Loving devotion and faithfulness have joined together; righteousness and peace have kissed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
- KJV Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
- NKJV Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.
- NASB Graciousness and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
- NLT Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed!
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
Mercy and truth, righteousness and peace are pictured meeting and embracing. God's saving work harmonizes attributes that sin had set at odds.
Overview
This celebrated verse personifies God's covenant qualities as meeting in joyful union, depicting the reconciliation God brings. Many Christians have seen here a picture of how the gospel unites God's justice and mercy. At the cross righteousness and peace truly 'kiss,' for God is both just and the justifier of those who trust in Jesus.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 3:3Never let loving devotion or faithfulness leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
- Ps 89:14Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; loving devotion and faithfulness go before You.
- Isa 32:16–18Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.
- John 1:17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
- Ps 100:5For the LORD is good, and His loving devotion endures forever; His faithfulness continues to all generations.
- Ps 72:3May the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills bring righteousness.
- Rom 5:21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Mic 7:20You will show faithfulness to Jacob and loving devotion to Abraham, as You swore to our fathers from the days of old.
- Isa 45:24Surely they will say of Me, ‘In the LORD alone are righteousness and strength.’” All who rage against Him will come to Him and be put to shame.
- Heb 7:2and Abraham apportioned to him a tenth of everything. First, his name means “king of righteousness.” Then also, “king of Salem” means “king of peace.”
- Rom 3:25–26God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood, in order to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance He had passed over the sins committed beforehand.
- Exod 34:6–7Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,
- Luke 1:54–55He has helped His servant Israel, remembering to be merciful,
- Rom 5:1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
- Jer 23:5–6Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
- Luke 2:14“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 85:10 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.