TRV
Translation
King James Version
For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
Complete Jewish Bible
For who in the skies can be compared with ADONAI? Which of these gods can rival ADONAI,
Berean Standard Bible
For who in the skies can compare with the LORD? Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?
American Standard Version
For who in the skies can be compared unto Jehovah? Who among the sons of the mighty is like unto Jehovah,
World English Bible Messianic
For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like the LORD,
Geneva Bible (1599)
For who is equall to the Lord in the heauen? and who is like the Lord among the sonnes of the gods?
Young's Literal Translation
For who in the sky, Compareth himself to Jehovah? Is like to Jehovah among sons of the mighty?
In the KJVVerse 15,333 of 31,102
Study This Verse
Commentary on Psalms 89 verses 5–14
5 ¶ And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.
6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?
7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.
8 O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?
9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.
10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
11 The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine: as for the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.
12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.
13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
14 Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.
These verses are full of the praises of God. Observe,
I. Where, and by whom, God is to be praised. 1. God is praised by the angels above: The heavens shall praise thy wonders, O Lord! Psa 89:5; that is, "the glorious inhabitants of the upper world continually celebrate thy praises." Bless the Lord, you his angels, Psa 103:20. The works of God are wonders even to those that are best acquainted and most intimately conversant with them; the more God's works are known the more they are admired and praised. This should make us love heaven, and long to be there, that there we shall have nothing else to do but to praise God and his wonders. 2. God is praised by the assemblies of his saints on earth (praise waits for him in Zion); and, though their praises fall so far short of the praises of angels, yet God is pleased to take notice of them, and accept of them, and reckon himself honoured by them. "Thy faithfulness and the truth of thy promise, that rock on which the church is built, shall be praised in the congregation of the saints, who owe their all to that faithfulness, and whose constant comfort it is that there is a promise, and that he is faithful who has promised." It is expected from God's saints on earth that they praise him; who should, if they do not? Let every saint praise him, but especially the congregation of saints; when they come together, let them join in praising God. The more the better; it is the more like heaven. Of the honour done to God by the assembly of the saints he speaks again (Psa 89:7): God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints. Saints should assemble for religious worship, that they may publicly own their relation to God and may stir up one another to give honour to him, and, in keeping up communion with God, may likewise maintain the communion of saints. In religious assemblies God has promised the presence of his grace, but we must also, in them, have an eye to his glorious presence, that the familiarity we are admitted to may not breed the least contempt; for he is terrible in his holy places, and therefore greatly to be feared. A holy awe of God must fall upon us, and fill us, in all our approaches to God, even in secret, to which something may very well be added by the solemnity of public assemblies. God must be had in reverence of all that are about him, that attend him continually as his servants or approach him upon any particular errand. See Lev 10:3. Those only serve God acceptably who serve him with reverence and godly fear, Heb 12:28.
II. What it is to praise God; it is to acknowledge him to be a being of unparalleled perfection, such a one that there is none like him, nor any to be compared with him, Psa 89:6. If there be any beings that can pretend to vie with God, surely they must be found among the angels; but they are all infinitely short of him: Who in the heaven can be compared with the Lord, so as to challenge any share of the reverence and adoration which are due to him only, or to set up in rivalship with him for the homage of the children of men? They are sons of the mighty, but which of them can be likened unto the Lord? Nobles are princes' peers; some parity there is between them. But there is none between God and the angels; they are not his peers. To whom will you liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One, Isa 40:25. This is insisted on again (Psa 89:8): Who is a strong Lord like unto thee? No angel, no earthly potentate, whatsoever, is comparable to God, or has an arm like him, or can thunder with a voice like him. Thy faithfulness is round about thee; that is, "thy angels who are round about thee, attending thee with their praises and ready to go on thy errands, are all faithful." Or, rather, "In every thing thou doest, on all sides, thou approvest thyself faithful to thy word, above whatever prince or potentate was." Among men it is too often found that those who are most able to break their word are least careful to keep it; but God is both strong and faithful; he can do every thing, and yet will never do an unjust thing.
