Psalms 118:16
in Psalms 118The right hand of the LORD is exalted! The right hand of the LORD performs with valor!”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The right hand of Jehovah is exalted: The right hand of Jehovah doeth valiantly.
KJV
The right hand of the Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
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This verse in Psalms 118
Commentary
12 notes on this verseAnd there are some who suppose that God is fashioned after a bodily manner, when they read of his hand or finger, and they do not observe that these things are written not because of any fashion of a body, since in the godhead there are neither members nor parts, but they are expressions of the oneness of the godhead, that we may believe that it is impossible for either the Son or the Holy Spirit to be separated from God the Father; since the fullness of the godhead dwells as it were bodily in the substance of the Trinity.
This site's exposition
Shouts of joy and salvation resound
on Psalms 118:15-16
The shouting is in the tents of the righteous, the ordinary dwellings of the people. One line carries it, the right hand of the LORD, which performs with valor and is exalted. The psalm says it three times in two verses.
This site's exposition
The right hand of the LORD is exalted
Exalted can mean lifted to strike or lifted in praise, and Spurgeon kept both. John Gill heard in it the song at the sea, where Exodus 15:6 says the right hand of the LORD shattered the enemy. The hand that fights is the hand that is praised.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"The right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pass" (ver. 16). What mighty things? saith he. "The right hand of the Lord," he saith, "hath exalted me." It is a mighty thing to exalt the humble, to deify the mortal, to bring perfection out of infirmity, glory from subjection, victory from suffering, to give help, to raise from trouble; that the true salvation of God might be laid open to the afflicted, and the salvation of men might remain of no avail to the persecutors. These are great things: but what art thou surprised at? Hear what he repeateth: "The right hand of the Lord hath brought mighty things to pass."
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The right hand of the Lord is exalted,.... Lifted up, very eminent and conspicuous, easily to be observed in the instances before given, and become great and glorious in power; see Exo 15:6. The power of God is superior to all enemies; and is beyond conception and expression; and is able to do for his people above all they are able to ask or think; the right hand of the Lord doth valiantly: or "acts powerfully".
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
The right hand of the Lord is exalted, lifted up to smite the enemy, or extolled and magnified in the eyes of his people. It is the Lord's right hand, the hand of his skill, the hand of his greatest power, the hand which is accustomed to defend his saints. When that is lifted up, it lifts up all who trust in him, and it casts down all who resist him. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly.
The right hand of the Lord is exalted, lifted up to smite the enemy, or extolled and magnified in the eyes of his people. It is the Lord's right hand, the hand of his skill, the hand of his greatest power, the hand which is accustomed to defend his saints. When that is lifted up, it lifts up all who trust in him, and it casts down all who resist him. The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. The Psalmist speaks in triplets, for he is praising the triune God, his heart is warm and he loves to dwell upon the note; he is not content with the praise he has rendered, he endeavours to utter it each time more fervently and more jubilantly than before. He had dwelt upon the sentence, "they compassed me about, "for his peril from encircling armies was fully realised; and now he dwells upon the valour of Jehovah's right hand, for he has as vivid a sense of the presence and majesty of the Lord. How seldom is this the case: the Lord's mercy is forgotten and only the trial is remembered.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2539: “The Joy of Holy Households” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
A BELIEVER in Christ is not long without finding joy. He is in the land which flows with milk and honey and he will get a sip of sweetness very soon. Like Nicodemus, he comes to Jesus in the dark, but the sun is rising. When he casts himself at the foot of the Cross, his dawning has begun and, before long, he will walk in the Light of God—being justified by faith, he will have peace with God. And not only so, for he also learns to joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also he has received the Atonement. This joy is in him and abounds, so that he belongs to a happy people. It is true that all Believers are not equally happy, but they have, each one of them, a right to be exceedingly glad. Some float upon a flood-tide ofjoy, while others drift upon the ebb, but they are all in the same stream and it is bearing them on to the ocean of perfect happiness. All who trust in