Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
Parallel Translations
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Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
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Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
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Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto Thee, when I lift up my hands toward Thy holy Sanctuary.
Cross-references (17)
Passages linked to Psalms 28:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.
- Psalms 141:2 Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.
- Psalms 140:6 I said to Yahweh, “You are my God.” Listen to the cry of my petitions, Yahweh.
- 1 Timothy 2:8 I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.
- Psalms 5:7 But as for me, in the abundance of your loving kindness I will come into your house. I will bow toward your holy temple in reverence of you.
- Psalms 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise Yahweh!
- Daniel 6:10 When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.
- 1 Kings 6:19 He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of Yahweh’s covenant there.
- 1 Kings 6:22-23 He overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. He also overlaid the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary with gold. In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high.
- 1 Kings 8:6-8 The priests brought in the ark of Yahweh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, even under the cherubim’s wings. For the cherubim spread their wings out over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and its poles above. The poles were so long that the ends of the poles were seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary; but they were not seen outside. They are there to this day.
- 1 Kings 8:28-30 Yet have respect for the prayer of your servant, and for his supplication, Yahweh my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which your servant prays before you today; that your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there;’ to listen to the prayer which your servant prays toward this place. Listen to the supplication of your servant, and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Yes, hear in heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.
- 1 Kings 8:38 whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house,
- 2 Chronicles 6:13 (for Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, and five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and had set it in the middle of the court; and he stood on it, and knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven)
- Psalms 63:4 So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.
- Psalms 125:5 But as for those who turn away to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.
- Psalms 143:6 I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land.
- Lamentations 2:19 Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2. Hear the voice of my prayers when I…
2. Hear the voice of my prayers when I cry to thee. This repetition is a sign of a heart in anguish. David’s ardor and vehemence in prayer are also intimated by the noun signifying voice, and the verb signifying to cry. He means that he was so stricken with anxiety and fear, that he prayed not coldly, but with burning, vehement desire, like those who, under the pressure of grief, vehemently cry out. In the second clause of the verse, by synecdoche, the thing signified is indicated by the sign. It has been a common practice in all ages for men to lift up their hands in prayer. Nature has extorted this gesture even from heathen idolaters, to show by a visible sign that their minds were directed to God alone. The greater part, it is true, contented with this ceremony, busy themselves to no effect with their own inventions; but the very lifting up of the hands, when there is no hypocrisy and deceit, is a help to devout and zealous prayer. David, however, does not say here that he lifted his hands to heaven, but to the sanctuary, that, aided by its help, he might ascend the more easily to heaven. He was not so gross, or so superstitiously tied to the outward sanctuary, as not to know that God must be sought spiritually, and that men then only approach to him when, leaving the world, they penetrate by faith to celestial glory. But remembering that he was a man, he would not neglect this aid afforded to his infirmity. As the sanctuary was the pledge or token of the covenant of God, David beheld the presence of God’s promised grace there, as if it had been represented in a mirror; just as the faithful now, if they wish to have a sense of God’s nearness to them, should immediately direct their faith to Christ, who came down to us in his incarnation, that he might lift us up to the Father. Let us understand, then, that David clung to the sanctuary with no other view than that by the help of God’s promise he might rise above the elements of the world, which he used, however, according to the appointment of the Law. The Hebrew word דביר, debir, which we have rendered sanctuary, דביר, debir, is derived from דבר, dabar, to speak.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He used this outward means to help the weakness…
He used this outward means to help the weakness of his faith: for in that place was the Ark, and there God promised to show the tokens of his favor.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 28:2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when…
Psa 28:2 Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
Ver. 2. When I lift up my hands] An ordinary gesture in prayer, expressing faith (for they held out their open hands, as craving beggars with the palms upward, 1Ki 8:22) and helping fervency; while hands and heart went up together to God in the heavens, Lam 3:40. Preces fundimus, ecelum tundimus, miserieordiam extorquemus, &c. (Tertul.).
