May He grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel.
Parallel translations
- KJV Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfil all thy counsel.
- BSB May He give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed.
- NKJV May He grant you according to your heart’s desire, And fulfill all your purpose.
- NASB ¶May He grant you your heart’s desire And fulfill your whole plan!
- NLT May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed.
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
They pray that God will grant the king his heart's desire and fulfill all his plans. Their longing is for the king's God-honoring purposes to succeed.
Overview
The petition assumes a king whose desires and counsel align with God's will, so that fulfilling them advances God's cause. The prayer is bold yet submitted to the Lord. It finds ultimate answer in the Messiah, whose every desire is to do the Father's will and whose purposes God always accomplishes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 145:19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
- Ps 37:4Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
- Matt 21:22All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
- Ps 21:2You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.
- John 16:23“In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.
- Rom 8:27–28He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.
- Prov 11:23The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath.
- 1 Jn 5:14–15This is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us.
- John 11:42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 20:4 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.