What Does Psalm 136:4 Mean in the King James?
To him who alone doeth great wonders: 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 wonders are not detached displays of power; the verse roots them in faithful love that spans the age.
THE MEANING
Wonder meets you now as an act of God’s power, placed within faithful love. That love endures through the age; it is not exhausted by the extraordinary act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that power and love are separate: here, enduring faithful love is the reason the wonders are done.
THE ROOT
נִפְלָאוֹת
nifla'ot
GROWS FROM
פלא
p-l-ʾ
To be extraordinary, beyond the ordinary; hence, a wonder.
The Hebrew word points to acts that exceed what is ordinary or readily grasped. The verse links these wonders to faithful love, so they are more than spectacle: they reveal the character behind the act.
ALSO GROWS
pele: A wonder or extraordinary deed.
פֶּלֶא
It shares the root פלא and shows that a wonder is something beyond the ordinary.
nifla: Wonderful, extraordinary.
נִפְלָא
This related form describes what bears the same quality as the wonders named here.
חַסְדּוֹ
chasdo
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful love, loyal kindness expressed through action.
The verse gives chesed as its reason for naming the wonders: extraordinary power is held within enduring faithful love. “Mercy” carries this meaning too, while chesed also brings out the word’s lasting loyalty.
ALSO GROWS
chesed: Faithful love, loyal kindness.
חֶסֶד
This is the same word in its base form; it names the enduring quality the verse gives as the reason for the wonders.
chasid: A faithful or loyal one.
חָסִיד
This related form describes one marked by the loyalty expressed in chesed.
לְעוֹלָם
le'olam
GROWS FROM
עולם
ʿ-w-l-m
Age, ages, or a long span of time.
The phrase le’olam is commonly rendered “for ever,” while olam carries the sense of an age or ages. The verse presents faithful love as spanning the age, giving its endurance a concrete measure of time.
ALSO GROWS
olam: Age or long span of time.
עוֹלָם
This is the noun within le’olam and gives the verse’s endurance its sense of duration.
olamim: Ages.
עוֹלָמִים
This plural form makes explicit the extended span carried by the verse’s promise of enduring love.
THE PATTERN
God’s wonders make divine power visible, while faithful love names the character within which that power acts.
Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people.Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:THE THREAD
Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.This verse uses the same root פלא for “wondrous things” and says God alone does them, echoing both the wonders and the aloneness in Psalm 136:4. Psalm 136 adds what lies beneath those wonders: faithful love that endures through the age.
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