Psalm 136:3

The psalm begins with a command to the whole gathered people: “O give thanks unto the LORD”. The verb is yâdâh, which in this form means to praise, to give thanks or to confess. Strong’s traces the root to holding out the hand, and the word is used of worship offered with hands lifted to God. Thanks of this kind is spoken aloud before others, and it openly acknowledges who God is and what he has done.

The one we thank is “the LORD”. The KJV prints the word in capitals because it stands for God’s covenant name, Yᵉhôvâh, the name of the self-existent God of Israel who made himself known to his people and bound himself to them by covenant. In verse 3 “Lord” is printed in ordinary letters, because there it translates a different Hebrew word.

The first reason is “for he is good”. The Hebrew ṭôwb is goodness in the widest sense, covering kindness, bounty, favour, gladness and welfare. Said of God, it means that he is good in his own being, morally excellent and kind in all that he does. His goodness belongs to who he is, so it holds in every circumstance, and that is why the psalm thanks him first for himself and only then for his works, which all come from this goodness. Another psalm joins the same two reasons: “For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting” (Psalm 100:5), and Psalm 118:1 opens with the same call to give thanks to the LORD because he is good and his mercy endureth for ever.

The second reason is the line that closes every verse of the psalm: “for his mercy endureth for ever”. The word translated mercy is cheçed, one of the richest words in the Old Testament. It covers kindness, favour, good deeds and loving-kindness, and above all the steadfast, loyal love God keeps toward his people within his covenant, even when they are undeserving. “Mercy”, “steadfast love” and “covenant faithfulness” each catch a part of it. Moses told Israel that the LORD “keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him”, and an Israelite hearing this psalm would think of the God who had made promises to their fathers and kept them.

“Endureth for ever” renders l’olam, built on ʻôwlâm, the Hebrew word for what is eternal. God’s loyal love carries on through every generation and every change in our lives, and it gives faith and hope a foundation that stands firm. Lamentations says the same of his mercies: “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not” (Lamentations 3:22–23).

The two “for” clauses stand side by side as twin reasons for thanks. His goodness is his nature, and his cheçed is that goodness kept faithfully toward his people for ever.

Verse 2 repeats the call and raises the title: “O give thanks unto the God of gods”. The word for God is ʼĕlôhîym, and it stands behind both halves of the phrase. When it names the true God, ʼĕlôhîym is plural in form and is read as a plural of majesty, speaking of the fullness of his greatness and power, and its verbs are usually singular. In “of gods” the same word means the many beings that others called gods.

“God of gods” is the Hebrew way of saying the highest degree of something, as “King of kings” and “Lord of lords” do. It means the LORD is the supreme God, above everything that people worshipped or feared as divine, whether the false gods of the nations, angelic beings and spiritual powers, or human rulers. Israel lived among nations that worshipped many gods, such as Baal, Marduk and Dagon, each tied to some part of nature or of human life. Among them this was a bold and exclusive claim. The God who brought Israel out of Egypt and kept them in the wilderness stands alone over all the so-called gods, and he alone is God. Through Isaiah the LORD says, “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me” (Isaiah 45:5), and he calls himself the first and the last (Isaiah 44:6). Moses joined both titles of these verses: “For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords” (Deuteronomy 10:17).

Verse 3 moves from gods to lords: “O give thanks to the Lord of lords”. Here “Lord” is ʼâdôwn, a word for a sovereign, a master or an owner, used both of men and of God. Doubled as “Lord of lords”, it names the highest authority there is, the master to whom every other ruler answers and from whom all their power comes.

In the world around Israel kings were often counted as gods or as the gods’ own representatives. To call the LORD “Lord of lords” set him above every one of them, including the pharaohs and the empires Israel met, and above every principality and power in the unseen world. The three verses climb in order, from God’s covenant name, to his rank over all gods, to his rule over all lords, and with that the psalm is ready to tell his deeds.

Each title is answered by the same refrain. The God who rules over every power is the God whose love endures for ever, so his power is always used in faithfulness to his covenant promises and for the good of his people. In him supreme authority and unfailing love belong together, and that is a reason for both awe and trust.

The goodness, the mercy and the lordship of these verses come to their fullest in Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9), so in him we see the goodness of God without blemish. The cheçed that endureth for ever is shown most clearly at the cross: “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). God gave his Son so that whoever believes in him should have everlasting life (John 3:16), and Jesus is “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Through his death and resurrection he is “the mediator of a better covenant” (Hebrews 8:6), a covenant Hebrews calls everlasting (Hebrews 13:20–21). The mercy Israel sang of is now held out to all who believe as forgiveness, reconciliation and eternal life.

The titles of verses 2 and 3 point to him as well. All things were created by him (Colossians 1:16), and he says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). God has given him the name above every name, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11). In Revelation his name is written “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:16). He is “the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8), and the mercy of the refrain lasts as long as he does.

These three verses give us a reason for thanks that holds on every day, because it rests on God himself. Before the psalm names a single gift, it thanks him for being good and for loving his people with a love that lasts for ever. Governments rise and fall, and troubles come and go, while the God of gods and Lord of lords keeps his rule over all of it. His mercy rests on his own faithfulness, and it reaches his people whatever their record.

The psalm was made to be sung together, a leader’s line and the people’s answer, so the whole congregation shares one response. Each time we answer “for his mercy endureth for ever”, we join the people of God who have sung it before us, and we say what is still true of him.