Psalms 74:16
in Psalms 74The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The day is thine, the night also is thine: Thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
KJV
The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.
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This verse in Psalms 74
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(2.) He that is faithful to his covenant with the day and with the night, and preserves the ordinances of heaven inviolable will certainly make good his promise to his people and never cast off those whom he has chosen, Jer. xxxi. His covenant with Abraham and his seed is as firm as that with Noah and his sons, Gen. viii.
This site's exposition
You established the moon and the sun
on Psalms 74:16-17
From what God did in history the psalm moves to what he made: day and night, the moon and the sun, summer and winter. The Hebrew word at moon is ma'or, a light-giver, and the Berean reads it of the moon. The appeal rests on the maker.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"Your own is the day and Your own is the night" [Psalm 74:16]. Who is ignorant of this, seeing that He has Himself made all these things; for by the Word were made all things? [John 1:3] To that very One Himself who has wrought Salvation in the midst of the earth, to Him is said, "Your own is the night." Something here we ought to perceive which belongs to that very Salvation which He has wrought in the midst of the earth. "Your own is the day." Who are these? The spiritual. "And Your own is the night." Who are these? The carnal...."You have made perfect sun and moon:" the sun, spiritual men, the moon, carnal men. As yet carnal he is, may he not be forsaken, and may he too be made perfect. The sun, as it were a wise man: the moon, as it were an unwise man: You have not however forsaken. For thus it is written, "A wise man endures as the sun, but a foolish man as the moon is changed." [Sirach 27:11] What then? Because the sun endures, that is, because the wise man endures as the sun, a foolish man is changed like the moon, is one as yet carnal, as yet unwise, to be forsaken? And where is that which has been said by the Apostle, "To the wise and unwise a debtor I am"? [Romans 1:14]
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
The day is thine, and the night also is thine,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Having spread the sad case before the Lord, the pleader now urges another series of arguments for divine help. He reasons from the Lord's former wonders of grace, and his deeds of power, imploring a repetition of the same divine works.
The day is thine, the night also is thine - Thou art the Author of light, and of the sun, which is the means of dispensing it.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The day is thine, the night also is thine - Thou hast universal dominion. All things are under thy control. Thou hast power, therefore, to grant what we desire of thee. Thou hast prepared the light and the sun - He who has made the sun - that greatest and noblest object of creation to the view of man - must have almighty power, and must be able to give what we need.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְךָ֣ | lekha | [belongs] to you | ||
| י֭וֹם | yom | day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| אַף־ | ʾaf- | also | H637 → | 134 times |
| לְךָ֥ | lekha | [belongs] to you | ||
| לָ֑יְלָה | layelah | night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| אַתָּ֥ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| הֲ֝כִינ֗וֹתָ | hakhinota | you prepared | H3559 → | 217 times |
| מָא֥וֹר | maor | a luminary | H3974 → | |
| וָשָֽׁמֶשׁ׃ | vashamesh | and [the] sun | H8121 → | 134 times |
לְךָ֣[belongs] to you
lekha
י֭וֹםday
yomH3117 →2304 times
אַף־also
ʾaf-H637 →134 times
לְךָ֥[belongs] to you
lekha
לָ֑יְלָהnight
layelahH3915 →233 times
אַתָּ֥הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
הֲ֝כִינ֗וֹתָyou prepared
hakhinotaH3559 →217 times
מָא֥וֹרa luminary
maorH3974 →
וָשָֽׁמֶשׁ׃and [the] sun
vashameshH8121 →134 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
Matthew 5:45that 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.
it leads to
- Psalms 145:9
The LORD is good to all; His compassion rests on all He has made.
- Luke 6:35
But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He is…
- Acts 14:17
Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
- Job 25:3
Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?
- Ephesians 5:1
Be imitators of God, therefore, as beloved children,
- Psalms 145:9
Through
Psalms 104:19He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows when to set.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:35
Thus says the LORD, who gives the sun for light by day, who sets in order the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the…
- 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.
- Psalms 136:7–9
He made the great lights— His loving devotion endures forever.
- Jeremiah 31:35
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 74; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.