Psalms 28:1
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
To you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
American King James Version (AKJV)
To you will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if you be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
American Standard Version (ASV)
Unto thee, O Jehovah, will I call: My rock, be not thou deaf unto me; Lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
<Of David.> My cry goes up to you, O Lord, my Rock; do not keep back your answer from me, so that I may not become like those who go down into the underworld.
Webster's Revision
A Psalm of David. To thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou shouldst be silent to me, I should become like them that go down into the pit.
World English Bible
To you, Yahweh, I call. My rock, don't be deaf to me; lest, if you are silent to me, I would become like those who go down into the pit.
English Revised Version (ERV)
A Psalm of David. Unto thee, O LORD, will I call; my rock, be not thou deaf unto me: lest, if thou be silent unto me, I become like them that go down into the pit.
Clarke's Psalms 28:1 Bible Commentary
O Lord my rock - צורי tsuri not only means my rock, but my fountain, and the origin of all the good Ipossess.
If thou be silent - If thou do not answer in such a way as to leave no doubt that thou hast heard me, I shall be as a dead man. It is a modern refinement in theology which teaches that no man can know when God hears and answers his prayers, but by an induction of particulars, and by an inference from his promises. And, on this ground, how can any man fairly presume that he is heard or answered at all? May not his inductions be no other than the common occurrences of providence? And may not providence be no more than the necessary occurrence of events? And is it not possible, on this skeptic ground, that there is no God to hear or answer? True religion knows nothing of these abominations; it teaches its votaries to pray to God, to expect an answer from him, and to look for the Holy Spirit to bear witness with their spirits that they are the sons and daughters of God.
Barnes's Psalms 28:1 Bible Commentary
Unto thee will I cry - That is, under the consciousness of the danger to which I am exposed - the danger of being drawn away into the society of the wicked. In such circumstances his reliance was not on his own strength; or on his own resolutions; on his own heart; or on his fellowmen. He felt that he was safe only in God, and he appeals to Him, therefore, in this earnest manner, to save him.
O Lord my rock - See the notes at Psalm 18:2.
Be not silent to me - Margin, "from me." So the Hebrew. The idea is that of one who will not speak to us, or who will not attend to us. We pray, and we look for an "answer" to our prayers, or, as it were, we expect God to "speak" to us; to utter words of kindness; to assure us of His favor; to declare our sins forgiven.
Lest, if thou be silent to me - If thou dost not answer my supplications.
I become like unto them that go down into the pit - Like those who die; or, lest I be crushed by anxiety and distress, and die. The word "pit" here refers to the grave. So it is used in Psalm 30:3; Psalm 88:4; Isaiah 38:18; Isaiah 14:15, Isaiah 14:19. The meaning is, that if he did not obtain help from God he despaired of life. His troubles would overwhelm and crush him. He could not bear up under them.
