Psalms 102:12
in Psalms 102But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But thou, O Jehovah, wilt abide for ever; And thy memorial name unto all generations.
KJV
But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
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This verse in Psalms 102
Commentary
9 notes on this verseNow the writer's mind is turned away from his personal and relative troubles to the true source of all consolation, namely, the Lord himself, and his gracious purposes towards his own people. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever. I perish, but thou wilt not, my nation has become almost extinct, but thou art altogether unchanged. The original has the word "sit, "—"thou, Jehovah, to eternity shalt sit:" that is to say, thou reignest on, thy throne is still secure even when thy chosen city lies in ruins, and thy peculiar people are carried into captivity.
This site's exposition
sit enthroned forever
The psalm turns here. Against smoke and grass and a lengthening shadow it sets the LORD sitting enthroned forever, and His renown reaching every generation. The Hebrew word behind renown is remembrance, what later generations keep of Him.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
For not because I have fallen, have You grown old: for You are strong to set me free, who hast been strong to humble me. "But You, O Lord, endurest for ever: and Your remembrance throughout all generations" [Psalm 102:12]. "Your remembrance," because Thou dost not forget: "throughout all generations," forasmuch as we know the promise of life, both present and future. [1 Timothy 4:8]
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
God endures forever, his church's faithful patron and protector; and, his honour and perpetual remembrance being very much bound up in her interests, we may be confident that they shall not be neglected. Poor Zion is now in distress, but there will come a time for her relief and succour (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Contrast with man's frailty (compare Ps 90:1-7). thy remembrance--that by which Thou art remembered, Thy promise. Hence it is here adduced. for--or, "when." the set time, &c.--the time promised, the indication of which is the interest felt for Zion by the people of God.
Now the writer's mind is turned away from his personal and relative troubles to the true source of all consolation, namely, the Lord himself, and his gracious purposes towards his own people. But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever. I perish, but thou wilt not, my nation has become almost extinct, but thou art altogether unchanged. The original has the word "sit, "—"thou, Jehovah, to eternity shalt sit:" that is to say, thou reignest on, thy throne is still secure even when thy chosen city lies in ruins, and thy peculiar people are carried into captivity. The sovereignty of God in all things is an unfailing ground for consolation; he rules and reigns whatever happens, and therefore all is well. And thy rememberance unto all generations. Men will forget me, but as for thee, O God, the constant tokens of thy presence will keep the race of man in mind of thee from age to age. What God is now he always will be, that which our forefathers told us of the Lord we find to be true at this present time, and what our experience enables us to record will be confirmed by our children and their children's children. All things else are vanishing like smoke, and withering like grass, but over all the one eternal, immutable light shines on, and will shine on when all these shadows have declined into nothingness.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever - Our life is a shadow; we can scarcely be called beings when compared with thee, for thou art eternal. Have mercy upon us, creatures of a day, and thy kindness shall be a memorial in all our generations.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
But thou, O Lord, shalt endure for ever - Though my condition has been changed, though I have been cast down from an exalted position, though kingdoms rise and fall, yet thou art unchanged. Thy purposes will abide. Thy promises will be fulfilled. Thy character is the same. As thou hast been the hearer of prayer in past times, so thou art now. As thou hast interposed in behalf of thy people in other ages, so thou wilt now. As thy people in affliction have been permitted to come to thee, so they may come to thee now. The psalmist here brings to his own mind, as an encouragement in trouble, as we may at all times, the fact that God is an unchanging God; that he always lives; that he is ever the same. We could have no ground of hope if God changed; if he formed purposes only to abandon them; if he made promises only to disregard them; if today he were a Being of mercy and goodness, and tomorrow would be merely a Being of justice and wrath. This argument is enlarged upon in Psa 102:25-28. And thy remembrance unto all generations - Thy memory; or, the remembrance of thee. My days are like a shadow. I shall pass away, and be forgotten. No one will recollect me; no one will feel any interest in remembering that I have ever lived (see the notes at Psa 31:12). But while one knows that this must be so in regard to himself and to all other people - that he and they are alike to be forgotten - he may also feel that there is One who will never be forgotten. God will never pass away. He will be always the same. All the hopes of the church - of the world - are based on this. It is not on man - on any one individual - on any number of people - for they will all alike pass away and be forgotten; but one generation of people after another, to the end of time, may call on God, and find him an ever-living, an unchanged and unchangeable protector and friend.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Like a lengthening shadow At eventide, when the shadows lengthen, and when it becomes dark, they are not recognizable, but progressively disappear.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
for You picked me up First You picked me up and now You cast me down from heaven to the earth, and if You had not picked me up first, my disgrace would not be so great.
But You Who will be enthroned forever, and Who swore to us by Yourself, just as You exist, it is incumbent upon You to fulfill it. Therefore..
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאַתָּ֣ה | veatah | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| יְ֭הוָה | yahweh | O Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| לְעוֹלָ֣ם | leolam | for ever | H5769 → | 438 times |
| תֵּשֵׁ֑ב | teshev | you sit | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| וְ֝זִכְרְךָ֗ | vezikhrekha | and remembrance of you | H2143 → | 23 times |
| לְדֹ֣ר | ledor | [is] to a generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
| וָדֹֽר׃ | vador | and a generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
וְאַתָּ֣הand you
veatahH859 →1094 times
יְ֭הוָהO Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
לְעוֹלָ֣םfor ever
leolamH5769 →438 times
תֵּשֵׁ֑בyou sit
teshevH3427 →1079 times
וְ֝זִכְרְךָ֗and remembrance of you
vezikhrekhaH2143 →23 times
לְדֹ֣ר[is] to a generation
ledorH1755 →167 times
וָדֹֽר׃and a generation
vadorH1755 →167 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
Hebrews 13:8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
it leads to
- Malachi 3:6
“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Revelation 1:8
“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and is to come—the Almighty.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- James 1:17
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Hebrews 1:12
You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed; but You remain the same, and Your years will never end.”
- Isaiah 44:6
Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.
- Malachi 3:6
Through
Exodus 3:15God also told Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is My…
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:8
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 17:7–8
I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
- Hosea 12:5
the LORD is the God of Hosts— the LORD is His name of renown.
- Hebrews 13:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 102; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.