How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
Parallel translations
- KJV How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.
- BSB How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!
- NKJV How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings.
- NASB How precious is Your mercy, God! And the sons of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
- NLT How precious is your unfailing love, O God! All humanity finds shelter in the shadow of your wings.
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 marvels at how precious God's loving kindness is, under whose protective wings people find refuge. God's love invites trustful shelter.
Overview
The 'shadow of your wings' pictures God as a protective parent bird, a tender image of refuge for 'the children of men.' David treasures this covenant love as supremely precious. Jesus took up the same image over Jerusalem (Matthew 23:37), and the gospel offers all who come to Him secure shelter in the love of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 86:5For you, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive; abundant in loving kindness to all those who call on you.
- 1 Jn 3:1See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.
- Ruth 2:12May Yahweh repay your work, and a full reward be given to you from Yahweh, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
- Ps 91:4He will cover you with his feathers. Under his wings you will take refuge. His faithfulness is your shield and rampart.
- 1 Jn 4:9–10By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.
- Ps 139:17How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is their sum!
- Ps 17:8Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,
- Ps 31:19Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!
- Exod 34:6Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
- Ps 86:15But you, Lord, are a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth.
- John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- Ps 63:7For you have been my help. I will rejoice in the shadow of your wings.
- Ps 145:7–8They will utter the memory of your great goodness, and will sing of your righteousness.
- 2 Pet 1:4by which he has granted to us his precious and exceedingly great promises; that through these you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world by lust.
- Ps 57:1For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Do Not Destroy.” A poem by David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave. Be merciful to me, God, be merciful to me, for my soul takes refuge in you. Yes, in the shadow of your wings, I will take refuge, until disaster has passed.
- 1 Pet 2:6–7Because it is contained in Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed.”
- Luke 13:34“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
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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 36:7 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
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