Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
Parallel translations
- WEB Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
- BSB Loving devotion and faithfulness have joined together; righteousness and peace have kissed.
- 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 3:3Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
- Ps 89:14Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
- Isa 32:16–18Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
- John 1:17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
- Ps 100:5For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
- Ps 72:3The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
- Rom 5:21That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
- Mic 7:20Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
- Isa 45:24Surely, shall one say, in the LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
- Heb 7:2To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;
- Rom 3:25–26Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
- Exod 34:6–7And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
- Luke 1:54–55He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
- Rom 5:1Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
- Jer 23:5–6Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
- Luke 2:14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.