What Does Psalm 55:1 Mean?
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David. Tilt your ear to my prayer, O God, and do not hide yourself from my pleas.
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 on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication.THE KEY
The plea asks God for two forms of nearness at once: to hear the words and not become hidden from the one speaking.
THE MEANING
Your need can take the form of a plain appeal for attention and presence: hear this plea, and do not withdraw from me. Here, the need is not only for a response; it is for the one being addressed to remain near enough to hear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that prayer is only a request for a result: the plea also names the fear of being hidden from God.
THE ROOT
תְּחִנָּה
teḥinnah
GROWS FROM
ח־נ־ן
to show favor, be gracious
“my pleas” in this verse is teḥinnah. The word for supplication grows from the root for showing favor: the speaker asks not only that the words be heard, but that favor be turned toward the one speaking. Beneath the English “supplication” is a plea for gracious regard.
ALSO GROWS
ḥen: favor
חֵן
This branch makes the link plain: the supplication is a plea for favor.
ḥannun: gracious, favor-giving
חַנּוּן
The plea addresses the possibility of gracious regard, not an outcome that can be demanded.
תְּפִלָּה
tefillah
GROWS FROM
פ־ל־ל
to intervene or interpose; in the reflexive form, to pray or intercede
The Hebrew word for prayer belongs to a root associated with interposing or intervening; its reflexive form means to pray or intercede. Prayer is therefore pictured as an appeal entering a relationship, not just words spoken into the air.
ALSO GROWS
hitpallel: to pray, appeal, or intercede
הִתְפַּלֵּל
This verbal form shows the same root as an act of appeal, illuminating the force of “my prayer.”
mitpallel: one who prays
מִתְפַּלֵּל
The participle names the one making the appeal, linking the prayer to a person seeking to be heard.
תִּתְעַלַּם
titʿallem
GROWS FROM
ע־ל־ם
to conceal, hide, or be unseen
“hide thyself” in this verse is titʿallem. The verb is reflexive: the plea is for God not to make himself hidden. The distress named here is not only whether an answer arrives, but whether the one addressed withdraws from view.
ALSO GROWS
heʿelim: to conceal or hide
הֶעֱלִים
This related form makes the sense of hiding explicit in the plea.
neʿlam: hidden, concealed
נֶעְלָם
This branch describes the state the speaker asks not to be left in: God as hidden from view.
THE PATTERN
A plea brings need into speech while asking that the hearer stay turned toward it.
Do not hide your face from me; do not turn your servant away in the burning of your anger. You are my help; do not drop me, and do not let go of me, O God of my deliverance.A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear and respond to my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come to you.Let us therefore draw near, with open speech, to the throne of favor, that we may receive compassion, and find favor to help in the right moment.THE THREAD
A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD. Hear and respond to my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come to you.Both verses use תְּפִלָּה (tefillah, prayer), from פ־ל־ל (palal), the root associated with appeal and intercession. Psalm 102 makes the movement vivid: the prayer is a cry asked to come before God, while Psalm 55 pairs that appeal with the plea that God not become hidden.
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