A Miktam of David. Preserve me, O God, for in You I take refuge.
Parallel translations
- WEB A Poem by David. Preserve me, God, for in you do I take refuge.
- KJV Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.
- NKJV Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.
- NASB Protect me, God, for I take refuge in You.
- NLT Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge.
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 prays for God to preserve him because he takes refuge in the Lord alone. It matters because safety is found in trusting God rather than ourselves.
Overview
This psalm opens with a simple plea for preservation grounded in refuge taken in God. Trust, not personal merit, is the basis of David's appeal. The New Testament applies this whole psalm to Christ, whose perfect trust in the Father is the model and ground of the believer's confidence.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Isa 26:3–4You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Ps 31:23Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant.
- Ps 17:8Keep me as the apple of Your eye; hide me in the shadow of Your wings
- Ps 56:1For the choirmaster. To the tune of “A Dove on Distant Oaks.” A Miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath. Be merciful to me, O God, for men are hounding me; all day they press their attack.
- 2 Tim 1:12For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.
- Ps 7:1A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the LORD concerning the words of Cush, a Benjamite. O LORD my God, I take refuge in You; save me and deliver me from all my pursuers,
- Ps 116:6The LORD preserves the simplehearted; I was helpless, and He saved me.
- Jer 17:7–8But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him.
- Ps 60:1For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A Miktam of David for instruction. When he fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and struck down 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt. You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us!
- Ps 84:12O LORD of Hosts, how blessed is the man who trusts in You!
- Prov 2:8to guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His saints.
- Ps 9:10Those who know Your name trust in You, for You, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek You.
- Ps 25:20Guard my soul and deliver me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in You.
- Ps 146:5Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
- Ps 37:28For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
- Ps 17:5My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.
- Ps 125:1A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever.
- Ps 97:10Hate evil, O you who love the LORD! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
- Ps 22:8“He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.”
- 2 Cor 1:9Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.
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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 16:1 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.