Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Parallel translations
- KJV Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
- BSB Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
- NKJV Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.
- NASB Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
- NLT Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart’s desires.
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
Delighting in the Lord brings the promise that He will give the desires of your heart. As we treasure God, our desires are shaped to match His will.
Overview
David invites the believer to find supreme joy in God Himself, with the assurance that God grants the heart's desires. Rightly understood, delighting in God reshapes our desires so that what we most want aligns with His good purposes. This is not a blank check for self-indulgence but the promise that the soul satisfied in God, supremely in Christ, finds its truest longings met.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- John 15:7If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.
- Ps 145:19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.
- John 15:16You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
- Isa 58:14then you shall delight yourself in Yahweh; and I will make you to ride on the high places of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father:” for Yahweh’s mouth has spoken it.
- 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.
- Ps 21:1–2For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. The king rejoices in your strength, Yahweh! How greatly he rejoices in your salvation!
- Job 22:26For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and shall lift up your face to God.
- 1 Pet 1:8whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don’t see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory —
- Ps 104:34Let my meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in Yahweh.
- Job 27:10Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times?
- Ps 43:4Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
- Song 2:3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste.
- Job 34:9For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’
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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 37:4 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.