III. What we ought, in our praises, to give God the glory of. Several things are here mentioned. 1. The command God has of the most ungovernable creatures (Psa 89:9): Thou rulest the raging of the sea, than which nothing is more frightful or threatening, nor more out of the power of man to give check to; it can swell no higher, roll no further, beat no harder, continue no longer, nor do any more hurt, than God suffers it. "When the waves thereof arise thou canst immediately hush them asleep, still them, and make them quiet, and turn the storm into a calm." This coming in here as an act of omnipotence, what manner of man then was the Lord Jesus, whom the winds and seas obeyed? 2. The victories God has obtained over the enemies of his church. His ruling the raging of the sea and quelling its billows was an emblem of this (Psa 89:10): Thou hast broken Rahab, many a proud enemy (so it signifies), Egypt in particular, which is sometimes called Rahab, broken it in pieces, as one that is slain and utterly unable to make head again. "The head being broken, thou hast scattered the remainder with the arm of thy strength." God has more ways than one to deal with his and his church's enemies. We think he should slay them immediately, but sometimes he scatters them, that he may send them abroad to be monuments of his justice, Psa 59:11. The remembrance of the breaking of Egypt in pieces is a comfort to the church, in reference to the present power of Babylon; for God is still the same. 3. The incontestable property he has in all the creatures of the upper and lower world (Psa 89:11, Psa 89:12): "Men are honoured for their large possessions; but the heavens are thine, O Lord! the earth also is thine; therefore we praise thee, therefore we trust in thee, therefore we will not fear what man can do against us. The world and the fulness thereof, all the riches contained in it, all the inhabitants of it, both the tenements and the tenants, are all thine; for thou hast founded them," and the founder may justly claim to be the owner. He specifies, (1.) The remotest parts of the world, the north and south, the countries that lie under the two poles, which are uninhabited and little known: "Thou hast created them, and therefore knowest them, takest care of them, and hast tributes of praise from them." The north is said to be hung over the empty place; yet what fulness there is there God is the owner of it. (2.) The highest parts of the world. He mentions the two highest hills in Canaan - "Tabor and Hermon" (one lying to the west, the other to the east); "these shall rejoice in thy name, for they are under the care of thy providence, and they produce offerings for thy altar." The little hills are said to rejoice in their own fruitfulness, Psa 65:12. Tabor is commonly supposed to be that high mountain in Galilee on the top of which Christ was transfigured; and then indeed it might be said to rejoice in that voice which was there heard, This is my beloved Son. 4. The power and justice, the mercy and truth, with which he governs the world and rules in the affairs of the children of men, Psa 89:13, Psa 89:14. (1.) God is able to do every thing; for his is the Lord God Almighty. His arm, his hand, is mighty and strong, both to save his people and to destroy his and their enemies; none can either resist the force or bear the weight of his mighty hand. High is his right hand, to reach the highest, even those that set their nests among the stars (Amo 9:2, Amo 9:3; Oba 1:4); his right hand is exalted in what he has done, for in thousands of instances he has signalized his power, Psa 118:16. (2.) He never did, nor ever will do, any thing that is either unjust or unwise; for righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. None of all his dictates or decrees ever varied from the rules of equity and wisdom, nor could ever any charge God with unrighteousness or folly. Justice and judgment are the preparing of his throne (so some), the establishment of it, so others. The preparations for his government in his counsels from eternity, and the establishment of it in its consequences to eternity, are all justice and judgment. (3.) He always does that which is kind to his people and consonant to the word which he has spoken: "Mercy and truth shall go before thy face, to prepare thy way, as harbingers to make room for thee - mercy in promising, truth in performing - truth in being as good as thy word, mercy in being better." How praiseworthy are these in great men, much more in the great God, in whom they are in perfection!
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 5–14. Public domain.
