What Does Psalm 89:6 Mean?
For who in the skies can be set in line with the LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty can be matched to the LORD?
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
For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?THE KEY
The verse first asks who can be set beside the LORD in the heavenly order, then who can share his likeness.
THE MEANING
No power in the heavens stands as the LORD’s counterpart. Even among the sons of the mighty, none can be likened to him; the verse speaks now of a uniqueness no rank can match.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a mighty power in the heavens can rival the LORD or claim equal standing beside him.
THE ROOT
יַעֲרֹךְ
yaʿarokh
GROWS FROM
ערך
Arrange, set in order, or place alongside.
“set in line” in this verse is yaʿarokh. The question begins with the root ערך: who can be arranged alongside the LORD? The verse then asks who can be likened to him, moving from position to resemblance; no heavenly power occupies his place or shares his likeness.
ALSO GROWS
ʿorēkh: One who arranges or sets in order.
עוֹרֵךְ
This branch keeps the sense of placing things in an ordered relation, as the verse asks who can be placed alongside the LORD.
maʿarakh: An array or formation.
מַעֲרָךְ
An array places things in relation to one another, making the verse’s question about who can stand beside the LORD more concrete.
ʿarikhah: Arrangement or setting in order.
עֲרִיכָה
This branch carries the same act of arranging that lies beneath the verse’s word for comparison.
יִדְמֶה
yidmeh
GROWS FROM
דמה
Be like or resemble; in a derived form, liken or compare.
“matched” in this verse is yidmeh. The Hebrew root דמה gives the verse its second question: who resembles the LORD? The parallel with ערך presses the point from two directions, no one can be set beside him, and no one shares his likeness.
ALSO GROWS
dāmâ: To resemble or be like.
דָּמָה
This verb carries the basic likeness asked about in the verse.
dimmâ: To liken or compare.
דִּמָּה
This form brings the act of comparison into view, echoing the verse’s question about who can be likened to the LORD.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s uniqueness appears in the failure of every power to stand as a true counterpart.
Who is like you among the mighty ones, O LORD? Who is like you, majestic in being set apart, awe-inspiring in praises, doing wonders?To whom then will you liken God? What likeness will you set in line beside him?But to us there is one God, the Father, out of whom are all things, and we into him, and one Lord, Jesus the Anointed One, through whom are all things, and we through him.THE THREAD
To whom then will you liken God? What likeness will you set in line beside him?Isaiah 40:18 uses the same Hebrew root, דמה, as Psalm 89:6’s word for being likened. The shared root turns the claim into a question about comparison itself: no likeness can contain the LORD.
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