Bible Strands
Psalms 66:14
the vows that my lips promised and my mouth spoke in my distress.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God while preparing to enter His house to fulfill commitments made during a prior time of affliction. This moment follows a declaration of intent to bring burnt offerings and concludes the description of vows previously uttered.
The words — The Hebrew פָּצוּ (pa.Tzu) means "they opened," describing how the psalmist's lips and mouth actively voiced promises while trapped in צַר (tzar), "distress." This phrasing emphasizes the physical act of speaking vows under pressure.
The thread — Vows made in affliction appear in 1 Samuel 1:11 where a woman pledges to the LORD during her distress, and Judges 11:35 records a vow leading to immediate anguish. The pattern of calling on God and speaking commitments in distress mirrors the psalmist's experience in Psalms 18:6.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that spoken commitments to God originate in desperate circumstances and require tangible repayment. It asks readers to treat their own distress-born promises as binding obligations requiring action, not mere words.
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
Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
Cross-references
- Judges 11:35 As soon as Jephthah saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “No! Not my daughter! You have brought me to my knees! You have brought great misery upon me, for I have given my word to the LORD and cannot take it back.”
- 1 Samuel 1:11 And she made a vow, saying, “O LORD of Hosts, if only You will look upon the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, not forgetting Your maidservant but giving her a son, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall ever touch his head.”
- 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.
- Numbers 30:2 If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word; he must do everything he has promised.
- Numbers 30:8 But if her husband prohibits her when he hears of it, he nullifies the vow that binds her or the rash promise she has made, and the LORD will absolve her.
- 2 Samuel 22:7 In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried out to my God. And from His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for help reached His ears.
- Genesis 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and watch over me on this journey, and if He will provide me with food to eat and clothes to wear,
- Genesis 35:3 Then let us arise and go to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in my day of distress. He has been with me wherever I have gone.”
- Numbers 30:12 But if her husband nullifies them on the day he hears of them, then nothing that came from her lips, whether her vows or pledges, shall stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will absolve her.