Psalms 92 · Verse 12

Psalms 92:12

The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Psalms 92:12, King James Version

Psalms 92:12 in other translations

BSB	The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
WEB	The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree. He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
ASV	The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
YLT	The righteous as a palm-tree flourisheth, As a cedar in Lebanon he groweth.
DARBY	The righteous shall shoot forth like a palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar on Lebanon.
BBE	The good man will be like a tall tree in his strength; his growth will be as the wide-stretching trees of Lebanon.
Webster	The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

What does Psalms 92:12 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 92:12-14

12-14. The vigorous growth, longevity, utility, fragrance, and beauty of these noble trees, set forth the life, character, and destiny of the pious;

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 12 The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree - Very different from the wicked, Psa 92:7, who are likened to grass. These shall have a short duration; but those shall have a long and useful life. They are compared also to the cedar of Lebanon, an incorruptible wood, and extremely long-lived. Mr. Maundrell, who visited those trees in 1697, describes them thus: "These noble trees grow among the snow, near the highest part of Lebanon. Some are very old, and of prodigious bulk. I measured one of the largest, and found it twelve yards six inches in girt, and yet sound; and thirty-seven yards in the spread of its boughs. At about five or six yards from the ground, it was divided into live limbs, each of which was equal to a large tree." Some of these trees are supposed to have lived upwards of one thousand years! The figure of the palm-tree gives us the idea of grandeur and usefulness. The fruit of the palm-tree makes a great part of the diet of the people of Arabia, part of Persia, and Upper Egypt. The stones are ground down for the camels; the leaves are made into baskets; the hard boughs, or rather strong leaves, some being six or eight feet in length, make fences; the juice makes arrack, the threads of the web-like integument between the leaves make ropes, and the rigging of small vessels; and the wood serves for slighter buildings and fire-wood. In short, the palm or date tree, and the olive, are two of the most excellent and useful productions of the forest or the field. The cedar gives us the idea of majesty, stability. durableness, and incorruptibility. To these two trees, for the most obvious reasons, are the righteous compared. William Lithgow, who traveled through the holy land about a.d. 1600, describes the cedars of Mount Lebanon as "being in number twenty-four, growing after the manner of oaks, but a great deal taller straighter, and thicker, and the branches growing so straight, and interlocking, as though they were kept by art: and yet from the root to the top they bear no boughs, but grow straight and upwards like to a palm-tree. Their circle-spread tops do kiss or embrace the lower clouds, making their grandeur overlook the highest bodies of all other aspiring trees. The nature of this tree is, that it is always green, yielding an odoriferous smell, and an excellent kind of fruit, like unto apples, but of a sweeter taste, and more wholesome. The roots of some of these cedars are almost destroyed by the shepherds, who have made fires thereat, and holes where they sleep; yet nevertheless they flourish green above, in the tops and branches." - Lithgow's 17 years' Travels, 4th., London, 1640.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 92:7-15

God sometimes grants prosperity to wicked men in displeasure; yet they flourish but for a moment. Let us seek for ourselves the salvation and grace of the gospel, that being daily anointed by the Holy Spirit, we may behold and share the Redeemer's glory. It is from his grace, by his word and Spirit, that believers receive all the virtue that keeps them alive, and makes them fruitful. Other trees, when old, leave off…

Read the full comment on Psalms 92:7-15 →

Psalms 92:12 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

צַ֭דִּיקTza.dik[the] righteousH6662

כַּתָּמָ֣רka.ta.Marlike <the> palm treeH8558

יִפְרָ֑חyif.Rachhe will flourishH6524

כְּאֶ֖רֶזke.'E.rezlike a cedarH730

בַּלְּבָנ֣וֹןba.le.va.Nonin <the> LebanonH3844

יִשְׂגֶּֽה\׃yis.Gehhe will growH7685

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 92:12

Jeremiah 17:8
For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
Psalms 1:3
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Psalms 104:16
The trees of the Lord are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted;
Psalms 52:8
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.
Hosea 14:5-6
I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon.
Numbers 24:6
As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters.
Amos 2:9
Yet destroyed I the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.
Psalms 72:7
In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
Isaiah 65:22
They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
Isaiah 55:13
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Psalms 92:7
When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:
1 Kings 6:29
And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

righteous.
7; 52:8; Isa 55:13; 65:22; Ho 14:5,6
cedar.
104:16; 148:9; Am 2:9See notes on 1 Ki 4:33; 6:29.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Psalms 92:11
Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me.
Psalms 92:12
The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
Psalms 92:13
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.

Read all of Psalms 92

Psalms 92:12 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	El justo florecerá como la palma: crecerá como cedro en el Líbano.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et mon œil verra son plaisir en mes ennemis, et mes oreilles se repaîtront du sort des méchants qui s’élèvent contre moi.
German Elberfelder 1871	Der Gerechte wird sprossen wie der Palmbaum, wie eine Ceder auf dem Libanon wird er emporwachsen.