Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter and give thanks to the LORD.
Parallel translations
- WEB Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Yah.
- KJV Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
- NKJV Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord.
- NASB ¶Open the gates of righteousness to me; I will enter through them, I will give thanks to the Lord.
- NLT Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank 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
He asks for the gates of righteousness to be opened so he may enter and give thanks. It matters because the redeemed long to come before God in grateful worship.
Overview
Approaching the temple, the psalmist requests entry through the gates to offer thanksgiving for his deliverance. Worship is the goal of salvation. These 'gates of righteousness' point ahead to the access believers have through Christ, the way into God's presence (John 14:6; Heb. 10:19-20).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 26:2Open the gates so a righteous nation may enter—one that remains faithful.
- Rev 22:14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by its gates.
- Ps 100:4Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.
- Ps 9:13–14Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death,
- Ps 66:13–15I will enter Your house with burnt offerings; I will fulfill my vows to You—
- Ps 95:2Let us enter His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him in song.
- Ps 116:18–19I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people,
- Isa 38:22And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”
- Isa 38:20The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 118:19 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.