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¶Love the Lord, all His godly ones! The Lord watches over the faithful But fully repays the one who acts arrogantly.
Psalms 31:23 · New American 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.
  • BSB Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant.
  • NKJV Oh, love the Lord, all you His saints! For the Lord preserves the faithful, And fully repays the proud person.
  • 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 97:10You who love Yahweh, hate evil. He preserves the souls of his saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
  • Ps 94:2Rise up, you judge of the earth. Pay back the proud what they deserve.
  • Ps 145:20Yahweh preserves all those who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
  • John 10:27–30My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
  • Ps 34:9Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him.
  • Ps 30:4Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name.
  • 1 Sam 2:9He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked shall be put to silence in darkness; for no man shall prevail by strength.
  • Deut 33:3Yes, he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sat down at your feet. Each receives your words.
  • 1 Th 4:1Finally then, brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more.
  • Ps 54:5He will repay the evil to my enemies. Destroy them in your truth.
  • Rev 18:6Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.
  • Deut 10:12Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
  • Ps 89:7a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones, to be feared above all those who are around him?
  • Mark 12:23In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife.”
  • Deut 32:41if I sharpen my glittering sword, my hand grasps it in judgment; I will take vengeance on my adversaries, and will repay those who hate me.
  • Jude 1:1Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
  • Ps 145:10All your works will give thanks to you, Yahweh. Your saints will extol you.
  • Rev 19:5–6A voice came from the throne, saying, “Give praise to our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, the small and the great!”
  • Deut 30:16For I command you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his ordinances, that you may live and multiply, and that Yahweh your God may bless you in the land where you go in to possess it.
  • Isa 56:6Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh, to serve him, and to love Yahweh’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast 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.