Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death.
Parallel translations
- WEB God is to us a God of deliverance. To Yahweh, the Lord, belongs escape from death.
- KJV He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.
- NKJV Our God is the God of salvation; And to GOD the Lord belong escapes from death.
- NASB God is to us a God of salvation; And to God the Lord belong ways of escape from death.
- NLT Our God is a God who saves! The Sovereign Lord rescues us from death.
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
Our God is a God of deliverance, and escape from death belongs to Him. It affirms God as the only true deliverer, even from death.
Overview
David declares that God is for His people a God of salvation, and that escape from death belongs to the Lord. Ultimate rescue, even from death itself, rests in His hands. This is fulfilled in Christ, who conquered death and grants His people victory over the grave.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Deut 32:39See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
- Rev 1:18the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Isa 12:2Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. For the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and He also has become my salvation.”
- John 5:21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.
- 1 Sam 2:6The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- Ps 118:17–18I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the LORD has done.
- Ps 56:13For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
- John 11:25–26Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
- John 5:28–29Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice
- Hos 1:7Yet I will have compassion on the house of Judah, and I will save them—not by bow or sword or war, not by horses and cavalry, but by the LORD their God.”
- Isa 45:17–22But Israel will be saved by the LORD with an everlasting salvation; you will not be put to shame or humiliated, to ages everlasting.
- Rev 20:1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven with the key to the Abyss, holding in his hand a great chain.
- Heb 2:14–15Now since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,
- Prov 4:23Guard your heart with all diligence, for from it flow springs of life.
- John 4:22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.
- John 5:23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 68:20 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.