Psalms 136:17
He struck down great kings His loving devotion endures forever.
BSB
ASV
To him that smote great kings; For his lovingkindness endureth for ever;
KJV
To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
Who struck the great kings. First he struck Pharaoh, who is understood to be the devil, and thus his army.
To him which smote great kings,.... Either the thirty one kings in the land of Canaan; or those who are after particularly mentioned; which seems best, since the kings of Canaan were petty kings, when these were greater ones; for his mercy endureth for ever; the smiting of those kings were in mercy to Israel; both to preserve them from falling into their hands, and that they might possess their countries, as is later declared.
1834–1892
THESE six verses iterate and reiterate the same fact. They rehearse and repeat the same reflection. Is the tautology tedious? Do the chimes weary you with their monotony? No. And this is a veritable charm in poetry. When the poet touches upon some important theme which illuminates his soul and kindles his nobler passions to a flame, he is very apt to dwell upon it with enthusiasm, inclined to pursue it with eagerness, to follow it up with feeling and echo it over and over again with strong and yet stronger emotion.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.