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Psalm 41:2

The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.

1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Blessed is he who considers the poor. The LORD will deliver him in the day of evil.
2The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive. He shall be blessed on the earth, and he will not surrender him to the will of his enemies.
3The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed, and restore him from his bed of illness.
4I said, “LORD, have mercy on me! Heal me, for I have sinned against you.”
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← Psalm 41:1Psalm 41:3 →
Notice

The enemies have a will of their own, yet this promise locates the life of the person who considers the poor in YHWH’s care.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What difference do you notice between the enemies' will and YHWH’s will in this verse?

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How does the sickbed in verse 3 shape your reading of the promise to preserve life?

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Where do you find it hard to trust God's care when someone else has power over you?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

8 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 121:7The LORD will keep you from all evil. He will keep your soul.Both verses name the LORD as the one who keeps a person safe amid threats to life.
Psalm 121:3He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.Both verses place a person's safety in the LORD's keeping; Psalm 121 adds that this keeper does not slumber.
Jeremiah 45:4–5“You shall tell him, the LORD says: ‘Behold, that which I have built, I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up; and this in the whole …Both passages speak of the LORD's power over earthly life, though Jeremiah's words here announce destruction rather than preservation.
Psalm 27:12Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty.Psalm 27 asks for the protection Psalm 41 promises: being kept from surrender to an enemy's desires.
1 Timothy 4:8For bodily exercise has some value, but godliness has value in all things, having the promise of the life which is now and of that which is to come.Both texts speak of blessing in life on earth; Timothy also speaks of the life to come.
Psalm 33:19to deliver their soul from death, to keep them alive in famine.Both passages describe God's care in terms of keeping people alive, with Psalm 33 naming famine as the danger.
Deuteronomy 6:24The LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are today.Both passages connect the LORD's goodness with preserving life, within a setting of conduct that honors him.
Acts 12:11When Peter had come to himself, he said, “Now I truly know that the Lord has sent out his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything …Psalm 41 promises protection from enemies' intentions; Peter describes the Lord delivering him from Herod's hand and others' expectations.
Where this verse fits

Fear for the future. illness or diagnosis. injustice and anger.

What the Bible says about fear →What the Bible says about anger →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Ask YHWH to preserve you amid one fear

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Encouragement

The sickbed in the next verse leaves room for real suffering. David's confidence rests in YHWH, whose care reaches threatened lives on earth.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 41:2. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 41 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).