Limitless Word
May my vindication come from Your presence; may Your eyes see what is right.
Psalms 17:2 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Let my sentence come out of your presence. Let your eyes look on equity.
  • KJV Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.
  • NKJV Let my vindication come from Your presence; Let Your eyes look on the things that are upright.
  • NASB Let my judgment come forth from Your presence; Let Your eyes look with integrity.
  • NLT Declare me innocent, for you see those who do right.

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 asks that his vindication come from God's presence, where justice is rightly seen. It matters because God is the perfect judge who sees and upholds what is right.

Overview

David appeals from human courts to God's tribunal, asking that his sentence come from God who looks upon equity. He trusts the Lord to judge his cause fairly. This confidence in God's righteous judgment is fully secured for believers in Christ, who guarantees their final vindication.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Ps 37:6He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun.
  • 2 Th 1:6–9After all, it is only right for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you,
  • Ezek 18:29Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are My ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
  • Ezek 18:25Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
  • Jude 1:24Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
  • Ezek 33:17Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.
  • Ps 37:33the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.
  • Ezek 33:20Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 17:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 17:2 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.