What Does Psalm 38:9 Mean?
Lord, all my longing lies open before you, and my groaning is not hidden from you.
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
Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.THE KEY
Your desire and your groaning are both already visible to God.
THE MEANING
Your desire is before God now, and your groaning is not hidden from him. What has not become a clear sentence remains present to him in its own form.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what you cannot fully articulate is hidden from God dissolves here: your desire and groaning are already before him.
THE ROOT
נִסְתְּרָה
nisterah
GROWS FROM
סתר
s-t-r
To hide or conceal; to put out of sight.
“hid” in this verse is nisterah. The verse uses this root in a form meaning “is hidden,” then denies that the groaning is concealed from God. Its branches evoke both the act of hiding and the hidden place itself: even what seems inward and out of sight remains before him.
ALSO GROWS
satar: To hide or conceal.
סָתַר
This is the root’s basic action, the very concealment the verse says does not separate the groaning from God’s awareness.
seter: A hiding place; something secret.
סֵתֶר
The branch suggests a place of concealment, yet the verse leaves no hidden place beyond God’s knowledge.
histir: He hid or concealed.
הִסְתִּיר
This causative form names the act of keeping something out of sight; the verse says the groaning is not kept from God.
THE PATTERN
What is inward or wordless remains present to God.
Sheol and perishing are before the LORD, how much more the hearts of the children of humankind.For there is no word on my tongue; behold, LORD, you perceive all of it.Likewise the breath also takes hold alongside our weakness, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought; but the breath itself approaches on our behalf with groans too deep for speech.THE THREAD
Likewise the breath also takes hold alongside our weakness, for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought; but the breath itself approaches on our behalf with groans too deep for speech.As in Psalm 38:9, groaning is not excluded from divine knowing because it lacks clear words. Romans names groanings that cannot be uttered as part of intercession, so the wordless groan remains a real form of presence.
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