Psalms 27:14 Meaning and Explanation
“Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Waiting is the part of faith nobody volunteers for. We can accept that God answers; the hard question is what to do during the gap. Psalm 27 ends on exactly that question, and its answer is unusual. Rather than explaining the delay, the psalm hands us a practice and a promise, then repeats the practice in case we missed it.
The psalm closes by repeating one command. Waiting on the LORD is active, courageous holding on, and the promise attached to it is inward: God strengthens the heart of the one who waits.
The Context of Psalms 27:14
Psalm 27 moves in two clear halves. Verses 1 through 6 are confident: the LORD is light and salvation, an army encamped would not frighten the psalmist, and one desire outranks the rest, to dwell in the house of the LORD. From verse 7 the tone changes to urgent petition. He asks God not to hide his face, mentions false witnesses rising against him, and admits in verse 13 that he would have fainted without believing he would see God's goodness in the land of the living. Verse 14 is the last line, spoken outward to whoever is listening.
What Does Psalms 27:14 Mean?
The command arrives twice, and the second time it carries an insistence: wait, I say, on the LORD. Between the two commands sits a middle clause with its own shape. Be of good courage is an instruction we can obey; he shall strengthen thine heart is a promise only God can keep. The order is worth noticing, since courage is asked for before the strengthening is described. Waiting here has direction. The object is named each time, the LORD, so the waiting is fixed on a Person and not on an outcome. The Hebrew imperative behind be of good courage is the same kind of bracing word spoken to soldiers and to Joshua before a campaign.
Placed at the end, verse 14 turns a private prayer into counsel. Everything the psalmist has asked for in verses 7 through 13 remains unresolved when the psalm stops. The enemies have not gone. The face of God has not yet appeared. What has changed is the psalmist's posture, and he passes that posture along. Israel's Scriptures repeat this pattern of waiting: Isaiah promises renewed strength to those who wait on the LORD (Isaiah 40:31), and Lamentations calls the LORD good to the soul that seeks him. Waiting in these texts is a settled expectation grounded in God's character, carried out in the middle of unfinished trouble.
The instruction did not end with Israel. Before his ascension Jesus told his followers to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father (Acts 1:4), and the days that followed were exactly the kind of waiting this psalm describes: obedient, expectant, with no timetable given. The inner strengthening the psalm promises also carries forward. Paul prays that believers would be strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the inner man (Ephesians 3:16), which is the same movement Psalm 27:14 names, now spelled out at length. God's answer to those who wait has often been to change them first, before he changes their circumstances.
Psalms 27:14 in the Original Language
qavah (קָוָה), 'wait' -- to look for something with tension and expectancy, related to a word for a cord stretched taut. The waiting it describes leans forward toward an outcome the waiter is confident will come, which is why courage belongs in the same verse.
Bible Verses Related to Psalms 27:14
“Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”
- Psalm 31:24
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.”
- Isaiah 40:31
“The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.”
- Lamentations 3:25
“And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.”
- Acts 1:4
Where Psalms 27:14 Echoes in Scripture
Psalm 31:24 repeats this verse almost word for word, ending that psalm with the same charge to be of good courage and the same promise that God will strengthen the heart, addressed there to all who hope in the LORD. Two psalms, both moving through danger and false accusation, land on the identical closing counsel. The repetition suggests the line functioned as a known saying in Israel's worship, a sentence people could hand one another when there was nothing else to give.
How to Apply Psalms 27:14 Today
Long waits wear people down in specific ways: the medical result that keeps getting rescheduled, the job search past its first year, the prodigal who has still not called. This verse offers something to do in those stretches. Courage can be practiced in small concrete acts, showing up, telling the truth, keeping one commitment. The heart-strengthening is God's part, and it usually arrives quietly over weeks rather than in a single moment. Marking the waiting somewhere, in a journal or with a trusted friend, helps us notice the strengthening when it comes, since the change is often visible only in hindsight.
Reflection & Prayer
What have we been waiting on long enough that we have quietly stopped expecting an answer? A prayer to borrow: LORD, the waiting has gone on longer than my patience. Strengthen my heart while I stand here. Give me courage for today's small obedience, and hold my expectation open toward you until you speak. Teach me to recognize your strengthening even when nothing outside me has changed yet.
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