I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest 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.
- 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 thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
- Ps 3:5I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me.
- Job 11:18–19And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
- Ps 16:8–9I have set the LORD 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 ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety;
- Lev 25:18–19Wherefore ye shall do my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and ye shall dwell in the land in safety.
- Rev 14:13And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.
- Hos 2:18And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely.
- Lev 26:5And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time: and ye shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
- 1 Th 4:13–14But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
- Rom 8:35–39Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
- Deut 33:27–29The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
- Ezek 34:25And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely 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
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.