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Passage Research

Psalm 136 — Sermon Preparation

Below is a research summary for Psalm 136, drawn from openly licensed scholarly databases — original-language morphology, classic sermons from the church fathers through the Puritans, and ancient geography data.

26
verses
166 / 66
Hebrew words / lemmas
7
classic sermon excerpts
4
preachers & commentators

Psalm 136 in the Hebrew

Distinctive vocabulary of this chapter, based on original-language morphology.

Hebrew Transliteration Strong's Count Glosses
חֶסֶד cheçed H2617 26 kindness, piety
עוֹלָם ʻôwlâm H5769 26 concealed, vanishing
יָדָה yâdâh H3034 4 throw, revere
מֶמְשָׁלָה memshâlâh H4475 2 rule, realm
גָּדוֹל gâdôwl H1419 3 great, older
סוּף çûwph H5488 2 reed, papyrus
נַחֲלָה nachălâh H5159 2 inherited, occupancy

How preachers through history handled this text

7 public-domain excerpts on Psalm 136, from the church fathers to the Puritans.

Matthew Henry 4 Alexander MacLaren 1 Spurgeon 1 John Wesley 1

“The scope of this psalm is the same with that of the foregoing psalm, but there is something very singular in the composition of it; for the latter half of each verse is the same, repeated throughout the psalm, "for his mercy endureth for ever," and yet no vain repetition. It is allowed that such burdens, or "keepings," as we call them, add very much to the beauty of a song, and help to make it moving and affecting; nor can any verse contain more weighty matter, or more worthy to be thus repeated, than this, that God's mercy endureth for ever; …”

— Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 3 (Job to Song of Solomon), on Psalm 136:1–30 (Public Domain)

Places in the text

Based on ancient-geography data

  • Egypt — Ps 136:10
  • Red Sea 1 — Ps 136:13
  • Bashan — Ps 136:20

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