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The Lord will count when He registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah
Psalms 87:6 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yahweh will count, when he writes up the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah.
  • KJV The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.
  • BSB The LORD will record in the register of the peoples: “This one was born in Zion.” Selah
  • NKJV The Lord will record, When He registers the peoples: “This one was born there.” Selah
  • NLT When the Lord registers the nations, he will say, “They have all become citizens of Jerusalem.” Interlude

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 LORD registers the peoples, recording 'this one was born there.' God Himself enrolls the citizens of Zion.

Overview

Like a king keeping a census, God writes the names of the nations as native-born citizens of Zion. This divine registry assures that those He claims truly belong. It anticipates the Lamb's book of life, in which the names of all redeemed in Christ are written.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Isa 4:3It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem;
  • Luke 10:20Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
  • Rev 20:15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
  • Ezek 13:9“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who divine lies. They will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh”
  • Phil 4:3Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
  • Ps 69:28Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
  • Jer 3:19“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’
  • Rev 13:8All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
  • Ps 22:30Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord.
  • Ezek 9:4Yahweh said to him, “Go through the middle of the city, through the middle of Jerusalem, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done within it.”
  • Gal 4:26–31But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 87:6YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 87:6 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.