O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and shield.
Parallel translations
- WEB Israel, trust in Yahweh! He is their help and their shield.
- KJV O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
- NKJV O Israel, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield.
- NASB ¶Israel, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield.
- NLT O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.
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
Israel is summoned to trust in Yahweh, who is their help and shield. It matters because the living God is the only secure refuge.
Overview
Having exposed idols, the psalm calls the covenant people to active trust in the Lord who protects and defends. 'Help and shield' pictures God as both rescuer and guardian. This invitation grounds faith not in feelings but in God's proven character, anticipating the gospel call to rest wholly in the God who shields his people in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 62:8Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is our refuge. Selah
- Ps 37:3Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
- Prov 30:5Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.
- Ps 118:2–4Let Israel say, “His loving devotion endures forever.”
- Ps 135:19–20O house of Israel, bless the LORD; O house of Aaron, bless the LORD;
- Ps 33:20–21Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.
- Deut 33:29Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD? He is the shield that protects you, the sword in which you boast. Your enemies will cower before you, and you shall trample their high places.”
- Ps 146:5–6Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
- Eph 1:12in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory.
- Ps 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.
- Exod 19:5Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- Ps 130:7O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance.
- Jer 17:17–18Do not become a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of disaster.
- Ps 125:1A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever.
Resources, by level
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 115:9 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.