“The Lord is certain to save me; So we will play my songs on stringed instruments All the days of our life at the house of the Lord.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh will save me. Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments all the days of our life in Yahweh’s house.
- KJV The LORD was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.
- BSB The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
- NKJV “The Lord was ready to save me; Therefore we will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life, in the house of the Lord.”
- NLT Think of it—the Lord is ready to heal me! I will sing his praises with instruments every day of my life in the Temple of the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Hezekiah declares the Lord will save him, so they will sing in God's house all their days. Deliverance overflows into lifelong, congregational praise.
Overview
The psalm ends in confident worship, resolving to sing to God with instruments in the temple. Personal rescue moves the king toward the shared praise of God's people. This pattern of salvation leading to grateful worship anticipates the joyful praise of the redeemed who gather before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 116:2Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
- Ps 145:2Every day I will praise you. I will extol your name forever and ever.
- Ps 150:4Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments and flute!
- Ps 27:5–6For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.
- Ps 68:25The singers went before, the minstrels followed after, among the ladies playing with tambourines,
- Ps 30:11–12You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,
- Ps 66:13–15I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you,
- Ps 33:2Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings.
- Hab 3:19Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
- Ps 51:15Lord, open my lips. My mouth shall declare your praise.
- Ps 116:17–19I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on Yahweh’s name.
- Ps 9:13–14Have mercy on me, Yahweh. See my affliction by those who hate me, and lift me up from the gates of death;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 38:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.