O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
Parallel translations
- WEB My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”
- BSB I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from You I have no good thing.”
- NKJV O my soul, you have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.”
- NASB I said to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have nothing good besides You.”
- NLT I said to the Lord, “You are my Master! Every good thing I have comes from you.”
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 confesses that Yahweh is his Lord and that he has no good apart from him. It matters because it teaches that God himself is our highest and only true good.
Overview
The psalmist addresses his own soul, acknowledging Yahweh as Lord and declaring that every good thing he has depends on God. All blessing flows from the Giver, and apart from him there is nothing truly good. This God-centered satisfaction is fulfilled in Christ, who is the believer's supreme treasure.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 73:25Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee.
- Ps 31:14But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.
- Ps 91:2I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.
- Job 22:2–3Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
- Ps 89:26He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
- Ps 8:1O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
- Ps 27:8When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.
- John 20:28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.
- Isa 26:13O LORD our God, other lords beside thee have had dominion over us: but by thee only will we make mention of thy name.
- Rom 11:35Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
- Zech 13:9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
- Isa 44:5One shall say, I am the LORD’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob; and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the LORD, and surname himself by the name of Israel.
- Luke 17:10So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
- Ps 50:9–10I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds.
- Job 35:7–8If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?
Resources, by level
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 16:2 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.