Christ as they ought to do, will find a measure of this joy springing up within them, keeping company with the new life which the Holy Spirit has created. Ours is peace which passes all understanding and joy unspeakable! This joy is contagious—it spreads like a sweet perfume. The happy man makes others happy. The man who is full of the blessedness of God overflows for others. Music is not alone for him who makes it, but for all who have ears. The happy man's influence is first felt at home—he goes home to his own family a converted man and they soon perceive the change. He tells them of what the Lord has done, but even if he did not do so, they would soon discover by his gentleness, his love, his truth, his holiness, that something remarkable had happened to him! His actions, his words, his temper, his spirit are singularly altered and those around him can see it! He is glad and, before long, they are glad, too.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3361: “God's Valiant Right Hand” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
AT THE OPENING OF THE EAST LONDON TABERNACLE, ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1872. "The right hand of tie Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly." Psalm 118:16. THIS verse might full often have leapt from the lips of Believers in the olden times. This verse might have constituted part of the Song of Moses at the Red Sea, for how wondrously did God there overthrow the host of His enemies, when, after dividing the sea, Egypt was swallowed up in it, God, Himself causing the last foe of Israel to be swept away by the mighty waters! "Sing unto the Lord," they said, "for He has triumphed gloriously," and by the shores of the Red Sea they knew that "The right hand of the Lord is exalted; the right hand of the Lord does valiantly." It was so in the wilderness when Joshua fought with Amalek and Moses held up his hands in prayer. It was so when they smote Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan. Are not these things written in the Books of the wars of the Lord, and is it not said, "The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His name"? It was conspicuously so in the driving out of the Canaanites.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3361: “God's Valiant Right Hand” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
AT THE OPENING OF THE EAST LONDON TABERNACLE, ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1872. "The right hand of tie Lord is exalted: the right hand of the Lord does valiantly." Psalm 118:16. THIS verse might full often have leapt from the lips of Believers in the olden times.
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2539: “The Joy of Holy Households” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
A BELIEVER in Christ is not long without finding joy. He is in the land which flows with milk and honey and he will get a sip of sweetness very soon. Like Nicodemus, he comes to Jesus in the dark, but the sun is rising. When he casts himself at the foot of the Cross, his dawning has begun and, before long, he will walk in the Light of God—being justified by faith, he will have peace with God.
The right hand of the Lord is exalted - Jehovah lifted up his right hand, and with it performed prodigies of power.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְמִ֣ין | yemin | [the] right [hand] of | H3225 → | 140 times |
| יְ֭הוָה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| רוֹמֵמָ֑ה | romemah | [is] exalting | H7426 → | |
| יְמִ֥ין | yemin | [the] right [hand] of | H3225 → | 140 times |
| יְ֝הוָה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| עֹ֣שָׂה | ʾosah | [is] doing | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| חָֽיִל׃ | chayil | strength | H2428 → | 246 times |
יְמִ֣ין[the] right [hand] of
yeminH3225 →140 times
יְ֭הוָהYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
רוֹמֵמָ֑ה[is] exalting
romemahH7426 →
יְמִ֥ין[the] right [hand] of
yeminH3225 →140 times
יְ֝הוָהYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
עֹ֣שָׂה[is] doing
ʾosahH6213 →2628 times
חָֽיִל׃strength
chayilH2428 →246 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 15:6Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
it leads to
- Psalms 118:15–16
Shouts of joy and salvation resound in the tents of the righteous: “The right hand of the LORD performs with valor!
- Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the…
- Psalms 2:9
You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”
- 1 Chronicles 29:11–12
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom,…
- Revelation 2:27
He will rule them with an iron scepter and shatter them like pottery—just as I have received authority from My Father.
- Psalms 118:15–16
Where this verse is studied
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Ambrose of Milan, On the Holy Spirit 2.7.69; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 118; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 5; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2539: “The Joy of Holy Households” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3361: “God's Valiant Right Hand” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).