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Toward thy holy oracle] Called Debhir, because therehence God spake and gave answer. Toward this (a type of Christ, the Word essential) David lifteth up his hands; that it might be as a ladder whereby his prayer might get up to heaven. The devil also, who delighteth to be God’s ape, but for man’s mischief, gave oracles at Delphi and elsewhere (Herod. Clio); but λοξα et mendacia, doubtful and lying; as to Croesus, Pyrrhus, others. But the eternity of Israel cannot lie, 1Sa 15:29; every word of God is pure, he is a shield to them that put their trust in him, Pro 30:5.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain i.e. Towards the holy of holies, which is so…
i.e. Towards the holy of holies, which is so called, 1Ki 6:23, compared with 2Ch 3:10; compare also 1Ki 6:5; 8:6, because there the ark was; from whence God gave oracular answers to his people; and to which they accordingly directed their prayers, not only when they drew near to it, but when they were at a distance from it, as Dan 6:10.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Hear the voice of my supplications,.... Which proceed from…
Hear the voice of my supplications,.... Which proceed from the Spirit of grace and of supplication, and are put up in an humble manner, under a sense of wants and unworthiness, and on the foot of grace and mercy, and not merit;
when I cry unto thee; as he now did, and determined he would, and continue so doing, until he was heard;
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when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle: the holy of holies, in the tabernacle and in the temple, which was sometimes so called, Kg1 6:23; compared with Ch2 3:10; where were the ark, the mercy seat, and cherubim, between which the Lord dwelt, and gave responses to his people; or heaven itself, which the holy of holies was a figure of; where is the throne of God, and from whence he hears the prayers of his people directed to him; or else Christ himself, who is the most Holy, and the "Debir", or Oracle, who speaks to the Lord for his people; and by whom the Lord speaks to them again, and communes with them. The oracle had its name, "debir", from speaking. Lifting up of the hands is a prayer gesture, and here designs the performance of that duty to God in heaven, through Christ; see Lam 3:41; it was frequently used, even by the Heathens, as a prayer gesture (r); see Psa 141:2.
(r) "Duplices manus ad sidera tendit--et paulo post--et ambas ad coelum tendit palmas", Virgil. Aeneid. 10. vid. Aeneid. 2. "Ad coelum manibus sublatis", Horat. Satyr. l. 2. satyr. 5. v. 97. "Coelo supines si tuleris manus", ib. Carmin. l. 3. Ode 23. v. 1. "Et pandere palmas ante Deum delubra", Lucretius l. 5. prope finem , Homer. Iliad. 5. v. 174.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Towards - Towards the holy of holies, because there…
Towards - Towards the holy of holies, because there the ark was; from whence God gave oracular answers to his people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Toward thy holy oracle.] דביר קדשך debir…
Verse 2. Toward thy holy oracle.] דביר קדשך debir kodshecha; debir properly means that place in the holy of holies from which God gave oracular answers to the high priest. This is a presumptive proof that there was a temple now standing; and the custom of stretching out the hands in prayer towards the temple, when the Jews were at a distance from it, is here referred to.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 28:2. When I lift up my hands toward…
Psa 28:2. When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle — Earnestly desiring and confidently expecting an answer of peace from thence. The most holy place within the veil is here, as elsewhere, called the oracle. There the ark and the mercy-seat were; there God was said to dwell between the cherubim, and thence he spake to his people, Num 7:89. This was a type of Christ, and it is to him that we must lift up our eyes and hands, for through him all good comes from God to us. It was also a figure of heaven, Heb 9:24. And from God, as our Father in heaven, we are taught to expect an answer to our prayers.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Hear the voice of my supplications - It was…
Hear the voice of my supplications - It was not mental prayer which he offered; it was a petition uttered audibly.
When I lift up my hands - To lift up the hands denotes supplication, as this was a common attitude in prayer. See the notes at 1Ti 2:8.
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Toward thy holy oracle - Margin, as in Hebrew, “toward the oracle of thy holiness.” The word “oracle” as used here denotes the place where the answer to prayer is given. The Hebrew word - דביר debı̂yr - means properly the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle or the temple, the place where God was supposed to reside, and where He gave responses to the prayers of His people: the same place which is elsewhere called the holy of holies. See the notes at Heb 9:3-14. The Hebrew word is found only here and in 1Ki 6:5, 1Ki 6:16, 1Ki 6:19-23, 1Ki 6:31; 1Ki 7:49; 1Ki 8:6, 1Ki 8:8; 2Ch 3:16; 2Ch 4:20; 2Ch 5:7, 2Ch 5:9. The idea here is that he who prayed stretched out his hands toward that sacred place where God was supposed to dwell. So we stretch out our hands toward heaven - the sacred dwelling-place of God. Compare the notes at Psa 5:7. The Hebrew word is probably derived from the verb to “speak;” and, according to this derivation, the idea is that God spoke to His people; that he “communed” with them; that He answered their prayers from that sacred recess - His special dwelling-place. See Exo 25:22; Num 7:89.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain lift up my hands--a gesture of prayer (Psa 63:4;…
lift up my hands--a gesture of prayer (Psa 63:4; Psa 141:2).
oracle--place of speaking (Exo 25:22; Num 7:89), where God answered His people (compare Psa 5:7).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. I lift up my hands toward thy holy…
2. I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle—The “oracle” was the inner sanctuary, or “holy of holies.” 1Ki_6:16; 1Ki_8:6. On praying with hands outspread towards the most holy place when exiled or absent, see Dan_6:10
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. The first line recurs in Psa_31:22.
