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Psalm 102:1
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, LORD! Let my cry come to you.
1A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed and pours out his complaint before the LORD. Hear my prayer, LORD! Let my cry come to you.
2Don’t hide your face from me in the day of my distress. Turn your ear to me. Answer me quickly in the day when I call.
3For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.
Notice
The overwhelmed man's first request is to be heard, a plea that can feel familiar when distress leaves little strength for words.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What complaint would you pour out before YHWH if you stopped editing your words?
Write on thisWhen have you prayed chiefly for God to hear you, before asking for anything else?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 62:8Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.Both passages speak of pouring out what is within before God; Psalm 102 names complaint, and Psalm 62 names the heart.
Psalm 18:6In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.Both describe a cry to the LORD in distress; Psalm 102 asks to be heard, while Psalm 18 recounts being heard.
Psalm 130:1–2A Song of Ascents. Out of the depths I have cried to you, LORD.Both prayers address the LORD with a cry, one from overwhelming affliction and the other from the depths.
Psalm 39:12“Hear my prayer, LORD, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.Both ask the LORD to hear prayer and attend to a cry; Psalm 39 also names tears.
Exodus 2:23In the course of those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to …A cry rising to God joins these passages: the afflicted man asks for this, and Israel's cry comes up from bondage.
Luke 22:44Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.Both describe prayer amid suffering: the psalm names overwhelming affliction, and Luke describes Jesus praying in agony.
Hebrews 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been …Both join prayer with crying; the psalm asks God to hear, while Hebrews describes prayers offered with tears and heard.
Job 21:4As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn’t I be impatient?Complaint connects the passages: the psalm directs it before the LORD, while Job questions whether his complaint is to man.
Lamentations 3:8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.Both speak of prayer and crying for help; the psalm asks to be heard, while Lamentations says God shuts out prayer.
Lamentations 3:44You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.Both concern prayer reaching God: the psalm pleads for its cry to reach him, while Lamentations describes a cloud blocking prayer.
Judges 10:16They put away the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.The shared thread is human misery before the LORD; Judges describes his grief, while the psalm records an afflicted person's plea.
1 Samuel 1:15–16Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have not been drinking wine or strong drink, but I poured out my soul before the LORD.Both describe pouring out sorrow before the LORD: the afflicted man pours out his complaint, and Hannah pours out her soul.
Where this verse fits
Grief. feeling distant from God. anxiety or panic.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Your prayer need not wait until you feel composed. The prayer preserved here begins with a complaint and a cry for YHWH to hear.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 102:1. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).