May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you;
Parallel translations
- WEB For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. May Yahweh answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high,
- KJV The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee;
- BSB For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of the God of Jacob protect you.
- NASB May the Lord answer you on a day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!
- NLT In times of trouble, may the Lord answer your cry. May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm.
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
The people pray that the Lord will answer the king in his day of trouble and protect him. It is an intercession for the anointed king before battle.
Overview
This royal psalm voices the congregation's prayer for their king as he faces conflict. They invoke 'the God of Jacob,' recalling God's covenant faithfulness to the patriarchs, asking him to answer and defend his anointed. The prayers for God's king ultimately point to the Messiah, the King through whom God secures his people's salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Prov 18:10Yahweh’s name is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.
- Ps 138:7Though I walk in the middle of trouble, you will revive me. You will stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies. Your right hand will save me.
- Ps 91:14–15“Because he has set his love on me, therefore I will deliver him. I will set him on high, because he has known my name.
- Ps 46:11Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
- Ps 46:1For the Chief Musician. By the sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
- Isa 50:10Who among you fears Yahweh, and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name, and rely on his God.
- Matt 26:38–39Then he said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch with me.”
- Heb 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear,
- Ps 83:18that they may know that you alone, whose name is Yahweh, are the Most High over all the earth.
- Jer 30:7Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
- Ps 60:11Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain.
- Ps 114:2Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
- Ps 9:10Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.
- Exod 34:5–7Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed Yahweh’s name.
- Ps 46:7Yahweh of Armies is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
- Ps 50:5“Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
- Ps 18:2Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
- Exod 3:13–15Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?”
- Gen 32:27–29He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob”.
- Gen 48:15–16He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
- Ps 41:1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 20:1 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.