Bible Strands
Psalms 36:8
They feast on the abundance of Your house, and You give them drink from Your river of delights.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses YHWH directly, in a praise section (vv. 7–9) that follows a contrast between the empty fool and the secure believer. The speaker is a person of faith, not a prophet or king.
The words — דֶּשֶׁן (deshen) is "fatness," a concrete word for richness rather than an abstract "goodness." נַחַל (nachal) is "brook" or "river," a flowing source, not a still pool.
The thread — The "house" and "goodness" language echoes Psalms 65:4 ("goodness of Your house"), and the satisfaction motif runs through Psalms 16:11 ("eternal pleasures at Your right hand") and Isaiah 58:11 ("He will satisfy you").
Why it lands — The verbs are passive for the recipients: "they take their fill," "you give them drink." The verse asks whether the reader is positioned at the house and the river, or standing outside them.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.
Cross-references
- Psalms 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
- Psalms 65:4 Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts! We are filled with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple.
- Isaiah 58:11 The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
- Jeremiah 31:12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD—the grain, new wine, and oil, and the young of the flocks and herds. Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they languish.
- Psalms 63:5 My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You.
- Isaiah 25:6 On this mountain the LORD of Hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all the peoples, a feast of aged wine, of choice meat, of finely aged wine.
- Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
- Psalms 46:4 There is a river whose streams delight the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells.
- Isaiah 48:21 They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.
- Job 20:17 He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.