Psalm 36:5
“Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Psalm 36 contrasts the wickedness of the ungodly with the abundant goodness of God. Verse 5 begins the soaring praise of God's mercy after describing human sin.
What Does Psalm 36:5 Mean?
This verse celebrates the immense scale of God's mercy and faithfulness, picturing them as high as the heavens and reaching to the clouds. After describing human wickedness in the opening verses, David lifts his eyes and breaks into praise for the boundless goodness of God. The contrast could not be sharper: human sin is small and petty; God's love is vast.
The poetry reaches for the largest things in sight. "Thy mercy" -- God's steadfast, covenant love -- is "in the heavens," and "thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds." These are not precise measurements but expressions of something beyond measuring; the sky simply stands for what cannot be contained. Mercy and faithfulness are paired throughout this passage, two great pillars of God's character: his loyal love and his utter reliability. To say they fill the heavens is to say there is no end to them and no escaping their reach. For a reader weighed down by the wrongdoing described earlier in the psalm, the verse lifts the gaze upward. However high human evil may seem to rise, God's mercy rises higher, stretching across the whole sky like a covering over the world.
In the Original Language
The Hebrew chesed ("mercy") denotes steadfast, covenant love and loyalty, while 'emunah ("faithfulness") means firmness, reliability, and trustworthiness.
Cross References
“How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.”
- Psalm 36:7
“For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.”
- Psalm 103:11
“For thy mercy is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the clouds.”
- Psalm 57:10
Application
When the weight of wrongdoing in the world or your own life feels heavy, lift your eyes to a mercy and faithfulness as vast and high as the sky.