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I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your name for Your loving devotion and Your faithfulness; You have exalted Your name and Your word above all else.
Psalms 138:2 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB I will bow down toward your holy temple, and give thanks to your Name for your loving kindness and for your truth; for you have exalted your Name and your Word above all.
  • KJV I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
  • NKJV I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
  • NASB I will bow down toward Your holy temple And give thanks to Your name for Your mercy and Your truth; For You have made Your word great according to all Your name.
  • NLT I bow before your holy Temple as I worship. I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name.

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

David worships toward God's temple, thanking Him for His love and faithfulness, which He has exalted with His word.

Overview

Bowing toward the holy place, David praises God's steadfast love and truth, the twin pillars of His covenant character. He marvels that God has magnified His word and His name above all. This reverence for God's word, which never fails, finds its fullest expression in Christ, the Word made flesh and the truth of God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Matt 5:18For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
  • Ps 56:10In God, whose word I praise, in the LORD, whose word I praise,
  • Isa 42:21The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
  • Matt 24:35Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
  • Ps 5:7But I will enter Your house by the abundance of Your loving devotion; in reverence I will bow down toward Your holy temple.
  • 1 Kgs 8:29–30May Your eyes be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My Name shall be there,’ so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place.
  • Ps 56:4In God, whose word I praise—in God I trust. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?
  • Ps 28:2Hear my cry for mercy when I call to You for help, when I lift up my hands toward Your holy sanctuary.
  • John 1:17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
  • Ps 115:1Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name be the glory, because of Your loving devotion, because of Your faithfulness.
  • Ps 89:1–2A Maskil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the loving devotion of the LORD forever; with my mouth I will proclaim Your faithfulness to all generations.
  • Ps 100:4–5Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and bless His name.
  • Ps 36:5–6Your loving devotion, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds.
  • Ps 86:15But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.
  • Ps 99:9Exalt the LORD our God and worship at His holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.
  • Ps 99:5Exalt the LORD our God, and worship at His footstool; He is holy!
  • Isa 63:7I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great compassion and loving devotion.
  • Rom 15:8–9For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs,
  • Dan 6:10Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
  • Ps 85:10Loving devotion and faithfulness have joined together; righteousness and peace have kissed.
  • John 10:35If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—
  • Mic 7:18–20Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
  • Luke 1:68–72“Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 138:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 138:2 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.