Psalms 19:1
in Psalms 19The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork.
KJV
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
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This verse in Psalms 19
Commentary
25 notes on this verseCreation … points to God as its Maker and Artificer, who reigns over creation and over all things, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; whom would-be philosophers turn from to worship and deify the creation that proceeded from him, which yet itself worships and confesses the Lord whom they deny on its account.
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 Fathers5 voices
As heaven is lighted with the splendor of the stars, so do people shine with the light of their good works, and their deeds shine before their Father in heaven. The one is the firmament of heaven on high; the other is a similar firmament of which it is said, "On this rock I will build my church." The one is a firmament of the elements, the other of virtues, and this last is more excellent.
"The heavens tell out the glory of God" [Psalm 19:1]. The righteous Evangelists, in whom, as in the heavens, God dwells, set forth the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, or the glory wherewith the Son glorified the Father upon earth. "And the firmament shows forth the works of His hands." And the firmament shows forth the deeds of the Lord's power, that now made heaven by the assurance of the Holy Ghost, which before was earth by fear.
A commentator
Origen of AlexandriaCOMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32:190 · Written before 253.
proposed
If someone, hypothetically, should seem to believe in Jesus but should not believe that the God of the law and of the gospel is one, whose glory the heavens declare, since they were made by him, and the work of whose hands the firmament proclaims, since it is their work, this person would be deficient in the greatest article of faith.
Any who are perfect, who have been made heavenly or have become [part] of heaven, "declare the glory of God," as it says in the psalm. For this reason in brief also the apostles who were of heaven were sent to declare the glory of God and received the name of Boanerges, "which is the sons of thunder," that by the power of thunder we might believe them truly to be heavens.
This verse serves as a lesson on how the great work of God is declared. People who have been blinded in the eyes of their minds have expelled from the natural order the hidden and invisible divine essence, which is incorporeal and uncreated, and cannot be touched in any way or recognized with carnal eyes. With a godless and wicked mouth they say that there is no God, that nothing excellent of a corporeal nature exists beyond its temporary appearance, and that the whole universe came together in a certain momentary and accidental coalescence and gathering of parts that previously existed by chance and without purpose. Thus, it was necessary in the present work by means of a psalm that the writer should prove through plain demonstration God's omniscience and creative power. The nature of mortals is insignificant and fragile, the thoughts of people, foolish, and our reasoning uncertain. Therefore, we are no match for declaring the divine glory. For these worthy words and reflections about God cannot be proclaimed with human voices or with tongues or lips of flesh. If one who has the facility of a strong mind could hear that powerful and most worthy teaching that comes from the heavens, he would direct his mind and mount up to attend to those things, embracing them completely in himself, celebrating his Creator and the Maker of the universe with hymns and songs. For those heavens above us and those elements present in the firmament attest to a nature capable of being understood by and realized through the senses. […]
18 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers6 voices
All nature serves the Word of God for our instruction. Through all the turning points of the year, as if through the four Gospels, we learn from the unceasing trumpet both what we should preach and what we should do.… What is there through which the truth does not speak to us? Its voice is heard in the day, it is heard in the night, and the beauty of all things, established by the work of one God, does not cease to put into the ears of our hearts a ruling order, to let us see the "invisible things of God through those which have been made intelligible to us," and it is subject not to the creatures but to the Creator of all things.
We learn three kinds of divine laws from blessed Paul. One unwritten kind he said was given to human beings in creation and nature: "From the creation of the world," he says, "his invisible attributes have been understood and seen in created things"; and again, …
If you observe a most mighty and magnificent building, you admire the builder; and if you see a skillfully and beautifully designed ship, you think of the shipwright; and at the sight of a painting the painter comes to mind. Much more, to be sure, …
This nineteenth psalm is doctrinal: just as the fourth, also being doctrinal, censures those claiming that existing things do not benefit from providence, so too the present psalm levels an accusation against those who claim … that existing things were made by no one, instead …
This it was which the prophet signified when he said, "The heavens declare the glory of God." How then, tell me, do they declare it? Voice they have none; mouth they possess not; no tongue is theirs! how then do they declare? By means of the spectacle itself. For when thou seest the beauty, the breadth, the height, the position, the form, the stability thereof during so long a period; hearing as it were a voice, and being instructed by the spectacle, thou adorest Him who created a body so fair and strange! The heavens may be silent, but the sight of them emits a voice, that is louder than a trumpet's sound; instructing us not by the ear, but through the medium of the eyes; for the latter is a sense which is more sure and more distinct than the former.
