In Your good pleasure, cause Zion to prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.
Parallel translations
- WEB Do well in your good pleasure to Zion. Build the walls of Jerusalem.
- KJV Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
- NKJV Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
- NASB ¶By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem.
- NLT Look with favor on Zion and help her; rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
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 prays for God to do good to Zion and build up Jerusalem. His personal repentance widens into concern for God's people.
Overview
Moving beyond his own restoration, David intercedes for the welfare of Zion and the building of Jerusalem's walls. Personal sin affects the wider community, so his repentance includes prayer for the nation. The verse reflects a heart aligned with God's purposes for His people, ultimately fulfilled in the building of God's spiritual city through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ps 102:16For the LORD will rebuild Zion; He has appeared in His glory.
- Luke 12:32Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.
- Ps 122:6–9Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you prosper.
- Eph 1:5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
- Zech 2:5For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory within it.’”
- Phil 2:13For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
- 2 Th 1:11To this end, we always pray for you, that our God will count you worthy of His calling, and that He will powerfully fulfill your every good desire and work of faith,
- Isa 62:1For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not keep still, until her righteousness shines like a bright light, her salvation like a blazing torch.
- Ps 147:2The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers the exiles of Israel.
- Isa 51:3For the LORD will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.
- Mic 7:11The day for rebuilding your walls will come—the day for extending your boundary.
- Isa 62:6–7On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD shall take no rest for yourselves,
- Ps 25:22Redeem Israel, O God, from all its distress.
- Neh 2:17Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in. Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned down. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
- Isa 58:12Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of the Breach, Restorer of the Streets of Dwelling.
- Ps 137:5–6If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function.
- 2 Cor 11:28–29Apart from these external trials, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.
- Jer 51:50You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”
- Dan 9:25Know and understand this: From the issuance of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until the Messiah, the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of distress.
- Ps 69:35For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.
- Eph 1:9And He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ
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 51:18 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.