The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Parallel translations
- WEB The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- BSB The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- NKJV The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- NASB The righteous person will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
- NLT But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.
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 righteous flourish like a palm tree and grow strong like a cedar of Lebanon. Those who trust God enjoy enduring, fruitful, stable life.
Overview
In contrast to the short-lived grass of the wicked (v.7), the righteous are pictured as long-lived, fruitful, and majestic trees. The palm bears fruit and the cedar stands tall and strong, images of lasting vitality rooted in God. This flourishing finds its source in being united to Christ, the true vine (John 15:5; Psalm 1:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 17:8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
- Ps 1:3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
- Ps 104:16The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
- Ps 52:8But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
- Hos 14:5–6I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.
- Amos 2:9Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
- Num 24:6As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.
- Isa 65:22They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
- Ps 72:7In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
- Isa 55:13Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
- Ps 92:7When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
- 1 Kgs 6:29And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
- 1 Kgs 4:33And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
- Ps 148:9Mountains, and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars:
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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 92:12 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.