What Does Psalm 118:1 Mean in the King James?
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse grounds gratitude in chesed, faithful love that keeps its force through every age.
THE MEANING
The LORD is good to you now, and his faithful love continues through every age. Your present circumstances do not set an expiration date on that love.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a difficult season means the LORD’s faithful love has run out.
THE ROOT
חַסְדּוֹ
ḥasdô
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful, committed kindness and love.
Here chesed names more than a moment of mercy: it is faithful love, loyalty enacted in relationship. “For ever” extends that love through every age, making its constancy the ground of the thanks.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsîd: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The same word family describes someone marked by loyalty, giving chesed a relational shape.
ḥāsad: To act in kindness or loyal care.
חָסַד
This verbal form shows chesed as care expressed through action, not only a feeling.
הוֹדוּ
hōdû
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
To acknowledge, praise, or give thanks.
“give thanks” in this verse is hōdû. The opening verb comes from a root whose range includes both giving thanks and acknowledging. Gratitude here is recognition spoken aloud: it names the LORD’s goodness and faithful love.
ALSO GROWS
tôdâ: Thanksgiving or a thanksgiving offering.
תּוֹדָה
This noun makes the root’s movement from acknowledgment into expressed gratitude visible.
yôdeh: One who acknowledges or gives thanks.
יוֹדֶה
This verbal form keeps gratitude active: it is the act of recognizing and naming what is true.
THE PATTERN
Gratitude rests on the LORD’s character: faithful love remains through every age and cannot be severed by circumstance.
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.THE THREAD
It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.“Mercies” here comes from chesed, the same word behind “mercy” in Psalm 118:1. “Endureth for ever” and “fail not” reveal the shared claim: the LORD’s faithful love persists.
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