For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
Parallel translations
- WEB I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever. You established the heavens. Your faithfulness is in them.”
- BSB For I have said, “Loving devotion is built up forever; in the heavens You establish Your faithfulness.”
- NKJV For I have said, “Mercy shall be built up forever; Your faithfulness You shall establish in the very heavens.”
- NASB For I have said, “Graciousness will be built up forever; In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.”
- NLT Your unfailing love will last forever. Your faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Ethan declares that God's love stands firm forever and His faithfulness is as established as the heavens. God's covenant love is utterly secure and unshakable.
Overview
The psalmist affirms that God's steadfast love is eternally established, fixed like the heavens themselves. This confidence in God's faithfulness grounds the whole psalm. Such unshakable love is the foundation of the believer's hope, sealed in Christ in whom all God's promises are yes and amen.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Ps 36:5Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.
- Neh 9:31Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God.
- Ps 103:17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;
- Ps 89:5And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
- Ps 119:89For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.
- Neh 1:5And said, I beseech thee, O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:
- Ps 89:37It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.
- Ps 146:6Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
- Neh 9:17And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage: but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and forsookest them not.
- Heb 6:18That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
- Ps 42:1As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.
- Eph 1:6–7To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
- Num 23:19God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
- Luke 1:50And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 89:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.