Verse Lens · Expanded explanation
Psalms 102:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 102:1: The petition “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto…” belongs to the prayer “An afflicted prayer opens toward Zion's future: An afflicted life withers in isolation,” not to an isolated command.
The prayer asks for a face and an ear while the body burns down
This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 102:1–11. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Psalms 102:1–11
- Psalms 102:1–28
Read Psalms 102:1 with 102:1–11 and 102:1–28. Read alone, “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 102:1–11, the individual voice carries the movement “An afflicted life withers in isolation” as part of “An afflicted prayer opens toward Zion's future.” Its lament-zion form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 102:1–11 opens Psalm 102 with “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee” and establishes the individual voice and “An afflicted life withers in isolation” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 102:1 directs a petition or address toward God in “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee” rather than turning the line into a command against another person.
Follow the Context
- Identify the individual voice, address, and parallel lines in Psalms 102:1–11; do not make every “I”, “we,” king, enemy, or worshiper interchangeable.
- Within Psalms 102:1–11, the individual voice carries the movement “An afflicted life withers in isolation” as part of “An afflicted prayer opens toward Zion's future.” Its lament-zion form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
- This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Personal collapse and communal hope coexist; the poem does not demand that sufferers minimize pain for institutional optimism.
What This Verse Is Not Saying
Psalms 102:1 does not allow “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee” to become an independent promise, command, accusation, doctrine, or authorization. This verse directs a petition or address toward God in “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee” rather than turning the line into a command against another person. The complete movement is “An afflicted life withers in isolation.” This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Personal collapse and communal hope coexist; the poem does not demand that sufferers minimize pain for institutional optimism.
What Remains True
Book IV gives Psalm 102:1 a larger home, while “An afflicted life withers in isolation” supplies its immediate one. Psalm 102:1 directs a petition or address toward God in “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee” rather than turning the line into a command against another person. Therefore, Biblical faith can speak unresolved pain directly, remain in relationship, seek safe help, and refuse the claim that anguish proves guilt or failed faith. The local movement is “An afflicted life withers in isolation.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Personal collapse and communal hope coexist; the poem does not demand that sufferers minimize pain for institutional optimism.
Teach It Back
Starting from the verse role—Psalm 102:1 directs a petition or address toward God in “Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee” rather than turning the line into a command against another person.—walk through the parallel lines of Psalms 102:1–11. State what remains true, how it shapes life, what remains uncertain, and why the poem does not authorize this use: This reading does not authorize the following misuse: Personal collapse and communal hope coexist; the poem does not demand that sufferers minimize pain for institutional optimism.
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Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Psalms 102:1–11 — An afflicted prayer opens toward Zion's future: An afflicted life withers in isolationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
Where care is needed
Personal collapse and communal hope coexist; the poem does not demand that sufferers minimize pain for institutional optimism.
This Lens uses WHO guidance only to avoid unsafe modern communication about distress, isolation, death wishes, or severe loss; it does not diagnose the speaker or replace exegesis and appropriate care.
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 102:1–11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 102:1–11
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 102:1–11.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 102 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 102:1–11
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗modern scholarly book course
Psalms course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Fred Gaiser; revised by Nicholas Schaser
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, revised May 2024
Supports: Five-book, genre, poetic, historical, theological, liturgical, communal, and reception synthesis with visible limits.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Psalms course, Introductory Issues: individual and communal lament, from lament to praise, and Bible in the World; applied to Psalms 102:1–11
Open the Enter the Bible Psalms course ↗ancient greek text translation and introduction
A New English Translation of the Septuagint: Psalms
Albert Pietersma
International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies; Oxford University Press, 2009
Supports: Ancient Greek wording, numbering, division, and superscription evidence where it materially clarifies translation or reception.
Exact location: NETS Psalms, Pietersma introduction pp. 542–543 and exact Greek translation headed Ps 102 for Psalms 102:1–11
Open NETS Psalms ↗peer reviewed open access literary and redaction study
The role of David in the composition and redactional grouping of the final Davidic Psalter
Carine H. Botha
Verbum et Ecclesia 42.1, 2021
Supports: Davidic superscriptions and collection shaping treated as ancient editorial evidence without assuming direct authorship or a recoverable episode.
Exact location: Botha, 'The role of David,' Verbum et Ecclesia 42.1 (2021), sections 'Davidic superscriptions' and 'Davidic collections'; applied to the heading and editorial placement of Psalm 102
Open Botha on the Davidic Psalter ↗public health communication guidance
Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023
World Health Organization
World Health Organization, 2023
Supports: Communication safeguards against romanticizing, sensationalizing, diagnosing, blaming, or simplifying despair, isolation, death wishes, and severe loss; not exegesis.
Exact location: WHO, Preventing Suicide: A Resource for Media Professionals, Update 2023, quick guide p. xiii and dos and don'ts pp. 11–16; applied only to modern safety-aware presentation of Psalms 102:1–11
Open the WHO communication guide ↗