2. The first line recurs in Psa_31:22.
when I cry] A stronger word than that in Psa_28:1, meaning to cry for help.
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when I lift up my hands] The attitude of prayer (Psa_63:4; 1Ti_2:8), the outward symbol of an uplifted heart (Psa_25:1).
toward thy holy oracle] Lit., as R.V. marg., toward the innermost place of thy sanctuary, i.e. the most holy place, where the Ark, the symbol of God’s Presence among His people, was. See 1Ki_6:16 ff; 1Ki_8:6. The rendering oracle, following Jerome’s oraculum, rests upon a wrong derivation. The word does not in itself denote the place where God answers. It is used elsewhere only in the accounts of the building of the Temple (1 Kings 6-8; 2 Chronicles 3-5). The worshipper naturally turns as he prays towards Jehovah’s dwelling-place in heaven (1Ki_8:22), or its earthly counterpart (1Ki_8:30 ff.). Cp. Psa_5:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Lift up my hands.—For interesting illustrations of this…
(2) Lift up my hands.—For interesting illustrations of this Oriental custom see Exo_9:29; 1Ki_8:22, &c. Compare the well-known line:—
“If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer.”
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TENNYSON: Morte d’Arthur.
Holy oracle.—Better, the shrine of thy sanctuary (see margin)—i.e., the holy of holies, the adytum, or inner recess of the Temple in which the ark was placed, as we see from 1Ki_6:19-22. The Hebrew word, which is of doubtful derivation, is, with the exception of this place, only found in Kings and Chronicles. The margin, “the oracle of thy sanctuary,” is a better rendering than the text.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry…
Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee. God is said to hear prayer when he grants it, to be deaf to prayer when he withholds the boon requested. The use of the expressions "voice" and "cry" marks the earnestness of the prayers offered. When I lift up my hands, The usual attitude of a Hebrew in prayer. (see Exo_9:29 Exo_17:11, 12 1Ki_8:22, 54 Psa_63:4 Psa_141:2 Lam_2:19 Lam_3:41) Originally, the idea probably was that the hands should be ready to receive the blessings which God would bestow. But, later on, the lifting up of the hands seems to have been regarded as symbolizing the lifting up of the heart. (Lam_3:41) Towards thy holy oracle. (see the comment on Psa_5:7)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. This is much to the same effect…
Ver. 2. This is much to the same effect as the first verse, only that it refers to future as well as present pleadings. Hear me! Hear me! Hear the voice of my supplications! This is the burden of both verses. We cannot be put off with a refusal when we are in the spirit of prayer; we labour, use importunity, and agonize in supplications until a hearing is granted us. The word "supplications, "in the plural, shows the number, continuance, and variety of a good man's prayers, while the expression "hear the voice, "seems to hint that there is an inner meaning, or heart voice, about which spiritual men are far more concerned than for their outward and audible utterances. A silent prayer may have a louder voice than the cries of those priests who sought to awaken Baal with their shouts. When I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle: which holy place was the type of our Lord Jesus; and if we would gain acceptance, we must turn ourselves evermore to the blood besprinkled mercy seat of his atonement. Uplifted hands have ever been a form of devout posture, and are intended to signify a reaching upward towards God, a readiness, an eagerness to receive the blessing sought after. We stretch out empty hands, for we are beggars; we lift them up, for we seek heavenly supplies; we lift them towards the mercy seat of Jesus, for there our expectation dwells. O that whenever we use devout gestures, we may possess contrite hearts, and so speed well with God.
Ver. 2. I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. Called (rybd), debhir, because there hence God spake and gave answer. Toward this (a type of Christ, the Word essential), David lifteth up his hands, that it might be as a ladder, whereby his prayer might get up to heaven. John Trapp.
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 28:2 It was common to lift up one’s hands…
28:2 It was common to lift up one’s hands in a gesture of devoted prayer (63:4; 134:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.