Psalms 136:18
and slaughtered mighty kings— His loving devotion endures forever.
BSB
ASV
And slew famous kings; For his lovingkindness endureth for ever:
KJV
And slew famous kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:
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.
And slew famous kings. What good was their fame to them? As they opposed God they became infamous rather than famous. Their deaths made the Lord's fame to increase among the nations while their fame ended in disgraceful defeat. For his mercy endureth for ever. Israelitish patriots felt that they, could never have too much of this music; God had protected their nation, and they chanted his praises with unwearied iteration.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk5
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Deuteronomy 29:7When you reached this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us in battle, but we defeated them.
leads to
“Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in…
Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
So Moses gave to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan—the…
He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings:
He struck down great kings His loving devotion endures forever.