For your loving kindness is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Parallel Translations
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For your loving kindness is great above the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
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For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.
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(108-5) For Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and Thy truth reacheth unto the skies.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Psalms 108:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 36:5 Your loving kindness, Yahweh, is in the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
- Ephesians 2:4-7 But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;
- Psalms 103:11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.
- Psalms 89:2 I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them.”
- Psalms 85:10 Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other.
- Psalms 89:5 The heavens will praise your wonders, Yahweh, your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
- Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- Psalms 113:4 Yahweh is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens.
- Micah 7:18-20 Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
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John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For thy mercy is great above the heavens,..... It…
For thy mercy is great above the heavens,..... It is in Psa 57:10, "thy mercy is great unto the heavens". See Gill on Psa 57:10.
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Psalms 108:6
psa 108:6
psa 108:6
psa 108:6That thy beloved may be delivered,.... From hence to the end of the psalm the words are taken out of Psa 60:5. See Gill on Psa 60:5.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For thy mercy ... - This is taken from…
For thy mercy ... - This is taken from Psa 57:10. The only change is in the expression “above the heavens,” instead of “unto the heavens.” The sense is essentially the same. The particular idea here, if it differs at all from the expression in Psa 57:1-11, is, that the mercy of God seems to “descend” from heaven upon man, or “comes down” from on high.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. For thy lovingkindness is great above the heavens,
4. For thy lovingkindness is great above the heavens,
And thy truth (reacheth) unto the skies.
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This verse gives the reason for the praises which he purposes to offer. Once more God’s lovingkindness and truth had been attested by the deliverance of Israel from exile. Cp. Psa_98:3. The change of ‘unto the heavens’ into ‘above the heavens’ is a loss to the sense, making the second line an anticlimax.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and…
For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. Identical with Psa_57:10, with the exception of one preposition, which occurs only in some manuscripts.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 4. For thy mercy is great above the…
Ver. 4. For thy mercy is great above the heavens, and therefore there must be no limit of time, or place, or people, when that mercy is to be extolled. As the heavens over arch the whole earth, and from above mercy pours down upon men, so shalt thou be praised everywhere beneath the sky. Mercy is greater than the mountains, though they pierce the clouds; earth cannot hold it all, it is so vast, so boundless, so exceeding high that the heavens themselves are over topped thereby.
And thy truth teacheth unto the clouds. As far as we can see we behold thy truth and faithfulness, and there is much beyond which lies shrouded in cloud, but we are sure that it is all mercy, though it be far above and out of our sight. Therefore shall the song be lifted high and the psalm shall peal forth without stint of far resounding music. Here is ample space for the loudest chorus, and a subject which deserves thunders of praise.
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Ver. 4. For thy mercy is great, etc. His mercy is greatthat mercy sung of lately (Ps 107:1, 43). It is "from above the heavens" (Mymv-lem); i.e., coming down to us as do drops of a fertilizing shower; even as the "Peace on earth", of Lu 2:14, was first "peace in heaven" (Lu 19:38). Andrew A. Bonar.
Ver. 4. The mercy of God was then great above the heavens, when the God man, Christ Jesus, was raised to the highest heavens, and the truth of our salvation established on the very throne of God. W. Wilson.
Ver. 4-5. There is more stuff and substance of good in the Lord's promises than the sharpest sighted saint did or can perceive; for when we have followed the promise, to find out all the truth which is in it, we meet with a cloud of unsearchable riches, and are forced to leave it there; for so much is included in this, Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds. The height of our praising of God is to put the work of praising God upon himself, and to point him out unto others as going about the magnifying of his own name, and to be glad for it, as here; Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens; and thy glory above all the earth. David Dickson.
Ver. 4-6. There is great confidence here, and, as ever, mercy to the soul which knows itself and comes before truth. But, then, for its own deliverance and blessing it looks to the exalting of God. This shows it must be a holy, righteous exalting. "Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth; that thy beloved may be delivered." It is a blessed thought, and this is what faith has to lay hold of now, even in the time of trial, that our blessing and God's glory are one, only we must put his glory first. J.N. Darby.
Ver. 4-5. The greatness of mercy, the height of truth, and the immensity of the Divine praise.
Psalms 108:5*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain For Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and…
Psa_108:4
For Thy mercy is great above the heavens, and Thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.
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Gods mercy above the heavens
I. The ideas involved in this representation.
1. Its lofty conspicuousness.
(1) It is clearly expounded in the Word of God, which every one may read in his own tongue.
(2) It is openly proclaimed by the ministers of God, who are commanded to preach it everywhere.
(3) It is pre-eminent in the earth, as actually attracting the attention of mankind, even among the wisest and most advanced nations.
2. Its wide embrace. The heavens encompass and enclose all the earth. So that the people at the antipodes see the same sun and moon and stars that we see. What an emblem of the comprehensiveness of the Gospel!
3. The almighty sovereignty. The heavens rule the earth physically: so Gods mercy governs all the events of mankind. His dominion, through Christ, rules everything in the Church, and subordinates everything in the world. Think of His benign character, His holy law, His gracious purposes: and then see how He can abase the proud, reward the wicked, avenge the just.
4. Its settled stability. Christ reigns on high, and maintains His majesty and state, undisturbed by worldly tumults, darknesses, and changes.
II. How to be contemplated.
1. With ardent admiration, delight, and confidence.
2. With cheerful submission.
3. With watchful care to please God: for He is over us everywhere.
4. With hope as to the future: for He must bring final victory to the good and true, and reign till all foes are under His feet. (Anon.)
The immensity of mercy
I. The moral character and number of its objects.
II. The grand purpose of its operations. Why does it exercise itself towards this universe of sinners? In one word--to restore them to the image, the friendship, and the blessedness of God.
III. The extraordinary means it employs.
1. The gift of Christ.
2. The preaching of the Gospel.
3. The ministry of Providence.
4. The agency of the Spirit.
IV. The countless multitudes it has saved. John in his day beheld multitudes which no man could number, etc.
V. The exhaustless provisions which remain.
1. Equal to the emergency of the greatest sinner. Magdalene, the thief, Saul, the sinners on the day of Pentecost, etc.
2. Equal to the emergency of all the sinners that will ever be. (Homilist.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.