World English Bible
- Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Give thanks to the God of gods, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who alone does great wonders, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who by understanding made the heavens, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who spread out the earth above the waters, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who made the great lights, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- the sun to rule by day, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- the moon and stars to rule by night, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- and brought out Israel from among them, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who divided the Red Sea apart, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- and made Israel to pass through the middle of it, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who led his people through the wilderness, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- to him who struck great kings, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- and killed mighty kings, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- Sihon king of the Amorites, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- Og king of Bashan, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- and gave their land as an inheritance, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- even a heritage to Israel his servant, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- who remembered us in our low estate, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- and has delivered us from our adversaries, for his loving kindness endures forever;
- who gives food to every creature, for his loving kindness endures forever.
- Oh give thanks to the God of heaven, for his loving kindness endures forever.
After Psalm 135 stripped idols of breath, Psalm 136 gives God’s people their breath back. In temple worship, a leader likely named the Lord’s mighty acts and the congregation answered with the same refrain each time. Western readers often hear redundancy. Israel heard resistance. Repetition was not laziness; it was warfare against forgetfulness.
The key word is hesed—not mere sentiment, but covenant love: loyal, durable, promise-keeping mercy. In Hebrew, the recurring line is ki le’olam hasdo—his steadfast love lasts forever. It sounds twenty-six times, until it becomes the pulse of the psalm. Some Jewish interpreters noticed those twenty-six lines and linked them to the generations from Adam to Moses, as though the whole world survived on mercy before it ever learned the law. Old Christian readers understood the same thing in their own way; Calvin saw this repetition as God’s kindness to our slow hearts.
Notice what this mercy covers. The same refrain follows the making of
stars and the overthrow of Pharaoh. That unsettles modern ears, but
rightly so. Biblical mercy is not softness toward evil. It is God’s holy
determination that cruelty will not rule forever. Pharaoh’s empire was
anti-creation: it turned image-bearers into bricks. So when the Lord
splits the sea, he is not interrupting creation but restoring it. The
waters once ordered in Genesis are ordered again in Exodus. Redemption
is creation reopened.
See Genesis 1:6–10; Exodus 14; Isaiah 51:9–11.
Then the psalm does something brilliant. It moves from ancient acts done for Israel to present help given to “us” in our low estate. Suddenly the worshipers are no longer watching sacred history from a distance; they are standing inside it. This is how biblical memory works. God’s past acts are not museum pieces. They are patterns of his character. The closing title, “God of heaven,” is especially striking; it is common in Ezra and Nehemiah, books shaped by life under Persian rule. In other words, this may be the song of a people with no visible king, much rubble, and long memories. Yet they sing as if the exodus is still their grammar for hope.
Even Sihon and Og matter. These are not random names. Og of Bashan belonged to a region of strongholds and black basalt cities whose ruins still mark the landscape. He represented the kind of obstacle that looks too old, too large, too fortified to move. Yet the refrain does not change. Mercy is not only for obvious miracles. It is also for borderlands, long campaigns, and stubborn enemies on the edge of promise.
And then the psalm ends with food for every creature. That may be its tenderest surprise. The love that topples tyrants also feeds animals. The God of galaxies and exodus is present at the table. Daily bread is the same hesed, only in quieter clothing.
A fitting hymn is “Let Us with a Gladsome Mind,” John Milton’s paraphrase of this psalm.
Suggested cross-references: Genesis 1:6–10; Exodus 12–15; Deuteronomy 8:2–10; Luke 1:50, 72–75; Colossians 1:16–17; Revelation 15:3–4.
Prayer
Lord, train my heart with your holy refrain. When I see creation, remember redemption, face the wilderness, or receive today’s bread, teach me to read it all by your steadfast love. Break my forgetfulness, humble my fear, and make my life a grateful answer to your mercy. Amen.