What Does Psalm 103:17 Mean?
But the faithful love of the LORD is from age to age upon those in awe of him, and his alignment is to the children's children.
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
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;THE KEY
The grass vanishes; the LORD’s faithful love rests on you and reaches toward lives not yet born.
THE MEANING
Your life is brief, but the LORD’s faithful love spans age after age and rests on you as you stand in awe of him. His alignment reaches beyond your lifetime to your children’s children.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the LORD’s care ends with your lifetime: his faithful love spans the ages, and his alignment reaches children’s children.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
ḥesed
GROWS FROM
ח־ס־ד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful love, kindness, and loyal care.
The word translated “mercy” carries the sense of faithful love: kindness expressed as loyalty. Here that love is not a passing feeling; it rests on those who revere the LORD and spans age after age.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsad: To show kindness or act loyally.
חָסַד
This verbal form shows the root as active care, illuminating the LORD’s love as something that reaches and remains.
ḥāsîd: A faithful or loyal person.
חָסִיד
The related word describes a person characterized by loyalty, echoing the steadfast quality of the love named here.
יְרֵאָיו
yere’av
GROWS FROM
י־ר־א
y-r-ʾ
To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
The verse names awe as the posture of those on whom this faithful love rests. Its companion forms hold both reverence and fear, while this verse directs that response toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
yir’ah: Fear or awe.
יִרְאָה
This noun gives the posture named in the verse: reverence before the LORD.
nora: Awe-inspiring or fearsome.
נוֹרָא
This related form describes what evokes awe, sharpening the relational sense of “fear him” here.
צִדְקָתוֹ
tsidqato
GROWS FROM
צ־ד־ק
ts-d-q
Rightness, justice, or alignment.
The verse’s “righteousness” carries the sense of alignment and justice. That rightness reaches beyond one lifetime, extending to children’s children.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice or rightness.
צֶדֶק
This form names the quality that the verse says continues through generations.
tsaddiq: A just or righteous person.
צַדִּיק
This related form describes one characterized by rightness, showing the family of meanings behind “his righteousness.”
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s faithful love spans generations and rests on those who revere him.
For the LORD is good; his faithful love reaches to the ages, and his steadiness holds from generation to generation.Perceive therefore that the LORD your God is God, the steady God, who guards the covenant and faithful love for those who love him and guard his commands to a thousand generations.And his faithful love is for those in awe of him, from generation to generation.THE THREAD
O extend your hands in thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his faithful love reaches to the ages.“His mercy” carries the same חֶסֶד (ḥesed, faithful love), and “for ever” translates עוֹלָם (olam, age). Psalm 136 makes the pairing a refrain: the faithful love named here endures age after age.
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