Your throne is established from long ago. You are from everlasting.
Parallel Translations
-
Your throne is established from long ago. You are from everlasting.
-
Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.
-
Thy throne is established of old; Thou art from everlasting.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Psalms 93:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 45:6 Your throne, God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of your kingdom.
- Psalms 90:2 Before the mountains were born, before you had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.
- Proverbs 8:22-23 “Yahweh possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.
- Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
- Revelation 1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
- Revelation 2:8 “To the angel of the assembly in Smyrna write: “The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life says these things:
- Revelation 1:17-18 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Psalms 102:24-27 I said, “My God, don’t take me away in the middle of my days. Your years are throughout all generations. Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will endure. Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment. You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed. But you are the same. Your years will have no end.
- Psalms 145:13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Your dominion endures throughout all generations. Yahweh is faithful in all his words, and loving in all his deeds.
- Daniel 4:34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation.
- Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.
- Hebrews 1:10-12 And, “You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth. The heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you continue. They all will grow old like a garment does. You will roll them up like a mantle, and they will be changed; but you are the same. Your years won’t fail.”
- Revelation 1:11 saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 2 Thy throne is stable Some read, is prepared,…
2 Thy throne is stable Some read, is prepared, and this agrees well with the context. provided we take the two clauses as one sentence, meaning — O Lord, as thou art from eternity, even so thy throne is erected or prepared from that time For the sense which some have attached to the words, as if they contained a simple assertion of God’s eternity, is poor; and the Psalmist evidently intends to say that as God is eternal in essence, so he has always been invested with power and majesty. The term throne signifies, by the figure synecdoche, righteousness, and office or power of government; it being customary to transfer such images taken from men to God, in accommodation to our infirmity. By this ascription of praise the Psalmist effectually disposes of all the absurd ideas which have been broached, tending to deny or disparage the power of God, and declares, upon the matter, that God may sooner cease to be, than to sit upon his throne in the government of this world.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Wherein thou sittest and governest the world.
Wherein thou sittest and governest the world.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 93:2 Thy throne [is] established of old: thou…
Psa 93:2 Thy throne [is] established of old: thou [art] from everlasting.
Ver. 2. Thy throne is established of old] Christ shall reign, utcunque, fremant scelerati, et omnia quantum in se est conturbent, rage the wicked never so, for he is Jehovah, Psa 93:1, the Eternal: here,
Read full note →
- Firma aeternus qui concidet arce.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain And this kingdom of thine is no new or…
And this kingdom of thine is no new or upstart kingdom, as it may seem to the ignorant world, but the most ancient of all kingdoms, being from everlasting to everlasting, although it was not always equally manifested in the world.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Thy throne is established of old,.... Or "prepared from…
Thy throne is established of old,.... Or "prepared from eternity" (b); Christ was set up and anointed as King from everlasting; he had a kingdom appointed and prepared for him so early; and his throne, which is prepared in the heavens, is an established one; it is for ever and ever; his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; of his government, and the increase of it, there is no end:
thou art from everlasting; as a divine Person, as God, and the Son of God; or he could not have been anointed unto or invested with the kingly office so early; nor have had a glory with his Father before the world began: his eternal existence, as God, accounts for the establishment of his throne of old, without which it could not be.
