What Does Psalm 36:5 Mean in the King James?
Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
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 places faithful love and steadfastness beyond the farthest reach your eyes can measure.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s faithful love is present now, and the LORD’s steadiness extends beyond what you can see. Your limits do not set the limit of either.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that divine care becomes thin or unreliable when your need reaches beyond your sight.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
ח־ס־ד
To act with loyal kindness; faithful love.
“mercy” in this verse is chesed. Chesed (חֶסֶד, faithful love) is committed kindness, not a passing feeling. The verse pictures this love as filling the heavens, far beyond the edge of human sight.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsad: To act with loyal kindness.
חָסַד
This verbal branch shows chesed as something expressed through faithful action.
ḥāsîd: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
This branch names a person by the loyal devotion that characterizes them.
אֱמוּנָה
emunah
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ן
Firmness, steadiness, reliability.
“faithfulness” in this verse is emunah. Emunah (אֱמוּנָה, firmness or steadiness) comes from a root of what is firm and reliable. Paired with chesed, it presents the LORD’s love as both loyal and steady, something you can lean your full weight on.
ALSO GROWS
’āmēn: Firmly; truly; so be it.
אָמֵן
Amen carries the sense of affirming what is firm and trustworthy.
he’emin: To trust, to lean your full weight on.
הֶאֱמִין
This branch shows the response made possible by what is steady enough to trust.
ne’eman: Reliable, steady.
נֶאֱמָן
This branch describes someone or something as dependable.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s faithful love exceeds every measure of distance or height.
For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.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
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.The word rendered “mercy” in both verses is chesed (חֶסֶד, faithful love). Psalm 36 pictures that love spanning the heavens; Psalm 136 says it endures through the ages, joining vast reach with lastingness.
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