What Does Psalm 115:16 Mean?
The heavens, even the heavens, are the LORD's; but the earth he gives to the children of humankind.
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
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.THE KEY
The earth is given to the ground-born, and Hebrew lets the name Adam echo the adamah they receive.
THE MEANING
The heavens belong to the LORD, while the earth is given to the children of Adam, including you, as the place where human life unfolds. The giver remains the source, and the earth is still a real gift for human life here and now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You are not an intruder in a world outside God’s generosity; the earth is named as a gift to humanity.
THE ROOT
נָתַן
nathan
GROWS FROM
נ־ת־ן
To give, put, or set.
“gives” in this verse is nathan. The verb makes the earth’s place with humanity an act of giving. Its wider sense of setting or placing adds the image of a gift made present in human life.
ALSO GROWS
nathan: To give, put, or set.
נָתַן
The verse’s “given” is this verb: the earth reaches humanity through an act of giving.
mattanah: Gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun makes the gift-shape of the verb explicit: the earth is presented to humanity.
בְּנֵי־אָדָם
bene adam
GROWS FROM
א־ד־ם
Humanity, with the name Adam echoing adamah, ground or soil.
“humankind” in this verse is bene adam. English says “men,” but the Hebrew names the recipients as bene adam, the children of Adam. Adam echoes adamah, so the earth is given to people whose name carries the sound of the ground itself.
ALSO GROWS
adam: Human being, humanity; the ground-being.
אָדָם
This is the human name in the verse’s “children of men.”
adamah: Ground, soil.
אֲדָמָה
Its echo in adam ties the recipients to the earth they receive.
THE PATTERN
God’s giving places human life within a world whose source remains God.
And God said, "Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant upon the face of all the earth, and every tree bearing fruit with seed in it. It shall be yours for food."You make him rule over the works of your hands; you place all things under his feet.Every good giving and every complete gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no shifting and no shadow cast by turning.THE THREAD
And God said, "Look, I have given you every seed-bearing plant upon the face of all the earth, and every tree bearing fruit with seed in it. It shall be yours for food."The word “given” in both verses comes from נָתַן (nathan), meaning to give, put, or set. Genesis names seed-bearing plants and trees as the gift; this psalm widens the gift to the earth itself.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us