Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Psalms 55:1 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 1. 1Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 55:1: The petition “Give ear to my prayer, O God” belongs to the prayer “Betrayal inside the city and a burden cast on God: Anguish and the wish to escape,” not to an isolated command.
Read It With
- Psalms 55:1–8
- Psalms 55:1–23
Read Psalms 55:1 with 55:1–8 and 55:1–23. Read alone, “Give ear to my prayer, O God” could lose the individual voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 55:1–8, the individual voice carries the movement “Anguish and the wish to escape” as part of “Betrayal inside the city and a burden cast on God.” Its lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 55:1–8 opens Psalm 55 with “Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication” and establishes the individual voice and “Anguish and the wish to escape” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 55:1 directs a petition or address toward God in “Give ear to my prayer, O God” rather than turning the line into a command against another person.
What Remains True
Psalm 55:1 carries “Give ear to my prayer, O God” inside the lament movement “Anguish and the wish to escape.” Its durable contribution is this: Trust can be voiced within danger and delay without becoming a guarantee of immunity or a reason to reject practical care. The local movement is “Anguish and the wish to escape.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The prayer names trauma from a close companion; it does not require unsafe reconciliation, secrecy, or remaining near an abuser.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Psalm 55:1 belongs to “Betrayal inside the city and a burden cast on God: Anguish and the wish to escape,” its role must lead the practice: Psalm 55:1 directs a petition or address toward God in “Give ear to my prayer, O God” rather than turning the line into a command against another person. Hold “Give ear to my prayer, O God” as prayerful hope rather than a prediction; take the next safe and truthful action while the outcome remains uncertain.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 55:1–8 — Betrayal inside the city and a burden cast on God: Anguish and the wish to escapeSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
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 55:1–8, 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 55:1–8
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 55:1–8.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 55 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 55:1–8
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