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Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant.
Psalms 31:23 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Oh love Yahweh, all you his saints! Yahweh preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.
  • KJV O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
  • NKJV Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.
  • NASB ¶Love the Lord, all His godly ones! The Lord watches over the faithful But fully repays the one who acts arrogantly.
  • NLT Love the Lord, all you godly ones! For the Lord protects those who are loyal to him, but he harshly punishes the arrogant.

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 calls all the saints to love the Lord, who preserves the faithful and repays the proud. It exhorts the community to love and trust God.

Overview

Drawing a lesson from his experience, David urges God's people to love Him, assured that God guards the faithful and judges the arrogant. The two outcomes underscore God's justice and care. This call to love God flows from His proven faithfulness to His own.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 20

  • 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 94:2Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.
  • Ps 145:20The LORD preserves all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.
  • John 10:27–30My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me.
  • Ps 34:9Fear the LORD, you His saints, for those who fear Him lack nothing.
  • Ps 30:4Sing to the LORD, O you His saints, and praise His holy name.
  • 1 Sam 2:9He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.
  • Deut 33:3Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—
  • 1 Th 4:1Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more.
  • Ps 54:5He will reward my enemies with evil. In Your faithfulness, destroy them.
  • Rev 18:6Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup.
  • Deut 10:12And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
  • Ps 89:7In the council of the holy ones, God is greatly feared, and awesome above all who surround Him.
  • Mark 12:23In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be? For all seven were married to her.”
  • Deut 32:41when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me.
  • Jude 1:1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:
  • Ps 145:10All You have made will give You thanks, O LORD, and Your saints will bless You.
  • Rev 19:5–6Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you who serve Him, and those who fear Him, small and great alike!”
  • Deut 30:16For I am commanding you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and increase, and the LORD your God may bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.
  • Isa 56:6And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

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 31:23YouTube · 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 31:23 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.