Bible Strands
Psalms 91:7
Though a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, no harm will come near you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses a believer or the covenant community, contrasting their safety with the surrounding collapse of others during a time of widespread disaster.
The words — The Hebrew יִגָּֽשׁ (yi.Gash) means "it will draw near," and it is correctly paired with אֵ֝לֶ֗יךָ ('e.Lei./kha) to form the negative clause "no harm will come near you," while יִפֹּ֤ל (yi.Pol) = "it will fall" describes the fate of the surrounding multitude.
The thread — The motif of selective survival amid universal judgment appears in Exodus 12:12 during the Passover judgment, Genesis 7:23 during the flood narrative, and Psalms 32:6 where rising waters will not reach the godly.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine protection operates independently of surrounding catastrophe, requiring the reader to anchor expectation in God's stated promise rather than circumstantial safety.
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
A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.
Cross-references
- Exodus 12:12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
- Genesis 7:23 And every living thing on the face of the earth was destroyed—man and livestock, crawling creatures and birds of the air; they were blotted out from the earth, and only Noah and those with him in the ark remained.
- Psalms 32:6 Therefore let all the godly pray to You while You may be found. Surely when great waters rise, they will not come near.
- Numbers 14:37 those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD.
- Joshua 14:10 Now behold, as the LORD promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old,