Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed.
- BSB Take notice of our shield, O God, and look with favor on the face of Your anointed.
- NKJV O God, behold our shield, And look upon the face of Your anointed.
- NASB See our shield, God, And look at the face of Your anointed.
- NLT O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield! Show favor to the one you have anointed.
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 psalmist asks God, his shield, to look with favor on His anointed. He prays for God's blessing on the king as God's chosen one.
Overview
Calling God his shield, the psalmist intercedes for the anointed king, on whom the welfare of God's people depended. The 'anointed' (messiah) points beyond any earthly king to Christ, God's ultimate Anointed One. Through Him, God looks with favor on all His people who are found in the Anointed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 2:2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
- Gen 15:1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
- Ps 89:20I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
- 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.
- Ps 98:1O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
- Ps 132:17There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed.
- Ps 2:6Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
- Acts 4:27For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
- Ps 3:3But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.
- 1 Sam 16:6And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.
- Deut 33:29Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places.
- 2 Sam 23:1Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
- 1 Sam 2:10The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven shall he thunder upon them: the LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.
- Ps 59:11Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
- 2 Chr 6:42O LORD God, turn not away the face of thine anointed: remember the mercies of David thy servant.
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 84:9 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
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