Bible Strands
Psalms 92:12
The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist shifts from first-person triumph over enemies (v.11) to a third-person declaration about "the righteous," placing this verse as a general principle between personal vindication and the communal image of those planted in the house of the LORD (v.13).
The words — יִפְרָח (yifraḥ) means "he will bud/blossom," and יִשְׂגֶּה (yisgeh) means "he will grow tall" — the two verbs together describe both the flowering and the vertical growth of a tree, not merely abstract prosperity.
The thread — The righteous-as-tree image recurs in Psalms 1:3 and Jeremiah 17:8, both pairing the tree with water and stability; Psalms 104:16 names the cedars of Lebanon specifically as "the trees of the LORD."
Why it lands — The verse asserts that the righteous person's flourishing is visible and measurable, like a palm or cedar, not a private or invisible virtue. It asks the reader to evaluate a life by its outward growth rather than by its inward claims.
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
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Cross-references
- Psalms 1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.
- Jeremiah 17:8 He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.
- Psalms 104:16 The trees of the LORD have their fill, the cedars of Lebanon that He planted,
- Psalms 52:8 But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in the loving devotion of God forever and ever.
- Hosea 14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
- Numbers 24:6 They spread out like palm groves, like gardens beside a stream, like aloes the LORD has planted, like cedars beside the waters.
- Amos 2:9 Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, though his height was like that of the cedars, and he was as strong as the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.
- Psalms 72:7 May the righteous flourish in his days and prosperity abound until the moon is no more.
- Isaiah 65:22 No longer will they build houses for others to inhabit, nor plant for others to eat. For as is the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, and My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.
- Isaiah 55:13 Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the LORD, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”