Then 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.
- BSB Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.
- NKJV Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And on the harp I will praise You, O God, my God.
- NASB Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And I will praise You on the lyre, God, my God.
- NLT There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!
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
He resolves to go to God's altar, to God his exceeding joy, and praise Him. God Himself, not just His blessings, is the psalmist's supreme delight.
Overview
The climax of his hope is communion with God, described as 'my exceeding joy.' Worship with the harp will express his restored gladness. To find God as one's greatest joy is the heart of true worship and the believer's eternal portion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Isa 61:10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
- Hab 3:17–18Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
- Ps 66:13–15I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
- Ps 57:8Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.
- Ps 116:12–19What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
- Ps 71:22–23I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.
- Ps 33:2Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.
- Ps 81:2Take a psalm, and bring hither the timbrel, the pleasant harp with the psaltery.
- Ps 42:6O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.
- Ps 26:6I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
- 2 Sam 6:5And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.
- Rom 5:11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
- Rev 5:8And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
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 43:4 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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