the First Week after Epiphany
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New King James Version
Psalms 141:2
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- DailyParallel Translations
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
Let my prayer be directed in thy sight as incense, and the lifting vp of mine hands as an euening sacrifice.
May my prayer be set before you as incense,the raising of my hands as the evening offering.
Let my prayer be set before you like incense; The lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
Accept my prayer like a gift of burning incense, the words I lift up like an evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
Let my prayer be set forth as incense before thee; The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Think of my prayer as sweet-smelling incense, and think of my lifted hands as an evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be like incense set before you, my uplifted hands like an evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be set forth as incense before Thee, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer bee set foorth before thee as incense: and the lifting vp of my hands as the Euening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be set forth as incense before thee; the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering.
Let my prayer be set before you as incense, the lifting up of my palms as the evening offering.
Let my prayer be established before You as incense; the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be like incense placed before you, and my praise like the evening sacrifice.
May you accept my prayer like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering!
Accept my prayer as incense offered to you, and my upraised hands as an evening offering.
May my prayer be like special perfume before You. May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening gift given on the altar in worship.
Let my prayer be set in order like incense before thee, - the lifting up of my hands, as the evening gift.
(140-2) Let my prayer be directed as incense in thy sight; the lifting up of my hands, as evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the gift of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Receive my prayer as incense, my uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice.
May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The raising of my hands as the evening offering.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be directed before thy face [as] an incense: let the liftyng vp of mine handes [be] an euenyng sacrifice.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening oblation.
Mi preier be dressid as encense in thi siyt; the reisyng of myn hondis be as the euentid sacrifice.
My prayer is prepared -- incense before Thee, The lifting up of my hands -- the evening present.
Let my prayer be set before you like incense; The lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice!
May my prayer be placed as incense before you; The lifting of my hands as the evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be set forth before thee [as] incense; [and] the lifting up of my hands [as] the evening sacrifice.
Let my prayer be ordered before you like a sweet smell; and let the lifting up of my hands be like the evening offering.
Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incese, and let the liftinge vp of my hades be an euenynge sacrifice.
May my prayer be counted as incense before You; The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
May my prayer be established as incense before You;The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Let my prayer: David, who was now driven from Judea, and far from the sanctuary, here prays that the devotion of his heart, and the elevation of his hands, might be accepted; that the one might ascend to heaven fragrant and well pleasing as the cloud of incense, and the other, in conjunction with it, be prevalent as the minchah, or evening oblation. Proverbs 15:8
set forth: Heb. directed, Psalms 5:3
as incense: Exodus 30:7-9, Exodus 30:34-38, Leviticus 10:1, Leviticus 10:2, Leviticus 16:11-13, Numbers 16:35, Numbers 16:46-48, Malachi 1:11, Luke 1:9, Luke 1:10, Revelation 5:8, Revelation 8:3, Revelation 8:4
the lifting: Psalms 28:2, Psalms 63:4, Psalms 134:2, 1 Timothy 2:8
the evening: Exodus 29:39, Exodus 29:42, 1 Kings 18:36, Ezra 9:4, Daniel 9:21, Acts 3:1
Reciprocal: Exodus 29:41 - offer Exodus 35:15 - the incense Exodus 37:29 - incense Leviticus 2:16 - General Numbers 28:4 - and the other 1 Kings 8:28 - Yet have thou 1 Kings 8:59 - nigh 2 Chronicles 6:12 - spread forth Ezra 9:5 - spread Nehemiah 8:6 - with lifting Psalms 88:2 - General Isaiah 43:26 - Put Lamentations 2:19 - lift up Lamentations 3:41 - with Malachi 3:3 - an Acts 10:4 - thy 1 Peter 2:5 - spiritual
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Let my prayer be set forth before thee [as] incense,.... Which was offered every morning on the altar of incense, at which time the people were praying, Exodus 30:1; and was an emblem of it, even of pure, holy, and fervent prayer; which being offered on the altar Christ, which sanctifies every gift, and by him the High Priest; through whom every sacrifice is acceptable unto God; and through whose blood and righteousness, and the sweet incense of his mediation and intercession, it becomes fragrant and a sweet odour to the Lord; and being directed to him, it goes upwards, is regarded by him, and continues before him as sweet incense; which is what the psalmist prays for; see Malachi 1:11;
[and] the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice; the burnt sacrifice of the evening, according to Ben Melech, the lamb slain every evening; or else the minchah, as the word is; the meat, or rather the bread offering made of fine flour, with oil and frankincense on it, which went along with the former, Exodus 29:38; and so the Targum,
"as the sweet gift offered in the evening.''
This only is mentioned, as being put for both the morning and the evening sacrifice; or because the incense was offered in the morning, from which it is distinguished: or it may be, as Kimchi thinks, this psalm was composed in the evening; and so the inscription in the Syriac version is,
"a psalm of David, when he meditated the evening service.''
Or because this was the last sacrifice of the day; there was no other after it, as Aben Ezra observes; and the most acceptable; to which may be added, that this was the hour for prayer, Acts 3:1. Wherefore "lifting up of [the] hands" was a prayer gesture, and a very ancient one both among Jews and Gentiles x; Aristotle y says, all men, when we pray, lift up our hands to heaven; and it is put for that itself, 1 Timothy 2:8; and is desired to be, like that, acceptable unto God; as it is when the heart is lifted up with the hands, and prayer is made in the name and faith of Christ.
x Vid. Barthii Animadv. in Claudian. ad Rufin. l. 2. v. 205. y De Mundo, c. 6. Vid. Plutarch. in Vita Camilli. "Sustulit ad sidera palmas", Virgil. Aeneid. 2. so Ovid. Fasti, l. 3.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Let my prayer be set forth before thee - Margin, “directed.” The Hebrew word means to fit; to establish; to make firm. The psalmist desires that his prayer should not be like that which is feeble, languishing, easily dissipated, but that it should be like that which is firm and secure.
As incense - See the notes and illustrations at Luke 1:9-10. Let my prayer come before thee in such a manner as incense does when it is offered in worship; in a manner of which the ascending of incense is a suitable emblem. See the notes at Revelation 5:8; notes at Revelation 8:3.
And the lifting up of my hands - In prayer; a natural posture in that act of worship.
As the evening sacrifice - The sacrifice offered on the altar at evening. Let my prayer be as acceptable as that is when it is offered in a proper manner.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Psalms 141:2. As incense — Incense was offered every morning and evening before the Lord, on the golden altar, before the veil of the sanctuary. Exodus 29:39, and Numbers 28:4.
As the evening sacrifice. — This was a burnt-offering, accompanied with flour and salt. But it does not appear that David refers to any sacrifice, for he uses not זבח zebach, which is almost universally used for a slaughtered animal; but מנחה minchah, which is generally taken for a gratitude-offering or unbloody sacrifice. The literal translation of the passage is, "Let my prayer be established for incense before thy faces; and the lifting up of my hands for the evening oblation." The psalmist appears to have been at this time at a distance from the sanctuary, and therefore could not perform the Divine worship in the way prescribed by the law. What could he do? Why, as he could not worship according to the letter of the law, he will worship God according to the spirit; then prayer is accepted in the place of incense; and the lifting up of his hands, in gratitude and self-dedication to God, is accepted in the place of the evening minchah or oblation. Who can deplore the necessity that obliged the psalmist to worship God in this way?