Read full note →
(b) "paratum", Pagninus, Montanus; "a principio", Targum; "ab antiquo", Syr. "ab aeterno", Gejerus; so Ainsworth.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. Thy throne is established of old] There…
Verse 2. Thy throne is established of old] There never was a time in which God did not reign, in which he was not a supreme and absolute Monarch; for he is from everlasting. There never was a time in which he was not; there never can be a period in which he shall cease to exist.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Psa 93:2-4. Thy throne is established of old, &c.…
Psa 93:2-4. Thy throne is established of old, &c. — This kingdom of thine is no new or upstart kingdom; as it may seem to the ignorant world, but the most ancient of all kingdoms, being from everlasting to everlasting, although it was not always equally manifested to mankind. The floods —
The enemies of thy kingdom, who are often compared to floods for their numbers, force, rage, &c., have lifted up their waves — Have both, by their words and actions, made opposition against it. The Lord on high is mightier than many waters, &c. — The King of heaven is too strong for all earthly potentates, and will subdue them under his feet.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Thy throne is established of old - Whatever might…
Thy throne is established of old - Whatever might occur, the throne of God was firm. That could not be moved. It had been set up from all eternity. It had stood through all the convulsions and changes which had occurred in the universe; and it would stand firm forever. Whatever might change, that was immovable; and as long as that is unchanged we have a ground of security and hope. Should “that” be moved, all would be gone. The margin here is, as in Hebrew, “from then:” but it means “of old;” from the most ancient times; that is, from the period indicated by the next clause, “from everlasting.”
Thou art from everlasting - From all eternity; thou hast always existed; thou art ever the same Psa 90:1.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Thy throne is established of old—Literally, Thy throne…
2. Thy throne is established of old—Literally, Thy throne is established from then, or, from that time; that is, from the time that thou hast been— from eternity. “This phrase, spoken of God or Christ, means eternity; in respect to creation it is the beginning of time.” Isa_44:8.— Ainsworth. When there is no historic indication of the particular time referred to, it must be determined by the nature of the subject, which in this case must be the duration of divine existence.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Though Jehovah has thus proclaimed His kingdom afresh,…
2. Though Jehovah has thus proclaimed His kingdom afresh, it is no novel thing. His sovereignty and His Being are eternal: they know neither beginning nor end (Psa_90:2; Psa_92:8). The contrast between Jehovah’s ever firmly established throne and the tottering order of the world which needs His intervention to reestablish it is in favour of the Massoretic text of Psa_93:1.
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 Thy throne is established of old. Though God from…
Thy throne is established of old. Though God from time to time comes forward, as it were, and asserts his sovereignty, yet it is no new rule that he sets up. He has always been the King both of heaven and earth. Thou art from everlasting. Not merely from "of old," but from all eternity. (comp. Psa_90:2 Pro_8:23 Isa_63:15 Mic_5:2 Hab_1:12)
The eternity of God.
Read full note →
"Thou art from everlasting." There are truths self-evident, yet incomprehensible. We can neither doubt nor grasp them. Light, which reveals all things else, dazzles, even blinds, if we gaze on it. So these truths, in whose light reason sees all things, baffle and confound our reason. One of these is the eternity of God. We speak of time sometimes as "flying," as though we ourselves stood still. Sometimes of ourselves as "travelling on." Either way, we feel that eternity is behind us, not increased by our past years; eternity is before us, undiminished as the future becomes present. God fills eternity. (Isa_57:15) Human language is employed in the Scriptures. (Rev_1:4 Rev_4:8) But with God, reason assures us, can be no past, present, future, as with creatures. He is. (Psa_90:2) The eternity of God, as taught in the Scriptures, is
I A PROOF OF DIVINE INSPIRATION. The wonder of God"s works is never so clearly seen as when we compare with man"s (e.g. in the microscope). Heathen mythologies and philosophies utterly fail here. Painful, pitiable, to see the struggles of the ancient Greek mind to grapple with this problem, in the monstrous fables of the origin of the gods, or in its ever-shifting theories and guesses of philosophers. The Oriental mind, mystic, subtle, contemplative, lost itself in labyrinths of speculation. The Hindus distinguish the original fountain of being from the Creator, and even to the Creator no temples are built, nor worship offered. "Gods many and lords many" come between him and the worshipper. The Bible only shows us the eternal Creator as the Father of spirits. Its whole purpose is to teach us how near God is to us, and bring us near to him. This could never be man"s invention; it is God"s own voice.
II Yet this is A CONTEMPLATION FULL OF AWE. One of the strongest motives to worship. Our cold Northern temperament, commercial hardness, keen pursuit of knowledge we can prove and analyze, frigid intellectualism, indispose us to worship. An Englishman may have "an idol in his heart something he puts in place of God; but he cannot comprehend why a Hindu falls down before an image. Yet worship is a real, deep need of the human heart. God"s eternity is presented in the Scriptures, not as mere doctrine to be believed, but in the language of worship (see texts quoted above).
