Psalms 55:17

17 In the evening and in the morning and in the middle of the day I will make my prayer with sounds of grief; and my voice will come to his ears.

Psalms 55:17 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 55:17

Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray
These being the stated times of prayer with the Jews, and which continued to later ages, ( Daniel 6:10 ) . These times, they say F2, were fixed by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: the morning prayer by Abraham, according to ( Genesis 22:3 ) , the prayer of the "minchah" by Isaac, according to ( Genesis 24:63 ) ; and the evening prayer by Jacob, according to ( Genesis 28:11 ) . The prayer of the evening was at the time of the evening sacrifice, to which it is compared, ( Psalms 141:2 ) . This was at the ninth hour, at which time Peter and John went up to the temple to pray; and Cornelius prayed in his own house, ( Acts 3:1 ) ( 10:30 ) . The prayer of the morning was at the time of the morning daily sacrifice, and was about the third hour of the day; at which time the apostles met together for prayer on the day of Pentecost, ( Acts 2:1 Acts 2:15 ) ; and that at noon was at the sixth hour of the day; at which time Peter went up to the housetop to pray, ( Acts 10:9 ) . And now, though we are not tied down to these exact and precise times of prayer, yet this teaches us that we ought to pray frequently and constantly, and that a day should not pass without it; and the morning and evening seem to be very proper seasons for it, seeing the mercies of the Lord are new every morning; and we should be thankful for them and the mercies of the night past, and implore divine protection and grace for the day following; and at evening we should express our thankfulness for the mercies of the day, and commit ourselves and families into the hands of God, who is Israel's Keeper, that neither slumbers nor sleeps;

and cry aloud;
denoting the distress he was in, the fervency of his prayer, and the importunity of it;

and he shall hear my voice;
this he might be assured of, from the general character of God, as a God hearing prayer, and from his own special and particular experience of the truth of it, and from the promises made unto him.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 Yalkut Simeoni in loc.

Psalms 55:17 In-Context

15 Let the hand of death come on them suddenly, and let them go down living into the underworld; because evil is in their houses and in their hearts.
16 As for me, I will make my prayer to God, and he will be my saviour.
17 In the evening and in the morning and in the middle of the day I will make my prayer with sounds of grief; and my voice will come to his ears.
18 He has taken my soul away from the attack which was made against me, and given it peace; for great numbers were against me.
19 God will give thought to me; he who from early times is strong will send pain and trouble on them. (Selah.) Because they are unchanged, they have no fear of God.
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