Psalms 19:2
in Psalms 19Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night showeth knowledge.
KJV
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
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This verse in Psalms 19
Commentary
14 notes on this verseThe days and the nights teach those people who desire to be taught what ineffable wisdom, what incomprehensible power God has, who has measured out the intervals of time for them. If there were no one who would determine the space and the intervals for the seasons, but they existed in a thoughtless and unconsidered way by chance, it would happen that the days would not be ordered in equal spaces through the ages and there would be a confusion of things, and likewise the times of the nights would pass by chance or happenstance.
This site's exposition
The heavens declare the glory of God
on Psalms 19:1-2
The heavens declare God's glory without words. Day after day and night after night the telling goes on, speech poured out and knowledge revealed by the skies. Verses 1 to 6 are the sky, and verses 7 to 11 are the law.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
"Day unto day utters word" [Psalm 19:2]. To the spiritual the Spirit gives out the fullness of the unchangeable Wisdom of God, the Word which in the beginning is God with God. [John 1:1] "And night unto night announces knowledge." And to the fleshly, as to those afar off, the mortality of the flesh, by conveying faith, announces future knowledge.
The ordained succession of night and day illustrates the boundaries set by the Creator … the visible things are inanimate, being a kind of mask that teaches everyone to be led from visible things to the invisible God and to offer singing to him … …
Now, where there is order there is also proof of the one determining order, and there too denial of being self-made, since what is not done by anyone cannot show order. All these visible things surely illustrate order. So he is saying, "They announce some …
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 15 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In relation to unity, there are two testaments, the one giving birth into slavery and, the other, into freedom; the one of fear and the other of love, the one literal and the other spiritual, the one figurative and the other actual: and so these …
"Day." Here he excludes the impediment to teaching, and he excludes a threefold impediment. Sometimes teaching is impeded so that it cannot be learned because of time; sometimes because of the variety of languages; sometimes because of diversity of places. The first impediment concerns nighttime, …
7 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Day - Every day and night repeats these demonstrations of God's glory. Uttereth - Or, poureth forth, constantly and abundantly, as a fountain doth water; So this Hebrew word signifies.
Day untoday uttereth speech,....
With such satisfaction did Christ, the Sun of righteousness, finish the work that was given him to do. (5.) His universal influence on this earth: There is nothing hidden from the heart thereof, no, not metals in the bowels of the earth, which the sun has an influence upon. To whom this declaration is made of the glory of God.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Day unto day uttereth speech - Each day is represented as teaching another relative to some new excellence discovered in these manifold works of God. The nights also, by the same figure, are represented as giving information to each other of the increase of knowledge already gained. “The labors of these our instructers know no intermission; but they continue incessantly to lecture us in the science of Divine wisdom. There is one glory of the sun, which shines forth by day; and there are other glories of the moon and of the stars, which become visible by night.
"Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." As if one day took up the story where the other left it, and each night passed over the wondrous tale to the next. The original has in it the thought of pouring out or welling over, with speech; as though days and nights were but as a fountain flowing evermore with Jehovah's praise. Oh to drink often at the celestial well, and learn to utter the glory of God!
"Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge." As if one day took up the story where the other left it, and each night passed over the wondrous tale to the next. The original has in it the thought of pouring out or welling over, with speech; as though days and nights were but as a fountain flowing evermore with Jehovah's praise. Oh to drink often at the celestial well, and learn to utter the glory of God! The witnesses above cannot be slain or silenced; from their elevated seats they constantly preach the knowledge of God, unawed and unbiased by the judgment of men. Even the changes of alternating night and day are mutely eloquent, and light and shade equally reveal the Invisible One; let the vicissitudes of our circumstances do the same, and while we bless the God of our days of joy, let us also extol him who giveth "songs in the night." The lesson of day and night is one which it were well if all men learned. It should be among our day-thoughts and night-thoughts, to remember the flight of time, the changeful character of earthly things, the brevity both of joy and sorrow, the preciousness of life, our utter powerlessness to recall the hours once flown, and the irresistible approach of eternity. Day bids us labour, night reminds us to prepare for our last hime; day bids us work for God, and night invites us to rest in him; day bids us look for endless day, and night warns us to escape from everlasting night.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Day unto day - One day to another; or, each successive day. The day that is passing away proclaims the lesson which it had to convey from the movements of the heavens, about God; and thus the knowledge of God is accumulating as the time moves on. Each day has its own lesson in regard to the wisdom, the power, and the goodness of God, and that lesson is conveyed from one day to another. There is a perpetual testimony thus given to the wisdom and power of the Great Creator. Uttereth speech - The word here rendered uttereth means properly to pour forth; to pour forth copiously as a fountain. Compare Pro 18:4; Pro 1:23; Pro 15:2, Pro 15:28. Hence, the word means to utter; to declare. The word “speech” means properly “a word;” and then, “a lesson;” or “that which speech conveys.” The idea is, that the successive days thus impart instruction, or convey lessons about God. The day does this by the returning light, and by the steady and sublime movement of the sun in the heavens, and by all the disclosures which are made by the light of the sun in his journeyings. And night unto night showeth knowledge - Knowledge respecting God. Each successive night does this. It is done by the stars in their courses; in their order; their numbers; their ranks; their changes of position; their rising and their setting. There are as many lessons conveyed to man about the greatness and majesty of God by the silent movements of each night as there are by the light of the successive days - just as there may be as many lessons conveyed to the soul about God in the dark night of affliction and adversity, as there are when the sun of prosperity shines upon us.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| י֣וֹם | yom | day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| לְ֭יוֹם | leyom | to day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| יַבִּ֣יעַֽ | yabia' | it pours forth | H5042 → | 11 times |
| אֹ֑מֶר | ʾomer | speech | H562 → | 6 times |
| וְלַ֥יְלָה | velaylah | and night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| לְּ֝לַ֗יְלָה | lelaylah | to night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| יְחַוֶּה־ | yechaveh- | it shows forth | H2331 → | |
| דָּֽעַת׃ | daat | knowledge | H1847 → | 92 times |
י֣וֹםday
yomH3117 →2304 times
לְ֭יוֹםto day
leyomH3117 →2304 times
יַבִּ֣יעַֽit pours forth
yabia'H5042 →11 times
אֹ֑מֶרspeech
ʾomerH562 →6 times
וְלַ֥יְלָהand night
velaylahH3915 →233 times
לְּ֝לַ֗יְלָהto night
lelaylahH3915 →233 times
יְחַוֶּה־it shows forth
yechaveh-H2331 →
דָּֽעַת׃knowledge
daatH1847 →92 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Isaiah 38:19The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
- Psalms 119:175
Let me live to praise You; may Your judgments sustain me.
- Deuteronomy 4:9
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as…
- Psalms 78:3–6
that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
- Deuteronomy 6:7
Through
Psalms 74:16The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
it leads to
- Genesis 1:3–5
And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
- Matthew 5:45
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
- Psalms 136:7–9
He made the great lights— His loving devotion endures forever.
- Genesis 1:14–18
And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to distinguish between the day and the night, and let them be signs to mark the seasons and days and years.
- Genesis 1:3–5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies4
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About Psalms

This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Alexander Maclaren, The Psalms, Expositor's Bible; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 19; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 15; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 1; Diodorus of Tarsus, COMMENTARY ON PSALM 19; Eusebius of Caesarea, COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 19:3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:3 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.
