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Psalm 34 · a question people ask

"Those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing" (34:10). Does the psalm promise that people who trust God won't suffer?

In the text

The psalm doesn't say that. It says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous" (34:19). It speaks of a "poor man" who cried (34:6), of troubles (34:6, 34:17), of "those who have a broken heart" and "a crushed spirit" (34:18), and of the psalmist's own "fears" (34:4). What it says the LORD does is hear, save and deliver: "The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles" (34:17), and "the LORD delivers him out of them all" (34:19). And it says where the LORD is: "near to those who have a broken heart" (34:18). The psalm doesn't say when or how the LORD delivers, and these notes don't add to its words. Psalm 23's notes set 34:10 beside Psalm 23:1's "I shall lack nothing" and add no promise to either.

The verses

“I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears.”
Psalm 34:4 · World English Bible
“This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.”
Psalm 34:6 · World English Bible
“The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek the LORD shall not lack any good thing.”
Psalm 34:10 · World English Bible
“The righteous cry, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves those who have a crushed spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.”
Psalm 34:17-19 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 34

Psalm 34: Taste and see

"The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart" (34:18), and two verses on, "He protects all of his bones. Not one of them is broken" (34:20): in Hebrew one verb, shavar. The psalm doesn't promise no afflictions. It says they are many, and "the LORD delivers him out of them all" (34:19).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions