Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Psalms 20:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 20:3: The line “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” reaches Selah inside “The community prays for its king before battle,” marking an ancient pause of uncertain performance.
A congregation prays its king through a day of trouble
This verse is one part of that explanation in Psalms 20:1–9. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Psalms 20:1–9
Read Psalms 20:3 with 20:1–9. Read alone, “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 20:1–9, the communal voice carries the movement “The community prays for its king before battle” as part of “The community prays for its king before battle.” Its royal-liturgy form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 20:1–9 opens Psalm 20 with “The LORD hear thee in the day of trouble; the name of the God of Jacob defend thee” and establishes the communal voice and “The community prays for its king before battle” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 20:3 carries “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” into the liturgical marker Selah, creating a pause whose exact performance remains uncertain.
What Remains True
The verse's role is specific—Psalm 20:3 carries “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” into the liturgical marker Selah, creating a pause whose exact performance remains uncertain. Within that role, Wrong and rage may be named honestly before the LORD, yet judgment remains accountable to justice and never turns another person into disposable prey. The local movement is “The community prays for its king before battle.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Ancient intercession for a Judahite king does not sacralize a modern ruler, army, nation, or party.
How It Can Shape Life
- Start with the line's work inside “The community prays for its king before battle”—Psalm 20:3 carries “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” into the liturgical marker Selah, creating a pause whose exact performance remains uncertain. Then let the line “Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice” make room for protest without dehumanizing anyone; choose safety, truthful evidence, and justice over revenge.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Psalms 20:1–9 — The community prays for its king before battleSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 20:1–9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 20:1–9
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 20:1–9.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 20 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 20:1–9
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