Back to Psalms 34

Psalms 34:4-6

I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    I sought Yahweh, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

    They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.

    This poor man cried, and Yahweh heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

  • KJV King James Version

    I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

    They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.

    This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

Show all 3 translations
  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    (34-5) I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.

    (34-6) They looked unto Him, and were radiant; and their faces shall never be abashed.

    (34-7) This poor man cried, and the LORD heard, and saved him out of all his troubles.

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Cross-references (38)

  • Psalms 18:6 (v4) In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.
  • Matthew 7:7 (v4) “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you.
  • Psalms 116:1-6 (v4) I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy. Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as…
  • Psalms 56:3 (v4) When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
  • 2 Timothy 1:7 (v4) For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
Show all 38 cross-references
  • Isaiah 12:2 (v4) Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my…
  • Jonah 2:2 (v4) He said, “I called because of my affliction to Yahweh. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.
  • Psalms 31:22 (v4) As for me, I said in my haste, “I am cut off from before your eyes.” Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.
  • Hebrews 5:7 (v4) He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from…
  • Psalms 27:1-2 (v4) Yahweh is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? Yahweh is the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers came…
  • Luke 11:9 (v4) “I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.
  • Hebrews 12:2 (v5) looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and…
  • Psalms 22:24 (v4) For he has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, Neither has he hidden his face from him; but when he cried to him, he…
  • 2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (v4) Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for…
  • Psalms 123:1-2 (v5) I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a…
  • Psalms 46:2 (v4) Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;
  • 2 Chronicles 15:2 (v4) and he went out to meet Asa, and said to him, “Hear me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin! Yahweh is with you, while you are with him; and if…
  • Psalms 18:28 (v5) For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.
  • Psalms 25:3 (v5) Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.
  • Psalms 34:17-19 (v6) The righteous cry, and Yahweh hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. Yahweh is near to those who have a broken heart, and…
  • Psalms 3:4 (v6) I cry to Yahweh with my voice, and he answers me out of his holy hill.
  • Psalms 77:1-2 (v4) My cry goes to God! Indeed, I cry to God for help, and for him to listen to me. In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was…
  • Psalms 36:9 (v5) For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light.
  • Isaiah 60:5 (v5) Then you shall see and be radiant, and your heart will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The…
  • 2 Corinthians 7:5-6 (v4) For even when we had come into Macedonia, our flesh had no relief, but we were afflicted on every side. Fightings were outside. Fear was…
  • Psalms 97:11 (v5) Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
  • 1 Samuel 27:1 (v4) David said in his heart, “I will now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the…
  • Psalms 10:17 (v6) Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear,
  • Psalms 13:3 (v5) Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
  • Isaiah 45:22 (v5) “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
  • Psalms 66:16-20 (v6) Come and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul. I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my…
  • Esther 8:16 (v5) The Jews had light, gladness, joy, and honor.
  • Psalms 83:16 (v5) Fill their faces with confusion, that they may seek your name, Yahweh.
  • 2 Samuel 22:1 (v6) David spoke to Yahweh the words of this song in the day that Yahweh delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand…
  • Psalms 40:17 (v6) But I am poor and needy. May the Lord think about me. You are my help and my deliverer. Don’t delay, my God.
  • Genesis 48:16 (v6) the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and…
  • Revelation 7:14-17 (v6) I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering.They washed their robes, and made them…
  • 2 Samuel 19:5 (v5) Joab came into the house to the king, and said, “Today you have shamed the faces of all your servants, who today have saved your life, and…

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (18 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv4–6 4. I sought Jehovah, and he answered me. The…

4. I sought Jehovah, and he answered me. The Psalmist here explains more plainly and more fully what he had said concerning joy. In the first place, he tells us that his prayers had been heard. This he applies to all the godly, that, encouraged by a testimony so precious, they might stir themselves up to prayer. What is implied in seeking God is evident from the following clause. In some places it is to be understood in a different sense, namely, to bend the mind in earnest application to the service of God, and to have all its thoughts directed to him. Here it simply means to have recourse to him for help; for it immediately follows that God answered him; and he is properly said to answer prayer and supplication. By his fears the Psalmist means, taking the effect for the cause, the dangers which sorely disquieted his mind; yet doubtless he confesses that he had been terrified and agitated by fears. He did not look upon his dangers with a calm and untroubled mind, as if he viewed them at a distance and from some elevated position, but being grievously tormented with innumerable cares, he might justly speak of his fears and terrors. Nay more, by the use of the plural number, he shows that he had been greatly terrified not only in one way, but that he had been distracted by a variety of troubles. On the one hand, he saw a cruel death awaiting him; while on the other, his mind may have been filled with fear, lest Achish should send him to Saul for his gratification, as the ungodly are wont to make sport to themselves of the children of God. And since he had already been detected and betrayed once, he might well conclude, even if he should escape, that the hired assassins of Saul would lay wait for him on all sides. The hatred too which Achish had conceived against him, both for the death of Goliath and the destruction of his own army, might give rise to many fears; especially considering that his enemy might instantly wreak his vengeance upon him, and that he had good reason to think that his cruelty was such as would not be appeased by subjecting him to some mild form of death. “Et qu’il avoit bien occasion de penser que la cruaute d’iceluy ne se pourroit pas appaiser a le faire mourir de quelque legere mort.” — Fr.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv4–5 Which I conceived for the danger wherein I was.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Psa 34:4 I sought the LORD, and he heard…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–6 They looked; the humble, Psa 34:2; or they that…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv4–6 I sought the Lord, and he heard me,.... Not…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5–6 Lightened - Comforted and encouraged. Ashamed - They were…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Verse 4. I sought the Lord] This is the…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v4 Psa 34:4-6. I sought the Lord, and he heard…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv4–6 I sought the Lord, and he heard me -…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv4–6 delivered . . . fears--as well as actual evil…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv4–6 4. I sought… he heard… and delivered me—Here is…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv4–6 4. When I sought Jehovah (with earnest devotion, see…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5–6 (5) Were lightened.—The Hebrew verb means properly “to flow,”…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv4–6 I sought the Lord, and he heard me. To…
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain On vv4–6 Ver. 4. I sought the Lord, and he heard…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv4–6 I sought the Lord, and He heard me.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v4 I sought Yahweh
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v5 34:5-6 The psalmist narrates his experiences of answered prayer.
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