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Psalm 36:9
For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light.
7How precious is your loving kindness, God! The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings.
8They shall be abundantly satisfied with the abundance of your house. You will make them drink of the river of your pleasures.
9For with you is the spring of life. In your light we will see light.
10Oh continue your loving kindness to those who know you, your righteousness to the upright in heart.
11Don’t let the foot of pride come against me. Don’t let the hand of the wicked drive me away.
Notice
A spring and light both point beyond human self-sufficiency: life comes from God, and even the light people see depends on his light.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What does the image of a spring help you name about your dependence on God?
Write on thisWhat do you notice about God's light being both the means of seeing and what is seen?
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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
John 8:12Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”Both passages join light with life: the psalm locates their source in God, and Jesus promises life's light to those who follow him.
Psalm 43:3Oh, send out your light and your truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me to your holy hill, to your tents.God's light makes sight possible in Psalm 36; Psalm 43 asks for that light to lead the speaker to God's dwelling.
John 12:46I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.Both passages describe light that comes from God, with Jesus declaring that believers need not remain in darkness.
Acts 17:28‘For in him we live, move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’The spring of life with God matches Acts' claim that human life and existence depend on him.
Revelation 21:6He said to me, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.Both passages name a spring associated with life; Revelation adds the promise of water given to the thirsty.
John 4:14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing …Both use flowing water to speak of life, with Jesus describing his gift as a well springing up to eternal life.
1 John 1:7But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.Both describe life in God's light: the psalm speaks of seeing, while John speaks of walking, fellowship, and cleansing.
Psalm 34:5They looked to him, and were radiant. Their faces shall never be covered with shame.Psalm 36 speaks of seeing in God's light; Psalm 34 describes radiance on the faces of those who look to him.
John 4:10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you …The spring of life and Jesus' offer of living water share the image of water as a gift whose source is divine.
1 John 1:5This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.Psalm 36 speaks of seeing in God's light, and John states that God is light with no darkness in him.
Jeremiah 2:13“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can’t …Both identify God with life's spring; Jeremiah contrasts that source with broken cisterns chosen by people who have forsaken him.
Psalm 87:7Those who sing as well as those who dance say, “All my springs are in you.”Springs appear in both passages: Psalm 36 speaks of life's source, while Psalm 87 makes springs the subject of song.
Where this verse fits
Praise and worship. gratitude. an ordinary day.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
The source of life is with God. Your dependence on him reaches down to life itself, and the surrounding verses describe his loving kindness as refuge.
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).