The LORD disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
- KJV The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.
- NKJV The Lord has chastened me severely, But He has not given me over to death.
- NASB The Lord has disciplined me severely, But He has not turned me over to death.
- NLT The Lord has punished me severely, but he did not let me die.
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
The Lord disciplined him severely but did not hand him over to death. It matters because God's chastening is purposeful, never destroying his own.
Overview
The psalmist recognizes his suffering as the Lord's discipline, yet bounded by mercy that spared his life. God corrects his people without abandoning them (Heb. 12:6). This fatherly discipline that stops short of death reflects the security believers have in Christ, who bore the ultimate judgment in their place.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Cor 11:32But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
- Job 5:17–18Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
- 2 Cor 6:9as unknown, yet well-known; dying, and yet we live on; punished, yet not killed;
- Prov 3:11–12My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke;
- Ps 94:12–13Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,
- 2 Cor 1:9–11Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
- Jonah 2:6To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!
- Ps 66:10–12For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us like silver.
- Job 33:16–30He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings
- Heb 12:10–11Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.
- 2 Sam 13:1–39After some time, David’s son Amnon fell in love with Tamar, the beautiful sister of David’s son Absalom.
- 2 Sam 12:10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
- 2 Sam 16:1–23When David had gone a little beyond the summit, Ziba the servant of Mephibosheth was there to meet him. He had a pair of saddled donkeys loaded with two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred summer fruits, and a skin of wine.
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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 118:18 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.