Psalms 119:156 Meaning and Explanation
“Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Repetition in prayer sometimes signals a lack of imagination. Here it signals need. This is the third time in a few lines that the poet has asked for life, and each time he attaches a different reason drawn from God. The reason offered here is the sheer abundance of God's compassion, a word rooted in the tenderness of a parent for a child.
God's compassions are described as many and large, and on that basis the psalmist asks once more for life, measured this time by the whole body of God's righteous decisions.
The Context of Psalms 119:156
The resh stanza covers verses 153 to 160, and verse 156 is its fourth line. Verse 153 asked God to consider affliction, verse 154 asked Him to plead the poet's case, and verse 155 observed that salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek God's statutes. Verse 156 answers that observation from the other side, naming the greatness of God's mercies. Verse 157 will count the persecutors, and verse 158 will describe the poet's grief over transgressors. The Hebrew word for tender mercies begins with resh, which is why it can open the line.
What Does Psalms 119:156 Mean?
'Great' here carries the sense of many as well as large, so the line can be heard as an inventory: God's compassions are numerous. 'Tender mercies' renders a plural noun connected with the womb, the deep physical stirring a parent feels toward a child. Then comes the familiar request, with a fresh measure attached. Verse 149 asked for life according to God's judgment in the singular; here the plural 'judgments' widens the appeal to the whole range of God's rulings. Compassion and legal decision sit in the same sentence again, and the poet treats them as one thing rather than two competing moods in God.
Israel had a settled vocabulary for this. When the LORD passed before Moses He proclaimed Himself merciful and gracious, and the word for merciful comes from the same root as tender mercies here. David, given a choice of punishments, chose to fall into the hand of the LORD because His mercies are great. This psalmist is standing in that line. The placement matters too. Verse 155 has just described people who are far from salvation by their own choosing. Verse 156 leaves that description standing and establishes where the distance lies, since on God's side the mercies are many.
Zacharias sang at the birth of his son about the tender mercy of our God, by which the dayspring from on high visited us. The vocabulary of deep compassion carries straight across from this psalm into that song. The greatness of God's mercies worked itself out in a visit, and the life the psalmist asks for came walking into a village. Lamentations says these compassions fail not and are new every morning. A person praying verse 156 today is asking for something already demonstrated on a scale the poet could only estimate, and asking it of a God whose compassion has a face.
Psalms 119:156 in the Original Language
rachamim (רַחֲמִים), 'tender mercies' -- a plural noun sharing its root with the word for womb. It names compassion felt in the body, the way a parent aches for a child, and Scripture uses it of God far more often than of people.
Bible Verses Related to Psalms 119:156
“It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.”
- Lamentations 3:22
“And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.”
- 2 Samuel 24:14
“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.”
- Psalm 51:1
“Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,”
- Luke 1:78
Where Psalms 119:156 Echoes in Scripture
Lamentations 3:22 says that the LORD's compassions fail not, and the next verse adds that they are new every morning, with great faithfulness. Jeremiah wrote those lines in the wreckage of Jerusalem, which gives them weight. The same noun stands behind both texts. Where the psalmist calls God's tender mercies great, Lamentations insists they are inexhaustible and freshly supplied. Read together, the two passages make the greatness of God's compassion a matter of daily experience rather than a doctrine held at arm's length.
How to Apply Psalms 119:156 Today
Some of us find it easier to believe God is powerful than to believe He is tender. This line puts the tenderness first and makes it the reason for asking. Praying it slowly, and letting the plural register, is a way of retraining the imagination. His mercies are many, so there is one for today. It also gives permission to ask again for something already asked. Repeated prayers for strength are welcome here; the poet made three of them in eight lines. Coming back with the same request is treated as evidence of trust rather than of weak faith.
Reflection & Prayer
Which do I find harder to receive from God, His power or His tenderness? A prayer for a tired day: LORD, Your tender mercies are great, and I have counted far fewer than there are. Turn one of them toward me now. Quicken me according to Your judgments, so that whatever You decide about my situation becomes the very thing that brings me back to life.