Your sons will become kings like their father. You will make them rulers over many lands.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your sons will take the place of your fathers. You shall make them princes in all the earth.
- KJV Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
- BSB Your sons will succeed your fathers; you will make them princes throughout the land.
- NKJV Instead of Your fathers shall be Your sons, Whom You shall make princes in all the earth.
- NASB ¶In place of your fathers will be your sons; You shall make them princes in all the earth.
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
The king's sons will succeed his fathers and be made princes throughout the earth. It matters because it promises an enduring royal line, fulfilled in Christ's universal reign.
Overview
Addressed to the king, this promises a flourishing dynasty whose offspring will rule widely. The dynastic hope reflects God's covenant with David. It finds its fulfillment in Christ, whose kingdom fills the earth and whose people are made a royal priesthood reigning under Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rev 5:10and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth.”
- Rev 1:6and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
- Isa 60:1–5“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you.
- Isa 49:21–22Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought these up? Behold, I was left alone. Where were these?’”
- Isa 54:1–5“Sing, barren, you who didn’t give birth; break out into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife,” says Yahweh.
- Rev 20:6Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.
- Mark 10:29–30Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News,
- Matt 19:29Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life.
- Ps 22:30Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord.
- Phil 3:7–8However, I consider those things that were gain to me as a loss for Christ.
- Gal 4:26–27But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 45:16 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.