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Psalm 18 · a question people ask

"Even to the LORD, but he didn’t answer them" (18:41). Does God refuse to hear people?

In the text

The verse says it of David's enemies, in the middle of the battle: "They cried, but there was no one to save; even to the LORD, but he didn’t answer them" (18:41). The verse before calls them "my enemies" and "those who hate me" (18:40). The psalm says nothing more about their cry, and these notes don't add to it. Other books say something like it of other people. In Proverbs, wisdom says (Proverbs 1:20), "Then they will call on me, but I will not answer" (Proverbs 1:28). Micah says, "Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them" (Micah 3:4), and gives a reason in the same verse: "because they made their deeds evil" (Micah 3:4). Psalm 18 itself begins with a cry the LORD did hear (18:6), and another psalm says of the afflicted, "when he cried to him, he heard" (Psalm 22:24).

The verses

“In my distress I called on the LORD, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.”
Psalm 18:6 · World English Bible
“You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me. They cried, but there was no one to save; even to the LORD, but he didn’t answer them.”
Psalm 18:40-41 · World English Bible
“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me,”
Proverbs 1:28 · World English Bible
“Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.””
Micah 3:4 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 18

Psalm 18: I love you, LORD, my strength

Psalm 18 is 2 Samuel 22's song with its own first line, "I love you, LORD, my strength" (18:1): love there is racham, a verb used everywhere else for compassion. In the psalm David and his enemies cry with one verb; he was heard (18:6), they weren't (18:41). And Paul gives its praise "among the nations", also 2 Samuel 22's, as written of Christ's work (Romans 15:8-9).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions