Psalms 18:6 (DBY)

Passage

In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and I cried out to my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears.

Nearby Context

Psalms 18:4 The bands of death encompassed me, and torrents of Belial made me afraid.

Psalms 18:5 The bands of Sheol surrounded me, the cords of death encountered me.

Psalms 18:6 In my distress I called upon Jehovah, and I cried out to my God; he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, into his ears.

Psalms 18:7 Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled and shook, because he was wroth.

Psalms 18:8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals burned forth from it.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "called", "distress", "upon", "jehovah", "cried", "heard", "voice", and "temple". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "distress", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "The bands of Sheol surrounded me the..." into verse 7's "Then the earth shook and quaked and...", so "called" and "distress" belong inside that flow. In Psalms context, the local focus is worship, trust, the LORD's kingship, and covenant mercy.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "called" and "distress" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.