Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
Parallel translations
- WEB A Psalm by Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
- BSB A Psalm of Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
- ESV Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
- NKJV Truly God is good to Israel, To such as are pure in heart.
- NASB God certainly is good to Israel, To those who are pure in heart!
- NLT Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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
Asaph affirms the settled truth that God is truly good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
Overview
This opening declaration is the conclusion Asaph reaches after deep struggle, placed first as the anchor of the whole psalm. God's goodness is enjoyed especially by the pure in heart, those whose hearts are set on him. This points to the blessing Jesus pronounced on the pure in heart, who will see God (Matthew 5:8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Matt 5:8Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
- Ps 51:10Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
- Luke 12:32Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
- Ps 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
- Jas 4:8Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
- John 1:47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
- Rom 2:28–29For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
- Jer 4:14O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
- 1 Chr 25:1–6Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was:
- 2 Chr 29:30Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.
- Titus 3:5Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
- Ps 83:1Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
- Ps 50:1The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
- Ps 24:4He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
- Rom 4:16Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,
- 1 Chr 16:37So he left there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD Asaph and his brethren, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required:
- Ps 2:6Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
- Ps 73:18Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.
- 1 Chr 16:7Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.
- 1 Chr 15:17So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
- 1 Chr 6:39And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berachiah, the son of Shimea,
- Isa 63:7–9I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.
- Ps 42:11Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.
- Rom 9:6–7Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:
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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 73:1 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.