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Augustine of HippoAD 430
Exposition on Psalm 89
"For who is he among the clouds, who shall be compared unto You, Lord!" [Psalm 89:6]. Is this to be the praise of the Heavens, is this to be their rain? What? Are the preachers confident, because "none among the clouds shall be compared unto the Lord"? Does it appear to you, brethren, a high ground of praise, that the clouds cannot be compared with their Creator? If it is taken in its literal, not in its mystical meaning, it is not so: what? Are the stars that are above the clouds to be compared with the Lord? What? Can the Sun, Moon, Angels, Heavens, be even compared with the Lord? Why is it then that he says, as if he meant some high praise, "For who is he among the clouds?" etc. We understand, my brethren, those clouds, as the Heavens, to be the preachers of truth; Prophets, Apostles, the announcers of the word of God....If therefore the clouds are the preachers of the truth, let us first enquire why they are clouds. For the same men are Heavens and clouds: Heavens from the brightness of the truth, clouds from the hidden things of the flesh: for all clouds are obscure, owing to their mortality: and they come and go. It is on account of these very obscurities of the flesh, that is, of the clouds, that the Apostle says, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who will bring to light the hidden things of darkness." [1 Corinthians 4:5] You see at this moment what a man is saying: but what he has in his heart, you cannot see: what is forced from the cloud, you see, what is kept within the cloud, you see not. For whose eyes pierce the cloud? The clouds therefore are the preachers of the truth in the flesh. The Creator of all things Himself came in the flesh....We are called clouds on account of the flesh, and we are preachers of the truth on account of the showers of the clouds: but our flesh comes in one way, His by another. We too are called sons of God, but He is the Son of God in another sense. His cloud comes from a Virgin, He is the Son from eternity, co-eternal with the Father. "Who is he then among the clouds, that shall be compared unto the Lord? And what is he among the sons of God, that shall be like the Lord?" Let the Lord Himself say whether He can find one like Himself. "Whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?" Because I appear, because I am seen, because I walk among you, and perhaps at present I have become common; say, whom do men say that I the Son of Man am? Surely when they see a son of man, they see a cloud; but say, "Whom do men say that I am?" In answer they gave Him the reports of men; "Some say that You are John the Baptist: some Elias, and others Jeremias, or one of the prophets." Many clouds and sons of God are here mentioned: for because they were righteous and holy, as the sons of God, Jeremias, Elias, and John are called also sons of God: in their character of preachers of God, they are styled clouds. You have said what clouds men imagine Me to be: do ye too say, "Whom say ye that I am?" Peter replying in behalf of all, one for those who were one, answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God;" [Matthew 16:13-16] not like those sons of God who are not made equal to You: You have come in the flesh: but not as the clouds, who are not to be compared unto You.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Psalms 89:6 presents a profound rhetorical question that unequivocally asserts the unparalleled supremacy and unique majesty of the LORD (Yahweh). It declares that no created being, whether celestial or earthly, can possibly measure up to His divine nature, power, or authority. This verse serves as a foundational affirmation of God's absolute incomparability within Psalm 89, a composition that celebrates God's steadfast covenant faithfulness and omnipotence even as it grapples with profound human suffering and questioning.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
The primary literary device employed in Psalms 89:6 is the Rhetorical Question. This device is used not to elicit an answer, but to make a forceful, undeniable assertion. By posing the questions "who in the heaven can be compared...?" and "[who] among the sons of the mighty can be likened...?", the psalmist implies that the answer is self-evidently "no one." This powerfully emphasizes God's unparalleled supremacy and uniqueness, engaging the reader's intellect to reach the inevitable conclusion. Additionally, the verse utilizes Synonymous Parallelism, where the second line reiterates and amplifies the thought of the first line using different but closely related words and phrases. "Who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD?" is echoed by "[who] among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?" This repetition serves to amplify the central message of God's incomparability and reinforce its undeniable truth. The verse also employs Exaltation or Hyperbole to magnify God's attributes beyond any possible comparison, creating a profound sense of awe and wonder at His transcendent majesty and absolute distinctiveness.