Bible Strands
Psalms 38:9
O Lord, my every desire is before You; my groaning is not hidden from You.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the Lord during a crisis of physical collapse and emotional anguish. He speaks this declaration immediately after describing his crushed state and before detailing his failing strength and fading vision.
The words — The Hebrew term ta'ava.ti denotes a deep personal desire or longing, while nis.tarah describes something concealed or kept from view. Together they frame the speaker's claim that his innermost needs and outward distress are fully exposed to God.
The thread — This theme of God hearing exposed longing appears in Psalms 10:17, where the Lord hears the desire of the humble. The motif of godly groaning also connects to Psalms 6:6 and 2 Corinthians 5:2, where distress and longing are brought before God.
Why it lands — The verse asserts that God perceives both internal longing and external distress without obstruction. It requires the reader to acknowledge that no human experience is concealed from Him and to present their actual condition to Him directly.
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
Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
Cross-references
- Psalms 10:17 You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,
- Psalms 6:6 I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- 2 Corinthians 5:2 For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,
- Romans 8:26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
- Psalms 102:5 Through my loud groaning my skin hangs on my bones.
- John 1:48 “How do You know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
- Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.
- Psalms 102:20 to hear a prisoner’s groaning, to release those condemned to death,