But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
Parallel Translations
-
But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you.
-
But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
-
(88-14) But as for me, unto Thee, O LORD, do I cry, and in the morning doth my prayer come to meet Thee.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Psalms 88:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 5:3 Yahweh, in the morning you will hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and will watch expectantly.
- Mark 1:35 Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there.
- Psalms 30:2 Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.
- Psalms 119:147-148 I rise before dawn and cry for help. I put my hope in your words. My eyes stay open through the night watches, that I might meditate on your word.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 88:13 But unto thee have I cried, O…
Psa 88:13 But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
Ver. 13. But unto thee have I cried] Oh, condescend to thy poor crying creature in extremity.
Read full note →
In the morning] {See Trapp on "Psa 5:3"}
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. Early, come to thee, before the ordinary time…
i.e. Early, come to thee, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying nor hoping for an answer.
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 But unto thee have I cried, O Lord,.... Formerly,…
But unto thee have I cried, O Lord,.... Formerly, and had been heard, answered, and relieved, and which was an encouragement to cry again to him in his distress; Christ was always heard, Joh 11:42, or, now, in his present case, yet was not heard, at least not immediately answered; which was the case of the Messiah, when forsaken by his God and Father, Psa 22:1, yet still determines to continue praying, as follows:
and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee; not before the Lord is awake, and can hear; for he neither slumbers nor sleeps, and he always hears: but the meaning is, that he would pray before he entered upon another business; this should be the first thing in the morning he would do, and this he would do before others did, or he himself used to do; before the usual time of morning prayer; signifying, he would pray to him very early, which is expressive of his vehemency, fervency, and importunity and earnestness, and what a sense he had of his case, and of his need of divine help: so Christ rose early in the morning, a great while before day, to pray, Mar 1:35. See Gill on Psa 5:4.
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 Prevent - Come to thee before the dawning of…
Prevent - Come to thee before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 13. Shall my prayer prevent thee.] It shall…
Verse 13. Shall my prayer prevent thee.] It shall get before thee; I will not wait till the accustomed time to offer my morning sacrifice, I shall call on thee long before others come to offer their devotions.
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 88:13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent…
Psa 88:13-18. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee — That is, shall be offered to thee early, before the ordinary time of morning prayer, or before the dawning of the day, or the rising of the sun. The sense is, Though I have hitherto got no answer to my prayers, yet I will not give over praying and hoping for an answer. Why hidest thou thy face from me? — This proceeding seems not to agree with the benignity of thy nature, nor with the manner of thy dealing with thy people. I am ready to die from my youth up — My whole life hath been filled with a succession of deadly calamities. O Lord, take some pity upon me, and let me have a little breathing space before I die. While I suffer thy terrors — Upon my mind and conscience, which accompany and aggravate my outward miseries, I am distracted — I am so astonished, that I know not what to do with myself. They came about me like water — As the waters of the sea encompass him who is in the midst, and at the bottom of it.
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 But unto thee have I cried, O Lord -…
But unto thee have I cried, O Lord - I have earnestly prayed; I have sought thy gracious interposition.
And in the morning - That is, each morning; every day. My first business in the morning shall be prayer.
Read full note →
Shall my prayer prevent thee - Anticipate thee; go before thee: that is, it shall be early; so to speak even before thou dost awake to the employments of the day. The language is that which would be applicable to a case where one made an appeal to another for aid before he had arisen from his bed, or who came to him even while he was asleep - and who thus, with an earnest petition, anticipated his rising. Compare the notes at Job 3:12; compare Psa 21:3; Psa 59:10; Psa 79:8; Psa 119:148; Mat 17:25; 1Th 4:15.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 13. Unto thee have I cried—Here faith rallies and…
13. Unto thee have I cried—Here faith rallies and reasserts herself, as in Psa_88:1. No relief has yet come, but the psalmist gives himself to prayer, which itself implies hope.
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 13. But as for me, unto thee, Jehovah, have…
13. But as for me, unto thee, Jehovah, have I cried for help,
And in the morning shall my prayer come before thee.
Read full note →
He contrasts himself with the dead, whose covenant relation with God is at an end. He at least can still pray, and in spite of all discouragement will not cease to pray.
