Delight thyself also in the LORD: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your 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 ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
- Ps 145:19He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.
- John 15:16Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
- Isa 58:14Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
- 1 Jn 5:14–15And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:
- Ps 21:1–2The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice!
- Job 22:26For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
- 1 Pet 1:8Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
- Ps 104:34My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.
- Job 27:10Will he delight himself in the Almighty? will he always call upon God?
- Ps 43:4Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy: yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O 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, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
- Job 34:9For he hath said, It profiteth 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
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