Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
Parallel translations
- WEB You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.
- BSB You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
- NKJV You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- NASB You will make known to me the way of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.
- NLT You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.
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 reveals the path of life, and his presence holds fullness of joy and eternal pleasures. It matters because lasting joy is found only in God's presence forever.
Overview
The psalm climaxes with the assurance that God shows the path of life, and that in his presence is full joy and everlasting pleasures at his right hand. This points beyond earthly life to eternal fellowship with God. Fulfilled in the risen Christ who entered the Father's presence, it promises the same resurrection joy to all who are his.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 26
- Acts 2:28Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
- Jude 1:24Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
- Ps 36:7–8How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
- Rev 7:15–17Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
- Eph 3:19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
- Ps 21:4–6He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever.
- Prov 4:18But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
- Ps 17:15As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.
- Matt 7:14Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
- Matt 5:8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
- 2 Cor 4:17For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
- Rev 22:5And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
- Isa 2:3And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
- 1 Pet 3:22Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
- Prov 12:28In the way of righteousness is life: and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
- Rom 8:11But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
- 1 Cor 13:12For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
- Ps 139:24And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
- 1 Jn 3:2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
- Matt 25:33And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
- Mark 16:19So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.
- Matt 25:46And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
- Prov 2:19None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
- 1 Pet 1:21Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
- Acts 7:56And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
- Prov 5:6Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life, her ways are moveable, that thou canst not know them.
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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 16:11 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
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