… this whole world also is both wonderful and great, and a sure proof of the wisdom of God, and "the heavens declare the glory of God, and day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night declareth knowledge;" but nevertheless, many have stumbled at it and in contrary directions to one another. And some have admired it so much above its worth as to think it God; whilst others have been so insensible of its beauty as to assert it to be unworthy of God's creating hand, and to ascribe the greater share in it to a certain evil matter. And yet God provided for both points by making it beautiful and great that it might not be deemed alien from his wisdom; yet defective and not sufficient unto itself that it might not be suspected to be God. But nevertheless those who were blinded by their own reasonings fell away into contradictory notions, refuting one another, and becoming each the other's accuser, and vindicating the wisdom of God even by the very reasonings which led them astray.
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
And so, first of all there is the heavenly form. For Scripture makes use of all the heavens and the stars. Hence the Psalm: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims His handiwork. And Ecclesiasticus: The clear vault of the sky …
"The heavens show forth the glory of God" not by speaking in a voice audible to sensible ears but by manifesting to us through their own greatness the power of the Creator, and when we remark their beauty, we give glory to their Maker as the best of all artificers.
Above, the Psalmist gave thanks in many ways for benefits both given and hoped for; but here, from the consideration of those benefits, he rises to the praise of the Benefactor. The title is clear: "To the end, a Psalm of David." According to the …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The heavens - They are as a legible book, wherein he that runs may read it. The glory - His eternal power and Godhead, his infinite wisdom and goodness.
The heavens declare the glory of God,....
Thus it appears they are God's works, the works of his fingers ( Ps. viii. 3 ), and therefore they declare his glory. From the excellency of the work we may easily infer the infinite perfection of its great author.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The heavens declare the glory of God - They announce, proclaim, make known his glory. The word heavens here refers to the material heavens as they appear to the eye - the region of the sun, moon, and stars. The Hebrew word is used in the Scriptures uniformly in the plural number, though in our common translation the singular number is often used. Gen 1:1, Gen 1:8-9, Gen 1:14, Gen 1:17, Gen 1:20; Gen 6:17; Gen 7:11, Gen 7:19, Gen 7:23; et soepe.
"The heavens declare the glory of God." The book of nature has three leaves, heaven, earth, and sea, of which heaven is the first and the most glorious, and by its aid we are able to see the beauties of the other two. Any book without its first page would be sadly imperfect, and especially the great Natural Bible, since its first pages, the sun, moon, and stars, supply light to the rest of the volume, and are thus the keys, without which the writing which follows would be dark and undiscerned.
"The heavens declare the glory of God." The book of nature has three leaves, heaven, earth, and sea, of which heaven is the first and the most glorious, and by its aid we are able to see the beauties of the other two. Any book without its first page would be sadly imperfect, and especially the great Natural Bible, since its first pages, the sun, moon, and stars, supply light to the rest of the volume, and are thus the keys, without which the writing which follows would be dark and undiscerned. Man walking erect was evidently made to scan the skies, and he who begins to read creation by studying the stars begins the book at the right place. The heavens are plural for their variety, comprising the watery heavens with their clouds of countless forms, the aerial heavens with their calms and tempests, the solar heavens with all the glories of the day, and the starry heavens with all the marvels of the night; what the Heaven of heavens must be hath not entered into the heart of man, but there in chief all things are telling the glory of God. Any part of creation has more instruction in it than human mind will ever exhaust, but the celestial realm is peculiarly rich in spiritual lore. The heavens declare, or are declaring, for the continuance of their testimony is intended by the participles employed; every moment God's existence, power, wisdom and goodness, are being sounded abroad by the heavenly heralds which shine upon us from above.
The heavens declare the glory of God - Literally, The heavens number out the glory of the strong God. A first view of the starry heavens strikes every beholder with astonishment at the power by which they were made, and by which they are supported. To find out the wisdom and skill displayed in their contrivance requires a measure of science: but when the vast magnitude of the celestial bodies is considered, we feel increasing astonishment at these works of the strong God. The firmament - The whole visible expanse; not only containing the celestial bodies above referred to, but also the atr, light, rains, dews, etc., etc. And when the composition of these principles is examined, and their great utility to the earth and its inhabitants properly understood, they afford matter of astonishment to the wisest mind, and of adoration and gratitude even to the most unfeeling heart.