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 89:6 stands as a cornerstone declaration of God's absolute incomparability, a fundamental tenet of biblical theology. It asserts that Yahweh is utterly unique, distinct from all creation, and possesses attributes that no other being can share. This theological truth has profound implications: it underpins biblical monotheism, demanding exclusive worship and devotion to the one true God. It also provides a basis for profound trust and security, knowing that the One who governs the universe is supreme in power, wisdom, and steadfast love, beyond any rival. This verse sets God apart not only from pagan deities but also from any created spiritual being, establishing His transcendent sovereignty as the Creator and Sustainer of all, the only One worthy of ultimate adoration.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 89:6 invites believers to cultivate a profound and abiding sense of awe, reverence, and humility before the incomparable God. In a world often filled with competing ideologies, charismatic leaders, powerful institutions, or even personal idols, this verse serves as a potent reminder that our God stands alone, infinitely superior to all. It calls us to examine where our ultimate trust and allegiance lie, challenging us to recognize and reject anything that attempts to usurp God's rightful place of supreme authority in our lives. Knowing that the One who holds the cosmos in His hands is our covenant-keeping God provides immense comfort and security, empowering us to face life's challenges with confidence, knowing that His power is unmatched and His faithfulness unwavering. Our worship, our prayers, and our daily lives should reflect this deep understanding of His unique and supreme position, fostering a spirit of trust and adoration that flows from His unparalleled majesty.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What does "sons of the mighty" (or "sons of God") refer to in this context?
Answer: In Psalms 89:6, "sons of the mighty" (Hebrew: bĕnê ʾēlîm) most likely refers to celestial beings or members of the heavenly host, often understood as angels or other powerful spiritual entities that constitute God's divine council. It does not refer to human rulers or earthly potentates in this specific context, but rather to those powerful beings who exist in the heavenly realm. The rhetorical question challenges whether any of these exalted, non-human beings can be compared to the LORD, emphatically concluding that they cannot. This distinction underscores God's unique transcendence above all created beings, both human and angelic, reinforcing that He alone is truly mighty.
Why is this verse phrased as a rhetorical question rather than a direct statement?
Answer: The use of a rhetorical question is a powerful literary device employed to emphasize an undeniable truth, rather than to solicit an answer. By asking "For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD?", the psalmist implies that the answer is self-evident: absolutely no one. This rhetorical strategy serves to heighten the impact of the declaration, drawing the listener or reader into the affirmation of God's unparalleled supremacy and making the statement more forceful and memorable than a simple declarative sentence. It engages the mind, leading to an inevitable and profound conclusion about God's unique majesty and singular authority.
How does Psalms 89:6 relate to the concept of monotheism?
Answer: Psalms 89:6 is a strong affirmation of monotheism, the belief in one God. In a world where polytheism was prevalent, this verse unequivocally declares that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is utterly unique and has no equal among any other "gods" or powerful beings, whether in heaven or on earth. It asserts His exclusive deity and supreme authority. This foundational truth distinguishes the worship of Yahweh from the worship of any other entity, demanding exclusive devotion and underscoring that there is no other true God to whom one can compare Him. This aligns with other monotheistic declarations in scripture, such as "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD" (Deuteronomy 6:4) and "I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" (Isaiah 45:5).
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Psalms 89:6 speaks of the incomparable nature of the LORD (Yahweh), the New Testament reveals that this divine incomparability is perfectly embodied and expressed in the person of Jesus Christ. He is not merely a "son of the mighty," but the unique Son, the "image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature" (Colossians 1:15), through whom "all things were created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him" (Colossians 1:16). The very "sons of the mighty" to whom no one can be compared in Psalms 89:6 are themselves created by and subject to Christ. He is the "radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being" (Hebrews 1:3), who perfectly reveals the Father's incomparable nature. Indeed, "God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is 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" (Philippians 2:9-10). Thus, the rhetorical question of Psalms 89:6 finds its ultimate answer and fulfillment in the person of Jesus, who shares in the Father's unique and absolute supremacy, demonstrating that truly, "all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18).