When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
Parallel translations
- KJV What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
- BSB When I am afraid, I put my trust in You.
- NKJV Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.
- NASB When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You.
- NLT But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
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
When afraid, David chooses to trust in God. It offers a simple, profound pattern for handling fear.
Overview
David does not deny his fear but responds to it by deliberately placing his trust in God. Faith and fear coexist, yet faith governs his response. This brief verse has comforted countless believers, teaching that the answer to fear is active trust in the Lord.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 34:4I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.
- 1 Sam 30:6David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the souls of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters; but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God.
- 2 Cor 7:5–6For even when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side. Fightings were outside. Fear was inside.
- Ps 55:4–5My heart is severely pained within me. The terrors of death have fallen on me.
- Ps 11:1For the Chief Musician. By David. In Yahweh, I take refuge. How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain!”
- 1 Sam 21:12David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
- 2 Chr 20:3Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and set himself to seek to Yahweh. He proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
- 2 Cor 1:8–10For we don’t desire to have you uninformed, brothers, concerning our affliction which happened to us in Asia, that we were weighed down exceedingly, beyond our power, so much that we despaired even of life.
- 1 Sam 21:10David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
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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 56:3 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.