Psalms 37:4
in Psalms 37Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Delight thyself also in Jehovah; And he will give thee the desires of thy heart.
KJV
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
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This verse in Psalms 37
Commentary
3 notes on this verse(Verse 4.) Therefore, he says: Delight in the Lord, and he will grant you the desires of your heart. Why did he not say 'your desires' but 'the desires of your heart'? For the desires of the external and internal man are not the same and not all of them are approved by Christ; because the law of the flesh often opposes to the rules of the spirit. But those desires that belong to the interior man, who is renewed by the Spirit, the Lord grants them to the petitioner with effect.
This site's exposition
Trust in the LORD
on Psalms 37:3-6
Trust is joined to doing good and dwelling in the land. The Hebrew verb behind commit your way is the word for roll, a burden rolled onto one able to carry it. The man who delights in the LORD is given the desires of his heart, and his righteousness comes up like the dawn.
The record, by era
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
There is an ascent in this third precept. He who was first bidden not to fret, was then commanded actively to trust, and now is told with holy desire to delight in God. Delight thyself also in the Lord. Make Jehovah the joy and rejoicing of thy spirit. Bad men delight in carnal objects; do not envy them if they are allowed to take their fill in such vain idols; look thou to thy better delight, and fill thyself to the full with thy more sublime portion.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהִתְעַנַּ֥ג | vehitanag | and take delight | H6026 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וְיִֽתֶּן־ | veyiten- | so he may give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| לְ֝ךָ֗ | lekha | to you | ||
| מִשְׁאֲלֹ֥ת | mishalot | [the] requests of | H4862 → | |
| לִבֶּֽךָ׃ | libekha | heart your | H3820 → | 595 times |
וְהִתְעַנַּ֥גand take delight
vehitanagH6026 →
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וְיִֽתֶּן־so he may give
veyiten-H5414 →2011 times
לְ֝ךָ֗to you
lekha
מִשְׁאֲלֹ֥ת[the] requests of
mishalotH4862 →
לִבֶּֽךָ׃heart your
libekhaH3820 →595 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 15:7If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
it leads to
- 1 John 5:14
And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- John 14:13
And I will do whatever you ask in My name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
- 1 John 3:22
and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.
- John 15:16
You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
- Matthew 7:7
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.
- 1 John 5:14
Through
John 15:16You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 1:5–7
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- John 15:19
If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.
- Jeremiah 1:5–7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Psalms

This page draws on Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
