In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep, for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.
Parallel translations
- KJV I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
- BSB I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
- NKJV I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; For You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
- NASB In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, Lord, have me dwell in safety.
- NLT In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O Lord, will keep me safe.
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 lies down and sleeps in peace because the Lord alone keeps him safe. Trust in God brings rest the world cannot give.
Overview
The psalm closes with serene confidence: David can sleep untroubled because his security rests in God alone. This peace is not the absence of danger but the presence of the Lord. It points to the deeper rest Christ gives, who calms the believer's heart and grants peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Prov 3:24When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.
- Ps 3:5I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me.
- Job 11:18–19You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety.
- Ps 16:8–9I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
- 1 Th 5:10who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
- Deut 12:10But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety;
- Lev 25:18–19“‘Therefore you shall do my statutes, and keep my ordinances and do them; and you shall dwell in the land in safety.
- Rev 14:13I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.”
- Hos 2:18In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.
- Lev 26:5Your threshing shall reach to the vintage, and the vintage shall reach to the sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
- 1 Th 4:13–14But we don’t want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who have fallen asleep, so that you don’t grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
- Rom 8:35–39Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
- Deut 33:27–29The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’
- Ezek 34:25I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
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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 4:8 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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