Modern Voices2 voices
The whole landscape seemed charging at me--and just missing me. The tall, shining grass went by like showers of arrows; the very trees seemed like lances hurled at my heart, and shaving it by a hair's breadth. Across some vast, smooth valley I saw a …
The modern world as I found it was solid for modern Calvinism, for the necessity of things being as they are. But when I came to ask them I found they had really no proof of this unavoidable repetition in things except the fact that …
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַשָּׁמַ֗יִם | hashamayim | the heavens | H8064 → | 421 times |
| מְֽסַפְּרִ֥ים | mesaperim | [are] recounting | H5608 → | 159 times |
| כְּבֽוֹד־ | kevod- | [the] glory of | H3519 → | 200 times |
| אֵ֑ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| וּֽמַעֲשֵׂ֥ה | umaaseh | and [the] work of | H4639 → | 236 times |
| יָ֝דָ֗יו | yadav | hands his | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| מַגִּ֥יד | magid | [is] telling | H5046 → | 370 times |
| הָרָקִֽיעַ׃ | harakia' | the firmament | H7549 → |
הַשָּׁמַ֗יִםthe heavens
hashamayimH8064 →421 times
מְֽסַפְּרִ֥ים[are] recounting
mesaperimH5608 →159 times
כְּבֽוֹד־[the] glory of
kevod-H3519 →200 times
אֵ֑לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
וּֽמַעֲשֵׂ֥הand [the] work of
umaasehH4639 →236 times
יָ֝דָ֗יוhands his
yadavH3027 →1618 times
מַגִּ֥יד[is] telling
magidH5046 →370 times
הָרָקִֽיעַ׃the firmament
harakia'H7549 →
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
Psalms 33:6By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
it leads to
- Hebrews 11:3
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
- Job 33:4
The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
- 2 Peter 3:5
But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
- John 1:1–3
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
- Genesis 2:1
Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
- Hebrews 11:3
Through
Psalms 8:3When I behold Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place—
it leads to
- Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
- Psalms 33:6
By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.
- Psalms 89:11
The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.
- Genesis 1:1
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Creation34 verses
On this page
Studies5
On this chapter
What the record shows
2 entries◈What general revelation does and does not showcontested
General revelation shows God's everlasting power and divinity - and, per Faulkner, nothing about the way of salvation; the honest limit on what the stars reveal.
The case against it
The honest limit, and the critique is of over-reach in the other direction as much as this one. Romans 1:20 grounds general revelation in what is made - God's everlasting power and divinity - and stops there. Danny R. Faulkner's point (Answers Research Journal 6, 2013) is that nothing about the way of salvation is included, which is fatal to a theory that requires the constellations to have carried a redemption narrative legible to the patriarchs.
◈The gospel-in-the-stars thesiscontested
God — or, on most tellings, the patriarchs, with Seth and Enoch usually named — originally named the twelve zodiac constellations and their thirty-six decans to encode the plan of redemption, running from Virgo the virgin-born seed through to Leo the conquering Lion of Judah, and this primeval revelation was later corrupted into pagan astrology. The argument appeals to Job 38:32 ("Mazzaroth"), Genesis 1:14 ("for signs") and Psalm 19, and rests its weight on the etymologies of the transmitted star names.
The case against it
Refuted from inside young-earth creationism, which is what makes the critique decisive rather than merely hostile. Danny R. Faulkner holds a doctorate in astronomy and writes for Answers in Genesis: "Is There a Gospel in the Stars?", Journal of Creation 12(2):169-172 (1998), and "A Further Examination of the Gospel in the Stars," Answers Research Journal 6:285-300 (2013) — the second written after Rolleston's long-out-of-print book was republished, so that he could audit the source directly. His findings: Rolleston's star-name etymologies, which carry the entire argument, are questionable at best and most likely simply wrong, since most transmitted star names are medieval Arabic descriptive terms ("the follower," "the tail") rather than primeval Hebrew sermons; Seiss and Bullinger largely embellished Rolleston without independent verification and contradict both the standard sources and each other; and there is no ancient testimony of any kind — Jewish, Christian or pagan — that the zodiac ever carried this meaning. The documented origin of the zodiac is Babylonian, from the MUL.APIN-era catalogues, with meanings unrelated to Rolleston's. Faulkner adds a theological objection: faith comes by hearing the word of Christ (Romans 10:17), and the rulers of this age did not know the hidden wisdom (1 Corinthians 2:8), so redemption was not legibly pre-written in the constellations; the theory also lends cover to astrology, which Scripture condemns (Deuteronomy 18:9-14; Isaiah 47:13-14). His verdict is that however well-intentioned, the theory has serious problems and Christians should abandon it. What survives, and it is not small: the biblical star-texts themselves (Job 38:31-33, Psalm 19:1-6, Genesis 1:14) genuinely affirm that the heavens declare the glory of God. That is Tier A and preachable. The decoded zodiac is not.
About Psalms
This page draws on 25 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; Ambrose of Milan, Letter 43: To Horontianus; Athanasius of Alexandria, Against the Heathen 27:3-5; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 19; Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 17; 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 18[19]: 2; GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, A Cab Ride Across Country (1909); GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Ch. 4: The Ethics of Elfland (1908); John Chrysostom, HOMILIES CONCERNING THE STATUES 9:4; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON 2 CORINTHIANS 21:4; John Damascene, ORTHODOX FAITH 2:6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Leo the Great, SERMON 19:2; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32:190; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON PSALMS 1:13; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:1; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 19:2 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.