Bible Strands
Psalms 28:1
Of David. To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — David addresses Yahweh directly, calling out in a moment of acute desperation. The fear driving the plea is that God's silence will result in his death.
The words — תֶּחֱרַשׁ (te.che.Rash) means "be deaf," from a root for dumbness or muteness; applied to God, it frames divine silence not as calm but as a kind of incapacity the psalmist cannot bear.
The thread — The same fear of descending to the Pit appears in Psalms 143:7 and Psalms 88:4. The address "my Rock" (צוּרִי) echoes Psalms 18:2, where the LORD is David's rock, fortress, and deliverer.
Why it lands — The verse equates God's silence with death, stripping away any assumption that divine inaction is benign. It asks the reader to take the plea seriously: the psalmist is not being dramatic; he is stating a condition he believes is real.
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 Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Cross-references
- Psalms 143:7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
- Psalms 18:2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
- Psalms 88:4 I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
- Psalms 83:1 A song. A Psalm of Asaph. O God, be not silent; be not speechless; be not still, O God.
- Proverbs 1:12 let us swallow them alive like Sheol, and whole like those descending into the Pit.
- Isaiah 26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, because GOD the LORD is the Rock eternal.
- Job 33:28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’
- Revelation 20:3 And he threw him into the Abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him, so that he could not deceive the nations until the thousand years were complete. After that, he must be released for a brief period of time.
- Psalms 22:2 I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.
- Psalms 30:9 “What gain is there in my bloodshed, in my descent to the Pit? Will the dust praise You? Will it proclaim Your faithfulness?