Bible Strands
Psalms 102:1
A prayer of one who is afflicted, when he grows faint and pours out his lament before the LORD. Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry for help come before You.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist, identified as an afflicted person who has grown faint, addresses the LORD directly. This prayer is spoken at the moment the speaker pours out a lament before God.
The words — The Hebrew verb שִׁמְעָה (shimʿâ) issues a command to "hear," paired with תְפִלָּתִי (tefillātî) and שַׁוְעָתִי (shaʿatî), meaning "my prayer" and "my cry for help." The verb תָבֹא (tāḇōʾ) literally means "let it come," directing the speaker's urgent appeal toward the divine audience.
The thread — This pattern of distress crying out to God appears in Psalms 18:6, where a cry from distress is heard from the temple, and Psalms 130:1, which opens with a cry from the depths. The motif of groaning and crying out under burden echoes the Israelites' experience in Exodus 2:23.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to treat prayer as the direct response to human exhaustion rather than a ritual obligation. It demands that the reader bring their own faintness and unfiltered distress directly to God without mediation or pretense.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the Lord. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee.
Cross-references
- Psalms 18:6 In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.
- Psalms 130:1 A song of ascents. Out of the depths I cry to You, O LORD!
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Psalms 61:2 From the ends of the earth I call out to You whenever my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
- Psalms 142:2 I pour out my complaint before Him; I reveal my trouble to Him.
- Psalms 39:12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.
- Luke 22:44 And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
- Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
- Judges 10:16 So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and He could no longer bear the misery of Israel.
- 1 Samuel 1:15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.