I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
Parallel translations
- WEB In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep, for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.
- KJV I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest 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; when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.
- Ps 3:5I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
- Job 11:18–19You will be secure, because there is hope, and you will look around and lie down in safety.
- Ps 16:8–9I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
- 1 Th 5:10He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
- Deut 12:10When you cross the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and He gives you rest from all the enemies around you and you dwell securely,
- Lev 25:18–19You are to keep My statutes and carefully observe My judgments, so that you may dwell securely in the land.
- Rev 14:13And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”
- Hos 2:18On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and weapons of war in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.
- Lev 26:5Your threshing will continue until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will continue until sowing time; you will have your fill of food to eat and will dwell securely in your land.
- 1 Th 4:13–14Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.
- Rom 8:35–39Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
- Deut 33:27–29The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’
- Ezek 34:25I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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
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.