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Psalm 77:4

You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can’t speak.

2In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted.
3I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.
4You hold my eyelids open. I am so troubled that I can’t speak.
5I have considered the days of old, the years of ancient times.
6I remember my song in the night. I consider in my own heart; my spirit diligently inquires:
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← Psalm 77:3Psalm 77:5 →
Notice

Open eyelids and lost speech make this a hard prayer to read: the speaker names God as the one keeping him awake.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What is hardest for you about addressing God as the one holding your eyelids open?

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When has trouble left you awake yet unable to find words for prayer?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

8 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
Job 7:13–15When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me. My couch will ease my complaint,’Both passages bring distress to bed, though Job voices hope for comfort while the psalm describes wakefulness and speechlessness.
Psalm 102:7I watch, and have become like a sparrow that is alone on the housetop.Wakefulness runs through both laments: one speaker cannot close his eyes, and the other watches like a lone sparrow.
Job 7:4When I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’ I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.Both speakers describe being unable to rest, with Job tossing until dawn and the psalm’s speaker addressing God about his open eyes.
Psalm 6:6I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.Both laments describe distress that leaves the body without rest: open eyes and speechlessness here, weary groaning and nighttime tears there.
Job 2:13So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.Great distress and silence connect these scenes, though Job’s companions choose silence while the psalm’s speaker says he cannot speak.
Daniel 6:18Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting. No musical instruments were brought before him; and his sleep fled from him.Sleep escapes both the king and the psalm’s speaker, though only the psalm addresses God as the one keeping him awake.
Genesis 45:15He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.The connection is limited to speech amid strong emotion: the psalm describes speechlessness, while Joseph’s brothers talk after his tears.
Esther 6:1On that night, the king couldn’t sleep. He commanded the book of records of the chronicles to be brought, and they were read to the king.Both describe sleeplessness, though Esther’s king turns to recorded chronicles while the psalm’s speaker voices his trouble to God.
Where this verse fits

Anxiety or panic. grief. feeling distant from God.

What the Bible says about anxiety →What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about doubt →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Bring one wordless minute before God

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

If trouble leaves you short of words, this lament makes room for that silence. The speaker’s inability to speak is itself part of his prayer to God.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 77:4. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 77 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).