12 With a powerful hand and with a stretched-out arm, for his loving-kindness [endureth] for ever;
Therefore say unto the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their service, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments.
Or hath God essayed to come to take him a nation from the midst of a nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a powerful hand, and by a stretched-out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Jehovah your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say to him, With a powerful hand Jehovah brought us out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Thy right hand, Jehovah, is become glorious in power: Thy right hand, Jehovah, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
And know ye this day ...; for [I speak] not with your children who have not known, and who have not seen the chastisement of Jehovah your God, his greatness, his powerful hand, and his stretched-out arm, and his signs and his acts which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land; and what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and unto their chariots, over which he made the water of the Red sea flow as they pursued after you, and Jehovah destroyed them unto this day;
For not by their own sword did they take possession of the land, neither did their own arm save them; but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst delight in them.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the days of old, [as in] the generations of passed ages. Is it not thou that hath hewn Rahab in pieces, [and] pierced the monster? Is it not thou that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Psalms 136
Commentary on Psalms 136 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 136
Ps 136:1-26. The theme is the same as that of Psalm 135. God should be praised for His works of creation and providence, His deliverance and care of His people, and judgments on their enemies, and His goodness to all. The chorus to every verse is in terms of that of Ps 106:1; 118:1-4, and was perhaps used as the Amen by the people, in worship (compare 1Ch 16:36; Ps 105:45).
1-3. The divine titles denote supremacy.
4. alone—excluding all help.
5, 6. by wisdom—or, "in wisdom" (Ps 104:24).
made—literally, "maker of."
above the waters—or, "higher than the waters" (Ps 24:2).
12. Compare similar expressions (Ex 3:20; De 4:34, &c.).
15. overthrew—literally, "shook off," as in Ex 14:27, as a contemptuous rejection of a reptile.
23. remembered us—or, "for us" (Ps 132:1).
our low estate—that is, captivity.
24. And hath redeemed us—or, literally, "snatched us"—alluding to the sudden deliverance effected by the overthrow of Babylon.
25. To the special favors to His people is added the record of God's goodness to all His creatures (compare Mt 6:30).
26. God of heaven—occurs but once (Jon 1:9) before the captivity. It is used by the later writers as specially distinguishing God from idols.