What Does Psalm 136:3 Mean in the King James?
O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for 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 thanks rest on ḥesed, the faithful love of the Lord of lords, reaching across every age.
THE MEANING
The verse grounds the reader’s gratitude in the Lord of lords’ faithful love, whose reach spans the ages. That love remains present through the reader’s changing seasons; its endurance rests in the character of the one named above every lord.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the fear that God’s faithful love can be exhausted by a difficult season; the verse places that love beyond any one season’s limit.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
ḥesed
GROWS FROM
ח־ס־ד
ḥ-s-d
To act with loyal kindness; faithful love that keeps faith.
English “mercy” can sound like a moment of pardon, while ḥesed carries the sense of faithful love that keeps showing up. Here that love endures across the ages, so gratitude rests on a relationship that does not expire with the present season.
ALSO GROWS
ḥasadim: Faithful acts of love; steadfast kindnesses
חֲסָדִים
This plural form appears in Lamentations 3:22 as “mercies,” showing ḥesed as enduring acts of care.
ḥasid: A faithful or devoted one
חָסִיד
This related word describes a person by the quality of faithful devotion carried in ḥesed.
הוֹדוּ
hôdû
GROWS FROM
י־ד־ה
y-d-h
To acknowledge, praise, or give thanks.
“give thanks” in this verse is hôdû. Hôdû is an acknowledgment offered outwardly, not only a pleasant feeling held inwardly. Its word family includes todah, thanksgiving, and Yehudah, a name associated with praise: thanks here recognizes the Lord’s enduring ḥesed as what is true.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving; thanks
תּוֹדָה
This related noun shows the act of giving thanks as an acknowledgment.
Yehudah: Judah; a name associated with praise or thanksgiving
יְהוּדָה
The name’s connection to yadah links thanksgiving with praise.
THE PATTERN
Gratitude is grounded in the LORD’s faithful love, whose reach continues through changing times and generations.
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.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
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.The KJV renders ḥesed as “mercy” in both verses, and Psalm 100:5 pairs it with “everlasting,” echoing “for ever.” It reveals the same structure: gratitude rests on faithful love that continues through the ages and generations.
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