Psalms 4:7
in Psalms 4You have filled my heart with more joy than when grain and new wine abound.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, More than they have when their grain and their new wine are increased.
KJV
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
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This verse in Psalms 4
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThe meaning of this little verse is consistent with the verses that precede it. For what else is the light of the countenance of the Lord over his righteous ones than a heart full of joy? That very thing which we feel through the sensation of joy becomes a partaker of his divinity when it contemplates God.
This site's exposition
Shine the light of Your face
on Psalms 4:6-7
The answer to the crowd's question is a prayer for the light of God's face, and Numbers 6:25 asks for that same shining face. Verse 7 sets the joy of that face above the harvest of grain and new wine. Spurgeon set Christ in the heart above corn in the barn.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
This is gladness in the heart, inward, solid, substantial joy. The mirth of worldly people is but a flash, a shadow; even in laughter their heart is sorrowful, Prov. xiv. "Thou hast given gladness in my heart;" so the word is.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
"It is better, " said one, "to feel God's favour one hour in our repenting souls, that to sit whole ages under the warmest sunshine that this world affordeth." Christ in the heart is better than corn in the barn, or wine in the vat. Corn and wine are but fruits of the world, but the light of God's countenance is the ripe fruit of heaven. "Thou art with me, " is a far more blessed cry than "Harvest home."
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Offer up sacrifices of righteousness Perform righteous deeds, and it will be as if you are offering up sacrifices.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נָתַ֣תָּה | natatah | you have put | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| שִׂמְחָ֣ה | simchah | joy | H8057 → | 94 times |
| בְלִבִּ֑י | velibi | in heart my | H3820 → | 595 times |
| מֵעֵ֬ת | meet | more than a time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| דְּגָנָ֖ם | deganam | <of> [when] grain their | H1715 → | 40 times |
| וְתִֽירוֹשָׁ֣ם | vetirosham | and new wine their | H8492 → | |
| רָֽבּוּ׃ | rabu | they abound | H7231 → | 21 times |
נָתַ֣תָּהyou have put
natatahH5414 →2011 times
שִׂמְחָ֣הjoy
simchahH8057 →94 times
בְלִבִּ֑יin heart my
velibiH3820 →595 times
מֵעֵ֬תmore than a time
meetH6256 →296 times
דְּגָנָ֖ם<of> [when] grain their
deganamH1715 →40 times
וְתִֽירוֹשָׁ֣םand new wine their
vetiroshamH8492 →
רָֽבּוּ׃they abound
rabuH7231 →21 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
Psalms 37:4Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
it leads to
- John 15:7
If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
- Psalms 145:19
He fulfills the desires of those who fear Him; He hears their cry and saves them.
- 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.
- Isaiah 58:14
then you will delight yourself in the LORD, and I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the heritage of your father Jacob.” For the mouth of…
- 1 John 5:14–15
And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
- John 15:7
Through
Psalms 43:4Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.
it leads to
- Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom…
- Habakkuk 3:17–18
Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold…
- Isaiah 61:10
Through
Psalms 92:4For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 2:14
But thanks be to God, who always leads us triumphantly as captives in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of Him.
- 2 Corinthians 2:14
About Psalms
This page draws on Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, SELECTIONS FROM THE PSALMS 4:7.