What Does Psalm 5:1 Mean?
To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Tilt your ear to my words, LORD, and separate out my murmur.
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
To the chief Musician upon Nehiloth, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my words, O LORD, consider my meditation.THE KEY
The prayer asks God to hear not only what the speaker can say, but the inward murmur beneath it.
THE MEANING
Your spoken words and the murmur still forming within you both stand within the address to God. The prayer asks not only for sound to be heard, but for its inward meaning to be discerned. The unpolished thought is not outside the reach of that attention.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the belief that only polished, audible prayer counts: it places inward meditation beside spoken words.
THE ROOT
הֲגִיגִי
hagigi
GROWS FROM
הגה
Mutter, murmur, or utter; by extension, ponder.
The word comes from a verb for murmuring as well as pondering. Here, meditation is not sealed off as silent thought: the inward murmur stands beside spoken words, both addressed to God.
ALSO GROWS
yehgeh: Meditates or murmurs repeatedly.
יֶהְגֶּה
Psalm 1:2 uses this form for meditation day and night, showing the same root at work in recurring inner speech.
yehgeh: Growls or utters; used of a lion over its prey in Isaiah 31:4.
יֶהְגֶּה
The same root can name audible, low vocalizing, making the connection between inward meditation and sound visible.
הַאֲזִינָה
ha'azina
GROWS FROM
אזן
Ear; listen attentively.
“tilt your ear” in this verse is ha'azina. The verb shares its root with the Hebrew word for ear. The prayer’s appeal for attention is grounded in the bodily image of lending an ear.
ALSO GROWS
ozen: The ear.
אֹזֶן
The shared root links listening directly to the organ that receives sound.
he'ezin: Listened closely or gave ear.
הֶאֱזִין
This related verb form reinforces that the request is for focused attention, not mere sound reception.
בִּינָה
binnah
GROWS FROM
בין
Discern, understand, or perceive.
“separate out” in this verse is binnah. The request moves from hearing to discernment: the speaker asks for the inward murmur’s meaning to be understood. English “consider” holds this movement, while the Hebrew root makes the act of discerning explicit.
ALSO GROWS
binah: Understanding or discernment.
בִּינָה
This noun from the same root names the capacity the speaker asks for in the verb “consider.”
tevunah: Insight or understanding.
תְּבוּנָה
This related form shows that the root carries the sense of grasping what lies beneath the surface.
THE PATTERN
Spoken words and inward thought both enter the field of divine attention.
Let the words of my mouth be received, and the murmur of my heart before your face. O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.You perceive my sitting and my rising, and from afar you separate out my thought.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
But his delight is in the instruction of the LORD; and over his instruction he murmurs day and night.The same root, הָגָה (hagah, “murmur or meditate”), names the inner speech in both verses. Psalm 1:2 uses it for recurring meditation on the LORD’s instruction; Psalm 5 brings that same inward murmur into prayer.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us