WEB

Psalms 20

A liturgy for the day a king marches to battle. The people pray over him in a string of wishes — may the LORD answer you, send help from the sanctuary, remember your offerings, grant your heart's desire — before the army's banners go up in verse 5. This is intercession before the fact, not thanks after it. The tone shifts in verse 6 to confident certainty: "Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed." Watch the contrast it draws — chariots and horses against the bare "name of the LORD" — and the way the closing cry "Save, LORD!" hands the king's fate back to God alone.

Parallel reading
English + Español (LatAm)
Psalms 20 (WEB)
  1. 1

    May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble. May the name of the God of Jacob set you up on high,

  2. 2

    send you help from the sanctuary, grant you support from Zion,

  3. 3

    remember all your offerings, and accept your burned sacrifice. Selah.

  4. 4

    May he grant you your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel.

  5. 5

    We will triumph in your salvation. In the name of our God, we will set up our banners. May the LORD grant all your requests.

  6. 6

    Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy heaven, with the saving strength of his right hand.

  7. 7

    Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

  8. 8

    They are bowed down and fallen, but we rise up, and stand upright.

  9. 9

    Save, LORD! Let the King answer us when we call!

The companion to Psalm 21

Psalms 20 and 21 form a deliberate pair around the king. Here the people pray before the conflict; in the next psalm they celebrate after the victory God grants. Read together, they bracket a single campaign.

Verse 7's rejection of chariots and horses sits against the whole ancient Near Eastern logic of military strength — a small kingdom staking its survival not on cavalry counts but on a name.

Context layers

Keep these closed by default and open them only when you want more context.

Share a small range via:

/en/web/psalms/20/16-18

Or use the Passage link builder.

Keep reading in context