Establish Your word to Your servant, to produce reverence for You.
Parallel translations
- WEB Fulfill your promise to your servant, that you may be feared.
- KJV Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
- NKJV Establish Your word to Your servant, Who is devoted to fearing You.
- NASB Establish Your word to Your servant As that which produces reverence for You.
- NLT Reassure me of your promise, made to those who fear you.
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 psalmist asks God to confirm His promise to His servant, who is devoted to fearing Him. It matters because God's reliable word sustains those who reverence Him.
Overview
The psalmist appeals to God to establish His promise to him as one given to the fear of God. He rests his confidence on God's faithfulness to His word. All God's promises find their yes and amen in Christ, in whom the promises to those who fear God are confirmed and fulfilled.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Jer 32:39–41I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.
- Ps 147:11The LORD is pleased with those who fear Him, who hope in His loving devotion.
- Ps 103:17But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion of the LORD extends to those who fear Him, and His righteousness to their children’s children—
- 2 Cor 1:20For all the promises of God are “Yes” in Christ. And so through Him, our “Amen” is spoken to the glory of God.
- Ps 103:11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.
- 2 Sam 7:25–29And now, O LORD God, confirm forever the word You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised,
- Ps 103:13As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
- Ps 119:49Remember Your word to Your servant, upon which You have given me hope.
- Ps 145:19He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 119:38 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.