What Does Psalm 111:4 Mean?
He makes his wonders into a remembrance. The LORD bends low in favor and is full of compassion.
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
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.THE KEY
The LORD’s wonders become a memorial of his nature: favor and compassion.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s wondrous works are made into a remembrance that is present to you now. The nature revealed in them is favor and compassion.
THE ROOT
זֵכֶר
zeker
GROWS FROM
זכר
zakar
To remember or call to mind; remembrance.
The Hebrew uses a word for remembrance alongside “made,” picturing the wonders as made into a memorial. This root names both the act of remembering and what keeps something in remembrance, joining the works to their continuing presence.
ALSO GROWS
zakar: To remember or call to mind.
זָכַר
The verb shows the action held within the remembrance made by the LORD’s works.
zikkaron: Memorial or remembrance.
זִכָּרוֹן
This noun makes clear how an act or event can be carried forward as a memorial.
חַנּוּן
chanun
GROWS FROM
חנן
chanan
To show favor.
“bends low in favor” in this verse is chanun. The root links the LORD’s gracious character with the act of showing favor. The verse places this favor beside the wonders made into remembrance, connecting what is remembered with the nature those works reveal.
ALSO GROWS
chen: Favor.
חֵן
This noun names the favor that the LORD’s graciousness expresses.
chanan: To show favor or be gracious.
חָנַן
This verb connects the LORD’s character to favor expressed in action.
רַחוּם
rachum
GROWS FROM
רחם
racham
To show compassion or tender care.
“is full of compassion” in this verse is rachum. This root links the LORD’s compassionate nature with רַחֲמִים, compassion, and רֶחֶם, womb. It carries a sense of deep tenderness, held here alongside the LORD’s favor.
ALSO GROWS
rachamim: Compassion.
רַחֲמִים
This noun names the compassion expressed by the LORD’s nature.
rechem: Womb.
רֶחֶם
This word from the same root family gives compassion an image of intimate, sheltering care.
THE PATTERN
What the LORD does is carried forward through remembrance.
And this day will be for you a remembrance. You will keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations, a statute for the ages.I remember the deeds of the LORD; surely I remember your wonders of old.And he took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.THE THREAD
I remember the deeds of the LORD; surely I remember your wonders of old.“Remember” in this psalm and “remembrance” in Psalm 111:4 share the Hebrew root זכר. One names the act of remembering; the other shows the LORD’s wonders made into a memorial.
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