All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
Parallel translations
- WEB All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, Yahweh, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
- BSB All the kings of the earth will give You thanks, O LORD, when they hear the words of Your mouth.
- NKJV All the kings of the earth shall praise You, O Lord, When they hear the words of Your mouth.
- NASB ¶All the kings of the earth will give thanks to You, Lord, When they have heard the words of Your mouth.
- NLT Every king in all the earth will thank you, Lord, for all of them will hear your words.
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 foresees all earthly kings giving thanks to Yahweh when they hear His words.
Overview
Looking beyond Israel, David envisions even the kings of the earth praising God once they hear His word. This expresses the hope that God's truth will draw the nations to worship Him. That hope is being fulfilled through the gospel of Christ, which calls people from every nation to bow before the King of kings.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 102:15So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
- Ps 72:11Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.
- Ps 22:27All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee.
- Ps 22:22I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
- Rev 11:15And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
- Isa 49:23And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
- Isa 60:16Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
- Rev 21:24And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
- Ps 102:22When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
- Isa 60:3–5And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
- Ps 51:13Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
- Ps 69:30–32I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
- Ps 71:18Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.
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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 138:4 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.