Psalms 16:5

The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
LORD	יְֽהוָ֗ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
portion	מְנָת me.not-	H4490	properly · noun, common feminine singular construct
inheritance	חֶלְקִ֥י chel.Ki	H2506	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
cup	וְכוֹסִ֑י ve.kho.Si	H3563	a cup (as a container) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
maintainest	תּוֹמִ֥יךְ to.Mikh	H8551	to sustain · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
lot	גּוֹרָלִֽי go.ra.Li	H1486	properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 73:26 My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.
Psalms 142:5 I cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.
Lamentations 3:24 The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Psalms 23:5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
Psalms 119:57 Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.
Deuteronomy 32:9 For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
Psalms 89:20-37 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
Psalms 9:4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 16:1-7

This psalm is entitled Michtam, which some translate a golden psalm, a very precious one, more to be valued by us than gold, yea, than much fine gold, because it speaks so plainly of Christ and his resurrection, who is the true treasure hidden in the field of the Old Testament. I. David here flies to God's protection with a cheerful believing confidence in it (Psa 16:1): "Preserve me, O God! from the deaths, and especially from the sins, to which I am continually exposed; for in thee, and in thee only, do I put my trust." Those that by faith commit themselves to the divine care, and submit themselves to the divine guidance, have reason to hope for the benefit of both. This is applicable to C…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 16:5

God is the chief good, and supplies all need (Deu 10:9). portion of mine inheritance and of my cup--may contain an allusion to the daily supply of food, and also to the inheritance of Levi (Deu 18:1-2). maintainest--or, drawest out my lot--enlargest it. Psa 16:7 carries out this idea more fully.

John Gill on Psalms 16:5

The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup,.... This is said by Christ as a priest, and in allusion to the Levitical priests, who had no inheritance in the land of Canaan with their brethren, but the Lord was their part and portion, and their inheritance, Numbers 18:20; and it expresses the strong love and affection Christ had for the Lord as his God, the delight and pleasure he had in him, and the satisfaction he had in the enjoyment of him and communion with him, and that it was his meat and drink to serve him, and to do his will; and though his goodness did not extend to him, yet his goodness and happiness as man lay in him: unless the sense should be, "the Lord is he who…

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John Calvin on Psalms 16:5-6

Psalm 16:5-6 5. Jehovah is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup; thou sustainest my lot. 6. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage. 5. The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance. Here the Psalmist explains his sentiments more clearly. He shows the reason why he separates himself from idolaters, and resolves to continue in the church of God, why he shuns, with abhorrence, all participation in their errors, and cleaves to the pure worship of God; namely, because he rests in the only true God as his portion. The unhappy restlessness of those blind idolaters [320] whom we see going astray, and running about as if stricken and impelled by madnes…

The Church Fathers

The inheritance is the contemplation of the present and future ages; the inheritance of Christ is the understanding of God.
— Evagrius Ponticus, NOTES ON THE PSALMS

He who in his own person is the Lord's portion, or has the Lord for his portion, must so bear himself as to possess the Lord and to be possessed by him. He who possesses the Lord and who says with the prophet, "The Lord is my portion," can hold to nothing beside the Lord. For if he holds to something beside the Lord, the Lord will not be his portion.
— Jerome, LETTER 52.5

[The psalmist is saying] "O Lord, why give me some other inheritance? Whatever you give, it isn't worth much. You be my inheritance; I love you, I love you with all I am, with all my heart, with all my soul, with all my mind I love you. What can it mean to me, anything you give me apart from yourself?" That is to love God freely, to hope in God for God, to hasten to be filled with God, to be satisfied with him. He, after all, is enough for you; apart from him, nothing is enough for you.
— Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 334:3

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Cup — A wine-cup (Gen. 40:11, 21), various forms of which are found on Assyrian and Egyptian monuments. All Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold (1 Kings 10: 21). The cups mentioned in the New Testament…
Lot — (Heb. goral, a “pebble”), a small stone used in casting lots (Num. 33:54; Jonah 1:7). The lot was always resorted to by the Hebrews with strictest reference to the interposition of God, and as a…
Michtam — Writing; i.e., a poem or song found in the titles of Ps. 16; 56-60. Some translate the word “golden”, i.e., precious. It is rendered in the LXX. by a word meaning “tablet inscription” or a…
Resurrection of Christ — One of the cardinal facts and doctrines of the gospel. If Christ be not risen, our faith is vain (1 Cor. 15:14). The whole of the New Testament revelation rests on this as an historical fact. On the…
Testimony · RELIGIOUS, EXEMPLIFIED — RELIGIOUS, EXEMPLIFIED

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 16:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 16:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 16:5

John Gill on Psalms 16:5

John Calvin on Psalms 16:5-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 16:5

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 16:1-7

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 16:5

John Gill on Psalms 16:5

John Calvin on Psalms 16:5-6

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 16:4-5

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 16:5

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 16:5