Psalms 55:17

17 Morning, noon, and night my complaints and groans go up to him, and he will hear my voice.

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 May my enemies die before their time; may they go down alive into the world of the dead! Evil is in their homes and in their hearts.
16 But I call to the Lord God for help, and he will save me.
17 Morning, noon, and night my complaints and groans go up to him, and he will hear my voice.
18 He will bring me safely back from the battles that I fight against so many enemies.
19 God, who has ruled from eternity, will hear me and defeat them; for they refuse to change, and they do not fear him.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.