O God, behold our shield, And look upon the face of Your anointed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, God our shield, look at the face of your anointed.
- KJV Behold, O God our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed.
- BSB Take notice of our shield, O God, and look with favor on 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 take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
- Gen 15:1After these things Yahweh’s word came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”
- Ps 89:20I have found David, my servant. I have anointed him with my holy oil,
- Ps 84:11For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
- Ps 98:1A Psalm. Sing to Yahweh a new song, for he has done marvelous things! His right hand, and his holy arm, have worked salvation for him.
- Ps 132:17There I will make the horn of David to bud. I have ordained a lamp for my anointed.
- Ps 2:6“Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”
- Acts 4:27“For truly, in this city against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
- Ps 3:3But you, Yahweh, are a shield around me, my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
- 1 Sam 16:6When they had come, he looked at Eliab, and said, “Surely Yahweh’s anointed is before him.”
- Deut 33:29You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You will tread on their high places.”
- 2 Sam 23:1Now these are the last words of David. David the son of Jesse says, the man who was raised on high says, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel:
- 1 Sam 2:10Those who strive with Yahweh shall be broken to pieces. He will thunder against them in the sky. “Yahweh will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
- Ps 59:11Don’t kill them, or my people may forget. Scatter them by your power, and bring them down, Lord our shield.
- 2 Chr 6:42“Yahweh God, don’t turn away the face of your anointed. Remember your loving kindnesses to David your servant.”
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 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
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.