III A BEAUTIFUL, REASSURING CONSIDERATION.
1. Rest for our thought, our heart, our love. Let all else change, God abides. "God is love.
2. Light on the mystery of God"s dealings. If at such a moment, or critical turn, we could see good emerging from evil, the perplexity caused by the long continuance of sin and misery would be almost removed. (Psa_94:3) But God is working for eternity, in eternity. (2Pe_3:8, 2Pe_3:9)
IV This glorious attribute IS ASCRIBED TO THE LORD JESUS, and CLAIMED BY HIM. (Heb_13:8 Rev_1:8, 11 22:13, 16)
CONCLUSION. Show the bearing of this doctrine on sin; on salvation; on Christian work.
The distinction between God and God"s handiwork.
"Thou art from everlasting." Thou wast before the world was. He was. He made the earth, and all that therein is. "In the beginning God." His name is the "I am." "The first and foundation stone of the great temple of revealed truth is a declaration which grasps all space, all being, all time, and bids us see before them, above them, and altogether independent of them One lonely, infinite Being, having life in himself. When there was no heaven and no earth, in the silent dark eternities, in the beginning, there was God." The first chapter of Genesis is evidently "designed to impress on us that the world was not created by chance, by self-generation, by impersonal powers of nature, or by many agents acting either in harmony or in antagonism. God is distinct from all that he has made." Bishop Wordsworth says, on Gen_1:1, "The declaration of this verse opposes the Pantheist, who says, "The world is God;" the Peripatetics, who say, "The world exists from eternity;" the Stoics, who say, "The world was made by Fate and Necessity;" the Epicureans, who say, "It arose from a fortuitous concourse of atoms;" the Persians and Manichaeans, who say, "It arose from the antagonism of two rival powers;" the Gnostics, who say, "It was made by angels, or emanations of aeons;" Hermogenes, who says, "It was made out of matter coeternal with God;" and the modern notion, that it arose out of the spontaneous agency and evolution of self developing powers." The distinction between a man and the machine he makes is clear enough; but the complication of thought, in relation to God, arises from the fact that he makes the material of which he makes the machine of creation. Illustrate the distinction along the following lines.
I CREATION HAD A BEGINNING; THE CREATOR HAD NONE.
II CREATION IS A MATERIAL THING; THE CREATOR IS A SPIRITUAL BEING.
III CREATION, AS WE KNOW IT, MAY BE ONE OF MANY CREATIONS; THE CREATOR; AS WE KNOW HIM, IS THE ORIGINATOR OF THEM ALL.
IV CREATION IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE; THE CREATOR IS UNCHANGEABLE.
V CREATION HAS BUT A TEMPORARY EXISTENCE; THE CREATOR IS ETERNAL. "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God;" "Of thy years there is no ending". R.T. (2Pe_3:10)
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. 2. Thy throne is established of old. Though…
Ver. 2. Thy throne is established of old. Though thou mayest just now appear in more conspicuous sovereignty, yet thine is no upstart sovereignty: in the most ancient times thy dominion was secure, yea, before time was thy throne was set up. We often hear of ancient dynasties, but what are they when compared with the Lord? Are they not as the bubble on the breaker, born an instant ago and gone as soon as seen?
Thou art from everlasting. The Lord himself is eternal. Let the believer rejoice that the government under which he dwells has an immortal ruler at its head, has existed from all eternity and will flourish when all created things shall have for ever passed away. Vain are the rebellions of mortals, the kingdom of God is not shaken.
Read full note →
Ver. 2. Thy throne is established. The invariable perpetuity of the divine kingdom is celebrated in these words. No vicissitudes are apprehended there, as in earthly monarchies and kingdoms, where thrones are not infrequently shaken, either on account of the death of their kings or principal men, or by reason of the unfaithfulness of subjects or ministers, or because of the schemes or attacks of enemies; none of which can disturb the divine rule. Martin Geier.
