Bible Strands
Psalms 85:11
Faithfulness sprouts from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God and the restored community of Israel following a season of divine discipline and national recovery. The speaker describes the precise moment when God's favor begins to visibly reverse the previous cycle of judgment.
The words — אֱמֶת (ʾemet) means faithfulness or truth, paired with תִצְמַח (titzmach), which literally means it springs up or sprouts. צֶדֶק (tzedaq) translates to righteousness, coupled with נִשְׁקַף (nishqaf), indicating it looks down or leans over.
The thread — Isaiah 45:8 commands the heavens to pour down righteousness while the earth opens to yield salvation. John 14:6 and 1 John 5:20 identify Jesus as the concrete manifestation of divine truth and understanding.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that moral order does not originate in human effort but descends from God and emerges in the created order. A reader must align their expectations of justice and truth with divine action rather than human achievement.
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
Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 45:8 Drip down, O heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open up that salvation may sprout and righteousness spring up with it; I, the LORD, have created it.
- John 14:6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
- 1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true—in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
- Isaiah 42:21 The LORD was pleased, for the sake of His righteousness, to magnify His law and make it glorious.
- Matthew 17:5 While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
- Isaiah 4:2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
- Isaiah 53:2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.
- Matthew 3:17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!”
- Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests!”
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.