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Psalm 144:12
Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
10You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword.
11Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
12Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace.
13Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields.
14Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets.
Notice
Well-nurtured plants and carved palace pillars picture children flourishing after danger, giving the plea for rescue a horizon beyond the king's own survival.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What kind of nurture comes to mind when you picture the sons as well-nurtured plants?
Write on thisWhat do the carved palace pillars suggest to you about the daughters' place in this hope?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 147:13For he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you.Both passages picture children sharing in their community's good, with flourishing in Psalm 144 and God's blessing within strengthened gates in Psalm 147.
Psalm 128:3Your wife will be as a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house, your children like olive shoots around your table.Both compare children to growing plants: well-nurtured plants in Psalm 144 and olive shoots around the household table in Psalm 128.
Isaiah 44:3–5For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground. I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring;Both passages look toward the good of descendants, with plant growth in the psalm and water imagery accompanying God's promised blessing in Isaiah.
1 Peter 3:3–6Let your beauty come not from the outward adorning of braiding your hair, and of wearing gold ornaments or of putting on fine clothing,Adorning is their shared language, though the psalm celebrates daughters through palace imagery while Peter warns against locating beauty in outward adornment.
Psalm 115:14–15May the LORD increase you more and more, you and your children.Both extend their vision of well-being to children, with flourishing pictured in Psalm 144 and increase sought from the LORD in Psalm 115.
Job 42:15In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.Both portray daughters with honor and beauty; Job also records their father's gift of an inheritance among their brothers.
Job 38:6What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,Their link is architectural imagery: the psalm compares daughters to palace pillars, while Job asks about foundations and a cornerstone.
Song of Songs 8:8–9We have a little sister. She has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister in the day when she is to be spoken for?Both speak of female family members, though the psalm pictures daughters in splendor and the song asks about a sister's future.
Lamentations 4:2The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!Both describe children through comparisons that convey worth, though Lamentations mourns the precious sons of Zion being treated as common pottery.
Lamentations 4:7Her nobles were purer than snow. They were whiter than milk. They were more ruddy in body than rubies. Their polishing was like sapphire.Both describe people through images of splendor, using carved palace pillars for daughters and polished sapphire for nobles.
Song of Songs 7:4Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are like the pools in Heshbon by the gate of Bathrabbim. Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon which looks toward …Both use grand architecture to describe women: palace pillars in the psalm and towers in the song.
Genesis 5:4The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were eight hundred years, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.Both mention sons and daughters, though Genesis records Adam's descendants without the psalm's images of nurture and splendor.
Where this verse fits
Parenting. fear for the future. gratitude.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The rescue David seeks reaches into the next generation. His hope before God includes sons who thrive and daughters pictured with the dignity of palace pillars.
Now put it in your words.
Start an entry on Psalm 144:12. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).