Ver. 2. Thy throne is established of old. Lest any one should suspect that the royal dignity depicted and demonstrated in the previous verse by the creation of the world, which was the effect of kingly power and majesty, was a new thing or came into existence yesterday or the day before, or that God had recently obtained the office of ruling and governing, or that by long use and experience he had acquired skill, or held a somewhat foreign throne as other kings are wont, he says that this dignity is as ancient as creation itself, so that the throne of this kingdom was founded at the very time when the foundations of the earth were laid; and as the earth was established by him as his footstool, so the heaven was his throne, (Isa 66:1), which endures for ever. Especially does he teach that from eternity, before the formation of the world, God always remained the same in himself, not needing creation or any creature, thereby to obtain any new perfection. Lorinus.
Ver. 2. Of old. The Italian, from all eternity:Hebrew, from then;an Hebrew phrase to signify an eternity without any beginning, Pr 8:22: as eternity without end is signified by another term, which is as much as, until then. Diodati.
Psalms 93:3*
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 Thy throne is established of old: Thou art from…
Psa_93:2
Thy throne is established of old: Thou art from everlasting.
Read full note →
The eternity of God
I. The vastness and majesty of this truth. Apart from wonder and curiosity, there appears no substantial object in ascertaining how far the sun is from the earth, or Sirius from the sun, or one world from another, or in computing the waves in that sea of time which has been rolling from the creation of the globe until now. But when we take these vast measurements as counters by which, though in the faintest degree, to approximate the idea of Gods eternity; when we use them as steps by which to rise towards that height, as lines by which we try to fathom something of that depth; when we think of the universe in its present relations as only a single season in His endless years; when in those rocky joints and scars we trace the tide-marks of His ceaseless action, the footprints of His forth-going from eternity--then do we find a special use in these computations. At least, in our attempt to form some conception of God, they serve to steady us. In their degree, they lift us to a higher point of contemplation. As the fine spiders web stretched across the telescopic lens enables us to appreciate the movement of the stars, so, in their turn, do these objects, stretched across the area of our thought, help us to recognize the boundlessness of the Almighty.
II. Regard the truth set forth in the text as a necessity of reason. The words of the psalmist here are not a mere metaphor: they proclaim a reality. This orderly movement of the universe must have proceeded from design, which implies pre-existent mind. Indeed, the human mind itself, which thus conceives an eternal Mind, testifies to the existence of such a Mind. It is more conceivable that the substantial Root of these transient phenomena should be intelligent than that it should be non-intelligent. Our thoughts, perplexed at the best, are compelled to lodge somewhere; and they lodge far more satisfactorily upon the proposition of eternal mind than upon the proposition of eternal matter.
III. This truth of Gods eternity, vast as it is, and transcending all finite thought, is, in some sense, a standard for human measurement.
1. It presents a standard of human littleness. Here stretches before us the limitless horizon on which the drama of human life stands out in full relief. Across this disc of absolute being glide all our plans, our pursuits, and the lines of our mortal years. And, compared with this, what are they all? That which we call a long life--what is it as it thus flits into nothingness? What are our schemes in which we plunge our hearts and our hopes? What are our achievements, our monuments of brass or granite, when all the ages of the world upon this fathomless deep are but a ripple, a scud of foam?
2. The eternity of God is also a standard for human hope and confidence. For, fleeting as is the measure of our days, to this immutable Being we are bound by imperishable relations. God is patient because He is eternal; and we may learn to be patient in proportion as we realize our share in that eternity--patient with this swift-flying time, that will not let us rest, but hurries us through the precious years; patient with this transient suffering and loss; patient with any special affliction, considering that it is only a part of a transcendent scheme.
3. The text presents a standard of personal responsibility. Among all the interests of life, among all that claims our love or tempts our desire, this throne that is established of old demands our supreme homage. The criterion of all our conduct is the will of Him who is from everlasting. (E. H. Chapin.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.