Prevent = ‘go to meet,’ as in Psa_59:10; Psa_79:8. The first thought of each day shall be prayer. Cp. Psa_5:3; Psa_55:17.
13–18. Death brings no hope. Will not God then listen to his prayer and grant him some relief in his extremity of suffering and solitude?
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 (13) But unto Thee . . .—Better, But as…
(13) But unto Thee . . .—Better, But as for me, I, &c. The pronoun is emphatic. The speaker has not gone down to the land where all is silent and forgotten, and can therefore still cry to God, and send his prayer to meet (prevent, i.e. go to meet; see Psa_17:13) the Divine Being who still has an interest in him. And this makes the expostulation of the next verses still stronger. Why, since the sufferer is still alive, is he forsaken, or seemingly forsaken, by the God of that covenant in which he still abides?
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 But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; literally,…
But unto thee have I cried, O Lord; literally, but as for me, to thee have I cried. The psalmist returns from the somewhat vague speculations of vers. 10-12 to fact and to himself. He is not yet a mere shade, an inhabitant of Sheol; he is in the flesh, upon the earth; he can still cry, and does still cry, to Jehovah. There is thus still a faint gleam of hope for him. And in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. The psalmist will draw out God"s mercy, as it were, before its time, by importuning him with early and continual prayer (comp. vers. 1, 9).
Prayer getting in front of God.
Read full note →
"In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee." The idea is a singular one, based upon the older meaning of the word "prevent." Thinking of God under the figure of an earthly King, he conceives of himself as a petitioner who is so intense in his desire that he reaches the palace gate before the King is up. His prayer is there before the King is. To "prevent" now means to "hinder." In older days it simply meant to "go before," to "anticipate." The word is never used in the sense of "hinder," either in the Bible, as we have it, or in the books of the age in which it was translated. But it should further be observed that getting up very early in the morning to do a thing is a frequent Bible figure for doing a thing earnestly, doing it with all your heart. It is still true of us that if we are thoroughly in earnest about a matter, we can easily get up early in the morning to attend to it. So this figure of the psalmist does but express his intense earnestness in prayer, the fervency of his desire, his almost passionate waiting on God, that makes him feel as if he could get before God, as if he could be there to plead before God was there to hear. It can be but a figure of man"s feeling. He never can be ready before God is; he cannot get before God. Man is always second in prayer; God is always first in waiting to receive prayer.
I MAN THINKING HE CAN BE FIRST WITH GOD. He can get before his fellow man, and ask what his fellow has not thought about, and is not quite prepared to give. And so, in his intensity, man thinks he can even be first with God; he thinks he can ask what God has not thought about. He can tell God something. God does indeed gently and graciously deal with impetuous and impulsive souls, and let them freely speak out all their hearts, and even think they have informed him a great deal. He loves our confidences, even if they are intense; but he must often smile as the mother smiles on her impetuous boy, who tells her, as if it was something quite new, what she has suspected or known for a long time. But the earnestness that tries to be first with God cannot fail to be acceptable to him.
II MAN FINDING OUT THAT GOD IS ALWAYS FIRST WITH HIM. It comes to us occasionally as a great surprise, that what we have asked God about so intensely, he has been a long while attending to. He knew our need before we felt it, and let it take shape as prayer. And that is one of the most important blessings that follow prayer. Asking God"s help in some things, we find out that God"s help has all the while been in everything. R.T.
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. 13. But unto thee have I cried, O…
Ver. 13. But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; I have continued to pray for help to thee, O Jehovah, the living God, even though thou hast so long delayed to answer. A true born child of God may be known by his continuing to cry; a hypocrite is great at a spurt, but the genuine believer holds on till he wins his suit.
And in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. He meant to plead on yet, and to increase his earnestness. He intended to be up betimes, to anticipate the day light, and begin to pray before the sun was up. If the Lord is pleased to delay, he has a right to do as he wills, but we must not therefore become tardy in supplication. If we count the Lord slack concerning his promise we must only be the more eager to outrun him, lest sinful sloth on our part should hinder the blessing.
