Psalm 55:17

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

55:16-23 In every trial let us call upon the Lord, and he will save us. He shall hear us, and not blame us for coming too often; the oftener the more welcome. David had thought all were against him; but now he sees there were many with him, more than he supposed; and the glory of this he gives to God, for it is he that raises us up friends, and makes them faithful to us. There are more true Christians, and believers have more real friends, than in their gloomy hours they suppose. His enemies should be reckoned with, and brought down; they could not ease themselves of their fears, as David could, by faith in God. Mortal men, though ever so high and strong, will easily be crushed by an eternal God. Those who are not reclaimed by the rod of affliction, will certainly be brought down to the pit of destruction. The burden of afflictions is very heavy, especially when attended with the temptations of Satan; there is also the burden of sin and corruption. The only relief under it is, to look to Christ, who bore it. Whatever it is that thou desirest God should give thee, leave it to him to give it in his own way and time. Care is a burden, it makes the heart stoop. We must commit our ways and works to the Lord; let him do as seemeth him good, and let us be satisfied. To cast our burden upon God, is to rest upon his providence and promise. And if we do so, he will carry us in the arms of his power, as a nurse carries a child; and will strengthen our spirits by his Spirit, so that they shall sustain the trial. He will never suffer the righteous to be moved; to be so shaken by any troubles, as to quit their duty to God, or their comfort in him. He will not suffer them to be utterly cast down. He, who bore the burden of our sorrows, desires us to leave to him to bear the burden of our cares, that, as he knows what is best for us, he may provide it accordingly. Why do not we trust Christ to govern the world which he redeemed?

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray - In another place Psalm 119:164 the psalmist says that he engaged in acts of devotion seven times in a day. Daniel prayed three times a day, Daniel 6:10. David went, in his troubles, before God evening, morning, and mid-day, in solemn, earnest prayer. So Paul, in a time of great distress, gave himself on three set occasions to earnest prayer for deliverance. See the notes at 2 Corinthians 12:8. This verse, therefore, does not prove that it was a regular habit of David to pray three times a day; but in view of the passage, it may be remarked

(a) that it is proper to have regular seasons for devotion, of frequent occurrence; and

(b) that there are favorable and suitable times for devotion.

The morning and the evening are obviously appropriate; and it is well to divide the day also by prayer - to seek, at mid-day, the rest titan bodily and mental toil which is secured by communion with God - and to implore that strength which we need for the remaining duties of the day. True religion is cultivated by frequent and regular seasons of devotion.

And cry aloud - The word here employed properly means to murmur; to make a humming sound; to sigh; to growl; to groan. See the notes at Psalm 42:5. Here the language means that he would give utterance to his deep feelings in appropriate tones - whether words, sighs, or groans. To the deep thoughts and sorrows of his soul he would often give suitable expression before God.

And he shall hear my voice - The confident language of faith, as in Psalm 55:16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16-18. God answers his constant and repeated prayers.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The three stated times of prayer amongst the Jews. See Daniel 6:10 Acts 3:1 10:3,9,30.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray,.... These being the stated times of prayer with the Jews, and which continued to later ages, Daniel 6:10. These times, they say (b), were fixed by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: the morning prayer by Abraham, according to Genesis 22:3, the prayer of the "minchah" by Isaac, according to Genesis 24:63; and the evening prayer by Jacob, according to Genesis 28:11. The prayer of the evening was at the time of the evening sacrifice, to which it is compared, Psalm 141:2. This was at the ninth hour, at which time Peter and John went up to the temple to pray; and Cornelius prayed in his own house, Acts 3:1. The prayer of the morning was at the time of the morning daily sacrifice, and was about the third hour of the day; at which time the apostles met together for prayer on the day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1; and that at noon was at the sixth hour of the day; at which time Peter went up to the housetop to pray, Acts 10:9. And now, though we are not tied down to these exact and precise times of prayer, yet this teaches us that we ought to pray frequently and constantly, and that a day should not pass without it; and the morning and evening seem to be very proper seasons for it, seeing the mercies of the Lord are new every morning; and we should be thankful for them and the mercies of the night past, and implore divine protection and grace for the day following; and at evening we should express our thankfulness for the mercies of the day, and commit ourselves and families into the hands of God, who is Israel's Keeper, that neither slumbers nor sleeps;

and cry aloud; denoting the distress he was in, the fervency of his prayer, and the importunity of it;

and he shall hear my voice; this he might be assured of, from the general character of God, as a God hearing prayer, and from his own special and particular experience of the truth of it, and from the promises made unto him.

(b) Yalkut Simeoni in loc.

