The Lord preserves all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh preserves all those who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
- KJV The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.
- BSB The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
- NASB The Lord watches over all who love Him, But He will destroy all the wicked.
- NLT The Lord protects all those who love him, but he destroys the wicked.
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
God preserves all who love Him but will destroy the wicked. He keeps His people safe while justice falls on the persistently rebellious.
Overview
The psalm holds together God's protective love for His own and His righteous judgment on the wicked. Both flow from His holy and faithful character. The final separation of the righteous and the wicked is affirmed throughout Scripture and accomplished through Christ the Judge (Matthew 25:31-46).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Exod 20:6and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
- John 10:27–29My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
- Rom 8:28–30We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
- Ps 97:10You who love Yahweh, hate evil. He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
- Ps 31:23Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
- Ps 9:17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
- Ps 9:5You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name forever and ever.
- Ps 1:6For Yahweh knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked shall perish.
- Jas 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?
- Matt 25:41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
- 1 Pet 1:5–8who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Ps 37:28For Yahweh loves justice, and doesn’t forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 145:20 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.