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Psalm 28:2
Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
1By David. To you, LORD, I call. My rock, don’t be deaf to me, lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
2Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
3Don’t draw me away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity who speak peace with their neighbors, but mischief is in their hearts.
4Give them according to their work, and according to the wickedness of their doings. Give them according to the operation of their hands. Bring back on them what they deserve.
Notice
Raised hands and the plea to be heard reveal the urgency of turning toward God's holy place when his silence feels frightening.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What would you name before God in a cry to be heard?
Write on thisHow does David's gesture of raised hands shape your sense of asking God for help?
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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 134:2Lift up your hands in the sanctuary. Praise the LORD!Both passages describe hands lifted in worship directed toward God, with petition in Psalm 28 and praise in Psalm 134.
Psalm 138:2I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word …Both describe a bodily gesture toward God's holy dwelling, one accompanying a plea and the other accompanying thanks.
Psalm 141:2Let my prayer be set before you like incense; the lifting up of my hands like the evening sacrifice.Both join prayer with lifted hands; Psalm 141 compares that gesture to the evening sacrifice.
Psalm 63:4So I will bless you while I live. I will lift up my hands in your name.Lifted hands accompany words addressed to God in both passages, expressing petition in Psalm 28 and blessing in Psalm 63.
Lamentations 2:19Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the …Both combine crying out to God with lifted hands; Lamentations names the urgent need of children fainting from hunger.
1 Timothy 2:8I desire therefore that the men in every place pray, lifting up holy hands without anger and doubting.Both connect prayer with lifted hands; Timothy adds that the hands be holy and the prayer free from anger and doubting.
Lamentations 3:41Let’s lift up our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.Both direct lifted hands toward God; Lamentations includes the heart in that upward gesture.
1 Kings 6:5Against the wall of the house, he built floors all around, against the walls of the house all around, both of the temple and of the inner sanctuary; and he …Both passages refer to a sanctuary, though Kings describes its surrounding construction and the psalm directs a plea toward God's holy place.
2 Chronicles 6:12He stood before the LORD’s altar in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his handsBoth describe outstretched hands in relation to a place of worship, toward God's Most Holy Place and before the LORD's altar.
Daniel 6:10When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three …Both describe prayer with a bodily posture and a direction: David lifts his hands toward God's holy place; Daniel kneels facing Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 16:23The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God. All the counsel of Ahithophel was like this …Both mention God's sanctuary; the psalm contains a plea, while Samuel uses inquiry there as a comparison for Ahithophel's counsel.
1 Kings 6:19He prepared an inner sanctuary in the middle of the house within, to set the ark of the LORD’s covenant there.The shared thread is the sanctuary: David prays toward God's Most Holy Place, while Kings describes the inner sanctuary prepared for the ark.
Where this verse fits
Feeling distant from God. anxiety or panic.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Distress has a place in prayer: David cries out with raised hands toward God's Most Holy Place. His need is spoken before the holy God.
Now put it in your words.
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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).