Geneva Study Bible

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, {m} and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

(m) Which signifies a servants mind and sure trust to obtain his portion, which made him earnest at all times in prayer.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. Evening, and morning, and at noon] Evening stands first because the day began at sunset. A reference to stated hours of prayer (cp. Daniel 6:10; Acts 10:9; Acts 10:30) is hardly to be found in so natural an expression for “continuing stedfastly in prayer.”

will I pray, and cry aloud] R.V., will I complain and moan. Cp. Psalm 55:2.

and he shall hear] By an idiom which cannot be translated, the Psalmist speaks of this hearing as a present fact. So in Psalm 55:18 he uses the ‘perfect of certainty,’ He hath redeemed, for the context makes it clear that deliverance has not actually reached him. In peace denotes the result: delivered me and placed me in safety.

from the battle that was against me] Better, with the Ancient Versions, that they should not come nigh me.

for there were many with me] According to this rendering the words may refer to the hosts of angels sent for his succour (2 Kings 6:16; Psalm 34:7); but the R.V. is doubtless right in rendering, for they were many (that strove) with me.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - Evening, and morning (comp. Genesis 1:5, 8, etc.), and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud. From this passage and from Daniel's conduct (Daniel 6:10) we learn that devout Israelites habitually offered prayer to God at these three times of the day. The "morning "and "evening" devotions were doubtless suggested by the law of the morning and evening sacrifice (Exodus 29:38-42); but the midday prayer, being nowhere commanded, can only be ascribed to natural piety. And he shall hear my voice. Constant unremitting prayer is certain of an answer. Compare the parable of the importunate friend (Luke 11:5-8). Psalm 55:17

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In the third group confidence prevails, the tone that is struck up in Psalm 55:17 being carried forward. Evening morning, and noon, as the beginning, middle, and close of the day, denote the day in its whole compass or extent: David thus gives expression to the incessancy with which he is determined to lay before God, both in the quiet of his spirit and in louder utterances, whatsoever moves him. The fut. consec. ויּשׁמע connects the hearing (answer) with the prayer as its inevitable result. Also in the praet. פּדה expression is given to the certainty of faith; and בּשׁלום side by side with it denotes, with the same pregnancy of meaning as in Psalm 118:5, the state of undisturbed outward and inward safety and prosperity, into which God removes his soul when He rescues him. If we read mi-kerob, then קרב is, as the ancient versions regard it, the infinitive: ne appropinquent mihi; whereas since the time of J. H. Michaelis the preference has been given to the pronunciation mi-kerāb: a conflictu mihi sc. parato, in which case it would be pointed מקּרב־ (with Metheg), whilst the MSS, in order to guard against the reading with ā, point it מקּרב־. Hitzig is right when he observes, that after the negative מן the infinitive is indicated beforehand, and that לי equals עלי, Psalm 27:2, is better suited to this. Moreover, the confirmatory clause Psalm 55:19 is connected with what precedes in a manner less liable to be misunderstood if מקרב is taken as infinitive: that they may not be able to gain any advantage over me, cannot come near me to harm me (Psalm 91:10). For it is not until now less precarious to take the enemies as the subject of היוּ, and to take עמּדי in a hostile sense, as in Job 10:17; Job 13:19; Job 23:6; Job 31:13, cf. עם Psalm 94:16, and this is only possible where the connection suggests this sense. Heidenheim's interpretation: among the magnates were those who succoured me (viz., Hushai, Zadok, and Abiathar, by whom the counsel of Athithopel was frustrated), does not give a thought characteristic of the Psalms. And with Aben-Ezra, who follows Numeri Rabba 294a, to think of the assistance of angels in connection with בּרבּים, certainly strongly commends itself in view of 2 Kings 6:16 (with which Hitzig also compares 2 Chronicles 32:7); here, however, it has no connection, whereas the thought, "as many (consisting of many) are they with me, i.e., do they come forward and fight with me," is very loosely attached to what has gone before. The Beth essentiae serves here, as it does frequently, e.g., Psalm 39:7, to denote the qualification of the subject. The preterite of confidence is followed in Psalm 55:20 by the future of hope. Although side by side with שׁמע, ענה presumptively has the signification to answer, i.e., to be assured of the prayer being heard, yet this meaning is in this instance excluded by the fact that the enemies are the object, as is required by Psalm 55:20 (even if Psalm 55:19 is understood of those who are on the side of the poet). The rendering of the lxx: εἰσακούσεται ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ταπεινώσει αὐτοὺς ὁ ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων, is appropriate, but requires the pronunciation to be ויעשנּם, since the signification to bow down, to humble, cannot be proved to belong either to Kal or Hiphil. But even granted that יענם might, according to 1 Kings 8:35 (vid., Keil), signify ταπεινώσει αὐτοὺς, it is nevertheless difficult to believe that ויענם is not intended to have a meaning correlative with ישׁמע, of which it is the continuation. Saadia has explained יענם in a manner worthy of attention, as being for יענה בם, he will testify against them; an interpretation which Aben-Ezra endorses. Hengstenberg's is better: "God will hear (the tumult of the enemies) and answer them (judicially)." The original text may have been ויענמו ישׁב קדם. But as it now stands, וישׁב קדם represents a subordinate clause, with the omission of the הוּא, pledging that judicial response: since He it is who sitteth enthroned from earliest times (vid., on Psalm 7:10). The bold expression ישׁב קדם is an abbreviation of the view of God expressed in Psalm 74:12, Habakkuk 1:12, cf. Deuteronomy 33:27, as of Him who from primeval days down to the present sits enthroned as King and Judge, who therefore will be able even at the present time to maintain His majesty, which is assailed in the person of His anointed one.