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Psalm 20:4
May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel.
2send you help from the sanctuary, grant you support from Zion,
3remember all your offerings, and accept your burned sacrifice. Selah.
4May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel.
5We will triumph in your salvation. In the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May the LORD grant all your requests.
6Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand.
Notice
The king’s desires and plans become a request to God, bringing the hope for success under the rule of the one who can grant it.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What desire or plan would you put into words beneath this prayer for the king?
Write on thisWhose plans could you bring before God with the words, “May he grant you your heart’s desire”?
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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
Job 22:28You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways.Both speak of plans reaching their intended outcome; Job’s statement comes from Eliphaz, while the psalm offers a prayer.
Psalm 145:19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear him. He also will hear their cry, and will save them.Both speak of God fulfilling desire; Psalm 145 names those who fear him as the recipients.
Psalm 37:4Also delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.Both connect the heart’s desires with God’s giving; Psalm 37 also speaks of delight in the LORD.
Matthew 21:22All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”Both connect asking God with receiving from him; Matthew includes belief in its description of prayer.
Psalm 21:2You have given him his heart’s desire, and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.Psalm 20 asks God to grant the king’s heart’s desire; Psalm 21 declares that God has given it.
John 16:23“In that day you will ask me no questions. Most certainly I tell you, whatever you may ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.Both speak of God granting requests; Jesus specifies asking the Father in his name.
Romans 8:27–28He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.Both passages concern prayer to God on another’s behalf; Romans describes the Spirit’s intercession for the saints.
Proverbs 11:23The desire of the righteous is only good. The expectation of the wicked is wrath.Desire is the shared word: the psalm asks for its fulfillment, while Proverbs describes the desire of the righteous as good.
1 John 5:14–15This is the boldness which we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he listens to us.Both concern requests brought to God; John states that he listens when those requests accord with his will.
John 11:42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude standing around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.”Both concern addressing God: the psalm asks him to grant a desire, and Jesus declares that the Father hears him.
1 Kings 10:13King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, in addition to that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and …Both texts speak of granting someone’s desire, though the psalm appeals to God and Kings describes Solomon’s royal gifts.
2 Samuel 7:3Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”Both concern a king’s heart and plans in relation to the LORD, with Nathan expressing confidence and the psalm offering prayer.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
This is a prayer for the king; it makes no promise that every wish will come true. Your hopes can be brought to God, who holds the outcome.
Now put it in your words.
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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).