What Does Psalm 17:1 Mean?
A Prayer of David. Hear and respond to alignment, O LORD. Attend to my ringing cry, and give ear to my prayer, which does not come from lips of deceit.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
A Prayer of David. Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.THE KEY
The prayer’s rightness is not only in what it asks for; it is also in the truthfulness of the lips that speak it.
THE MEANING
Your plea names what is right, and the words rise from lips without deceit. The verse holds the cry and the prayer together: the urgency of being heard and the integrity of the voice that speaks.
THE ROOT
צֶדֶק
tzedek
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
To be right or just; rightness understood as alignment.
The word rendered “right” carries the sense of alignment, and the next phrase brings that alignment to the speaker’s lips. The plea’s content and the truthfulness of the voice belong together.
ALSO GROWS
tsadaq: To be right or just.
צָדַק
The verb form makes “rightness” an alignment, not merely a claim made in speech.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice; alignment.
צְדָקָה
This related form keeps justice and right relationship within the same root family.
מִרְמָה
mirmah
GROWS FROM
רמה
r-m-h
To deceive, mislead, or deal treacherously.
The word behind “feigned” names deceit, giving the line a sharper edge than simple insincerity. The prayer’s claim includes where its words come from: they do not rise from a mouth twisting the truth.
ALSO GROWS
ramah: To deceive or mislead.
רָמָה
The verb exposes deceit as an active turning of another away from what is true.
remiyyah: Deceit or treachery.
רְמִיָּה
This related noun appears in Psalm 32:2, extending the image from deceptive lips to a person’s inner life.
רִנָּתִי
rinnati
GROWS FROM
רנן
r-n-n
To cry aloud, ring out, or sing aloud.
“ringing cry” in this verse is rinnati. The cry-word can carry the sense of a ringing shout, a song, or a plea; it is not limited to sorrow. The voice rises toward God, while the following phrase marks it as free of deceit.
ALSO GROWS
ranan: To cry aloud or sing out.
רָנַן
The verb shows the cry as a voice that rings outward, rather than a silent thought.
rinnah: A ringing cry, song, or supplication.
רִנָּה
This related noun holds both joyful song and urgent appeal within the same sound of the root.
THE PATTERN
Scripture joins approaching God with truthfulness, uprightness, and alignment within the speaker.
The LORD is near to all who call out to him, to all who call out to him in truth.The sacrifice of the wicked is a recoiling thing to the LORD, but the prayer of the straight ones is his delight.God is breath, and those who bow down to him must bow before him in breath and in truth.THE THREAD
Flourishing is a person to whom the LORD does not count crookedness, and in whose breath there is no deceit.Psalm 17 uses מִרְמָה (mirmah, deceit) for lips without deceit; Psalm 32 uses רְמִיָּה (remiyyah, deceit) for what is absent from the person’s spirit. Both words grow from רמה (ramah, deceive), carrying the same integrity from the spoken voice into the inner life.
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