What Does Psalm 136:22 Mean?
A holding for Israel, his servant, for his faithful love reaches to the ages.
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
Even an heritage unto Israel his servant: for his mercy endureth for ever.THE KEY
The servant is named as an heir, and the inheritance rests on faithful love that continues through the ages.
THE MEANING
Your place with God holds both service and inheritance; service does not erase your place as a receiver. The faithful love named here spans the ages, giving belonging a ground beyond a single moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that serving leaves you with nothing to receive; the verse calls Israel servant and heir in the same breath.
THE ROOT
נַחֲלָה
naḥălāh
GROWS FROM
נחל
To inherit or take possession as an allotted share.
“holding” in this verse is naḥălāh. The name Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, Yiśrāʾēl, “one who strives with God”) carries struggle in its naming; here, the struggler is also called servant and heir. The inheritance is received, and the next clause grounds it in faithful love that endures through the ages.
ALSO GROWS
nāḥal: To inherit or take possession.
נָחַל
The verb shows the heritage as something received and held, not self-made.
lehanḥîl: To cause someone to inherit; to grant as a possession.
לְהַנְחִיל
This form brings out the giving side of inheritance: someone grants the share the heir receives.
חַסְדּוֹ
ḥasdô
GROWS FROM
חסד
To act with faithful kindness and loyalty.
“for his faithful love reaches to the ages” in this verse is ḥasdô. The word translated “mercy” is chesed, faithful love that remains loyal. The surrounding phrase לְעוֹלָם (leʿolam, “through the ages”) places that love beyond a single span of time.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsîd: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The same word family can describe a person marked by loyalty, giving faithful love the shape of a relationship.
ḥasidāv: His faithful ones.
חֲסִידָיו
This form names people within that bond of faithfulness, echoing the belonging held by the verse’s enduring love.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s people are held as an inheritance through faithful love that outlasts each age.
For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the measuring cord of his inheritance.For the LORD is good; his faithful love reaches to the ages, and his steadiness holds from generation to generation.In him we also have been allotted an inheritance, marked out beforehand according to the aim of him who works all things according to the counsel of his own will.THE THREAD
For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the measuring cord of his inheritance.Deuteronomy uses נַחֲלָתוֹ (naḥălātô, “his inheritance”), from the same root נחל (n-ḥ-l, “inherit or possess”) as the “heritage” here. The direction turns: Israel receives an inheritance and is also named as the LORD’s own portion, joining receiving with belonging.
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