What Does Isaiah 63:7 Mean?
I will recount the faithful loves of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all the LORD has dealt us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he dealt them according to his compassions, and according to the multitude of his faithful loves.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his lovingkindnesses.THE KEY
Praise is the naming of faithful love already present in what the LORD has bestowed.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you as someone able to name the LORD’s goodness: faithful love and compassion are gifts received, not abstractions. Its repeated “bestowed” grounds praise in what has actually been given, and the abundance of that love is named toward the house of Israel.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that praise depends on manufacturing a feeling: here praise answers to goodness already bestowed and named.
THE ROOT
חֲסָדִים
ḥasadim
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful, loyal kindness that sustains a bond.
“faithful loves” in this verse is ḥasadim. English “lovingkindnesses” can sound like a soft disposition, but this word family also describes the faithful person and the act of loyal kindness. Its plural presents that love as many concrete deeds the verse can name.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsîḏ: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The noun makes the bond visible in a person characterized by faithful love.
ḥāsad: To act kindly or loyally.
חָסַד
This verb shows the love in the verse as an enacted way of dealing with someone.
רַחֲמִים
raḥamim
GROWS FROM
רחם
Womb; to have compassion.
“compassions” in this verse is raḥamim. English “mercies” can sound like abstract leniency, while this word family keeps compassion close to the womb and the tenderness of bodily care. The verse joins that tenderness to faithful love: care that is both deep and enduring.
ALSO GROWS
reḥem: Womb.
רֶחֶם
This branch reveals the bodily image carried within the word for compassion.
raḥum: Compassionate.
רַחוּם
The same root describes a compassionate nature, connecting the LORD’s character to the compassion named here.
THE PATTERN
Praise remembers and declares the goodness that has already been bestowed.
Bless the LORD, O my living soul, and do not forget all his dealings.For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and set apart is his name.But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people made his own, so that you may tell out the excellences of the one who called you out of darkness into his wondrous light.THE THREAD
O extend your hands in thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his faithful love reaches to the ages.The word rendered “mercy” here is חֶסֶד (ḥesed, faithful love), the same root as Isaiah’s “lovingkindnesses.” Psalm 136 turns Isaiah’s many named gifts into a refrain that declares this faithful love enduring.
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