may be faithful to him, and may always adhere to him.” The true interpretation, however, is evidently to regard this as an instrument of music, and to consider the psalm as adapted to be sung with the instrument of music specified. Why it was adapted particularly to “that” instrument of music cannot now be determined. Horsley renders it “upon the flutes.” Compare Ugolin. Thesau. Ant. Sac.; tom. xxxii. pp. 158-170.

A Psalm of David - See introduction to Psalms 3:1-8.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

PSALM V

David continues instant in prayer, 1, 2;

makes early application to God, 3;

and shows the hatred which God bears to the workers of

iniquity, 4-6.

His determination to worship God, and to implore direction and

support, 7, 8.

He points out the wickedness of his enemies, 9,

and the destruction they may expect, 10;

and then shows the happiness of those who trust in the Lord,

11, 12.

NOTES ON PSALM V

This Psalm is inscribed to the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. As neginoth may signify all kinds of instruments struck with a plectrum, stringed instruments, those like the drum, cymbals, c. so nechiloth, from חל chal, to be hollow, to bore through, may signify any kind of wind instruments, such as the horn, trumpet, flute, c. See on the title to the preceding Psalm (Psalms 4:1-8). The Septuagint have, Εις το τελος, ὑπερ της κληρονομουσης, "In favour of her who obtains the inheritance." The Vulgate and Arabic have a similar reading. The word נחילות nechiloth they have derived from נחל nachal, to inherit. This may either refer to the Israelites who obtained the inheritance of the promised land, or to the Church of Christ which obtains through him, by faith and prayer, the inheritance among the saints in light. This Psalm is, especially, for the whole Church of God.

Verse Psalms 5:1. Give ear to my words — This is properly a morning hymn, as the preceding was an evening hymn. We have seen from the conclusion of the last Psalm that David was very happy, and lay down and slept in the peace and love of his God. When he opens his eyes on the following morning, he not only remembers but feels the happiness of which he spoke and with his first recollections he meditates on the goodness and mercy of God, and the glorious state of salvation into which he had been brought. He calls on God to give ear to his words; probably words of God's promises which he had been pleading.