Read full note →
"Let prayer and holy hymn
Perfume the morning air;
Before the world with smoke is dim
Bestir thy soul to prayer."
"While flowers are wet with dew
Lament thy sins with tears,
And ere the sun shines forth anew
Tell to thy Lord thy fears."
Ver. 13. But, etc. That "but" seems to come in as an expression of his resolution hitherto, that though these were his apprehensions of his condition, yet he had sought the Lord, and would go on to do the same. Suppose thou findest no relish in the ordinances, yet use them; thou art desperately sick, yet eat still take all that is brought thee, some strength will come of it. Say, Be I damned or saved, hypocrite or no hypocrite, I resolve to go on. Thomas Goodwin.
Ver. 13. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. The morning prayer is the best...In the morning God gave various gifts. First, the manna, Ex 16:13, And in the morning the dew lay round about the host: He who is in the camp of God, and bravely fights, receives from God dew and consolation, if in the morning, that is, in the beginning of temptation, he prays. In the evening flesh was given, whence death overtook them, but in another case in the morning the manna was given, whereby life was sustained, until they came into the land of promise. Secondly, the law was given in the morning, Ex 19:16, And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud. In morning devotion the thunders of God, that is, his judgments, are more distinctly heard; his lightnings, that is, his divine enlightenments, are best seen; the thick cloud upon the mount, that is, the divine overshadowing of the soul, is perceived; and the voice of the trumpet is best heard, that is, inspiration then with greater force moves the mind. Thirdly, in the morning, very early, the children of Israel went forth from Egypt; for in the middle of the night God smote all the first born in the land of Egypt, Ex 12:29...In the morning pray, and you shall conquer your daily and nightly foes; and the Red Sea itself, that is the place of temptation, shall be to thee a field of glory, of victory and exultation and all things shall go well with thee. Le Blanc.
Ver. 13. Unto thee have I cried, O Lord. There is something comitant with the Christian's present darkness of spirit that distinguishes it from the hypocrite's horror; and that is the lively working of grace, which then commonly is very visible, when his peace and former comfort are most questioned by him; the less joy he hath from any present sense of the love of God, the more abounding you shall find him in sorrow for his sin that clouded his joy; the further Christ is gone out of his sight, the more he clings in his love to Christ, and vehemently cries after him in prayer, as we see in Heman here. O the fervent prayers that then are shot from his troubled spirit to heaven, the pangs of affection which are springing after God, and his face and favour! Never did a banished child more desire admittance into his angry father's presence, than he to have the light of God's countenance shine on him, which is now veiled from him. William Gurnall.
Ver. 13.
1. Blessings delayed to prayer, "Unto thee", etc.
2. Blessings anticipated by prayer, "in the morning", etc. Daily mercies anticipated by morning prayers. G.R.
Ver. 13. (last clause). The advantages of early morning prayer meetings.
Psalms 88:14*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain In the morning shall my prayer prevent Thee.
Psa_88:13
In the morning shall my prayer prevent Thee.
Read full note →
Morning devotion
As the Oriental traveller sets out for the sultry journey over burning sands by loading up his camel under the palm-trees shade, and fills his water flagons from the crystal fountain which sparkles at its roots, so does Christs pilgrim draw his morning supplies from the exhaustless spring. Morning is the golden hour for prayer and praise. The mind is fresh; the mercies of the night and the new resurrection of the dawn both prompt a devout soul to thankfulness. The buoyant heart takes its earliest flight, like the lark, towards the gates of heaven. One of the finest touches in Bunyans immortal allegory is his description of Christian in the chamber of Peace, who awoke and sang while his window looked out to the sun rising. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 my prayer comes before you
my prayer comes before you
The writer praying to Yahweh is spoken of as if the prayer itself goes to speak with Yahweh. (See: Metaphor)
Read full note →
Why do you hide your face from me?
This speaks of the writer feeling like God has rejected or abandoned him as if God were hiding his face or physically turning away from the writer. (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Yahweh
pray
reject
face
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 88:13-17 In his third charge, the psalmist accuses the…
88:13-17 In his third charge, the psalmist accuses the Lord of rejecting him. The force and apparent cruelty of the psalmist’s suffering overwhelm him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.