Bible Strands
Psalms 4:7
You have filled my heart with more joy than when grain and new wine abound.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks directly to God, transitioning from a corporate plea for divine favor in verse 6 to a personal declaration of security. This statement occurs at nightfall, immediately preceding the speaker's decision to lie down and sleep in peace.
The words — The verb נָתַתָּה (na.Ta.tah) translates literally as "you have put" or "you have given," paired with שִׂמְחָה (sim.Chah), "joy." The text states that God has placed joy in the psalmist's heart that exceeds the seasonal abundance of grain and new wine.
The thread — This comparison of divine joy to harvest abundance runs through Isaiah 9:3, where national rejoicing is likened to gathering crops. It also connects to Psalm 37:4, where delight in the Lord produces heart desires, and Psalm 63:2, where beholding God in the sanctuary reveals His power.
Why it lands — The passage requires readers to evaluate spiritual security against material prosperity rather than substitute one for the other. It demands that believers acknowledge God as the sole source of inner peace, which enables rest regardless of external circumstances.
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
Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 9:3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people rejoice before You as they rejoice at harvest time, as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.
- Psalms 63:2 So I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory.
- Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
- Psalms 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.
- Psalms 92:4 For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
- Acts 14:17 Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
- Judges 9:27 And after they had gone out into the fields, gathered grapes from their vineyards, and trodden them, they held a festival and went into the house of their god; and as they ate and drank, they cursed Abimelech.
- Song of Solomon 1:4 Take me away with you—let us hurry! May the king bring me to his chambers. We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. It is only right that they adore you.
- Jeremiah 48:33 Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard and from the fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy; their shouts are not for joy.
- 1 Peter 1:8 Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,