What Does Psalm 66:19 Mean?
But surely God hears and responds; he bends his ear to the voice of my prayer.
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
But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.THE KEY
The verse pairs hearing with focused attention, so prayer is received as a voice God heeds, not merely sound that registers.
THE MEANING
Your prayer is heard and attended to: the verse holds reception and focused attention together. Its voice is not treated as empty sound; it meets a listener who gives it heed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the specific fear that your prayer reaches God as sound but receives no attention.
THE ROOT
הִקְשִׁיב
hiqshiv
GROWS FROM
קשב
qashab
To give heed or listen attentively.
“bends his ear to” in this verse is hiqshiv. English can make “heard” and “attended” sound like repetitions, but the Hebrew pairs two distinct listening verbs. The second adds focused attention: the prayer’s voice is not merely audible; it is heeded.
ALSO GROWS
haqshivu: Give heed; listen closely.
הַקְשִׁיבוּ
Isaiah 28:23 places this form beside “hear my voice,” much as this verse pairs focused attention with hearing.
maqshiv: One who listens or gives heed.
מַקְשִׁיב
Proverbs 29:12 uses this form for a ruler who heeds lies; the root describes where attention is directed, while this verse directs it toward prayer.
שָׁמַע
shamaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
shamaʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
“hears and responds” in this verse is shamaʿ. This root holds hearing and heed together, a connection preserved in the call “Hear, O Israel” (shema). Beside qashab, it makes the verse’s assurance twofold: the prayer is received, then given attention.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
Deuteronomy 6:4 uses this form in “Hear, O Israel”; hearing carries an active edge that deepens the word “heard” here.
shemuah: A report or message heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
Isaiah 53:1 calls the message a shemuah, showing the same word-family can name both hearing and what is heard.
THE PATTERN
Prayer is pictured across Scripture as a cry God hears and attends to.
The aligned cry out, and the LORD hears, and snatches them out of all their narrow places.Then you will call upon me, and you will go and pray to me, and I will hear and respond to you.And this is the open speech we hold toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.THE THREAD
The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears and responds to the prayer of the aligned one.The Hebrew verb behind “he heareth” is שמע (shamaʿ), the same root as “heard” in Psalm 66:19. Proverbs makes explicit that the voice in this verse is prayer itself: the root of hearing meets תְּפִלָּה (tefillah, 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