Psalms 78:4
in Psalms 78We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might, and the wonders He has performed.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of Jehovah, And his strength, and his wondrous works that he hath done.
KJV
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
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This verse in Psalms 78
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This history had been handed down (Ex 12:14; De 6:20) for God's honor, and that the principles of His law might be known and observed by posterity. This important sentiment is reiterated in (Ps 78:7, 8) negative form.
This site's exposition
I will open my mouth in parables
on Psalms 78:2-4
Matthew 13:35 quotes this verse of Christ teaching the crowds in parables. The Hebrew calls the history a mashal, a proverb, and the hidden things chidoth, riddles that need unfolding. Verses 3 and 4 hand it on, fathers to children to the next generation.
This site's exposition
We will not hide them from their children
Clarke said books were few, so the fathers kept the wonders of the LORD in sayings and songs for their children. He counted this psalm as one of those songs. Henry widened the duty to declare them to the children of others.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"They have not been hidden from their sons in another generation." This is our generation wherein there hath been given to us regeneration. "Telling forth the praises of the Lord and His powers, and His wonderful works which He hath done." The order of the words is, "and our fathers have told unto us, telling forth the praises of the Lord." The Lord is praised, in order that He may be loved. For what object can be loved more to our health? "And He hath raised up a testimony in Jacob, and hath set a law in Jacob." This is the beginning whereof hath been spoken above, "I will declare propositions from the beginning." So then the beginning is the Old Testament, the end is the New. For fear doth prevail in the law? "But the end of the law is Christ for righteousness to every one believing;" at whose bestowing "love is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which hath been given to us:" and love made perfect doth cast out fear, inasmuch as now without the Law the righteousness of God hath been made manifest. But inasmuch as He hath a testimony by the Law and the Prophets, therefore, "He hath raised up a testimony in Jacob." For even that Tabernacle which was set up with a work so remarkable and full of such wondrous meanings, is named the Tabernacle of Testimony, wherein was the veil over the Ark of the Law, like the veil over the face of the Minister of the Law; because in that dispensation there were "parables and propositions." For those things which were being preached and were coining to pass were hidden in veiled meanings, and were not seen in unveiled manifestations. […]
"How great the things we have heard and known." These little verses, from "Attend, my people, to my law" up to this verse, "I will utter propositions from the beginning," are spoken from the person of Christ; the Savior himself speaks. Now the remaining verses, up to the end of the psalm, we must take as from the person of the apostles. When, then, the Lord says, "Incline your ear to the words of my mouth" — O apostles, what you have heard in secret, he says, proclaim upon the rooftops — what do the apostles say?
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
We will not hide them from their children,....
The history itself from Moses to David; it is put into a psalm or song that it might be the better remembered and transmitted to posterity, and that the singing of it might affect them with the things here related, more than they would be with a bare narrative of them.
Nay, if we have no children of our own, we must declare the things of God to their children, the children of others. Our care must be for posterity in general, and not only for our own posterity; and for the generation to come hereafter, the children that shall be born, as well as for the generation that is next rising up and the children that are born.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
We will not hide them from their children. Our negligent silence shall not deprive our own and our father's offspring of the precious truth of God, it would be shameful indeed if we did so. Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord. We will look forward to future generations, and endeavour to provide for their godly education. It is the duty of the church of God to maintain, in fullest vigour, every agency intended for the religious education of the young; to them we must look for the church of the future, and as we sow towards them so shall we reap. Children are to be taught to magnify the Lord; they ought to be well informed as to his wonderful doings in ages past, and should be made to know his strength and his wonderful works that he hath done. The best education is education in the best things. The first lesson for a child should be concerning his mother's God. Teach him what you will, if he learn not the fear of the Lord, he will perish for lack of knowledge. Grammar is poor food for the soul if it be not flavoured with grace. Every satchel should have a Bible in it. The world may teach secular knowledge alone, it is all she has a heart to know, but the church must not deal so with her offspring; she should look well to every Timothy, and see to it that from a child he knows the Holy Scriptures. Around the fireside fathers should repeat not only the Bible records, but the deeds of the martyrs and reformers, and moreover the dealings of the Lord with themselves both in providence and grace.
We will not hide them from their children. Our negligent silence shall not deprive our own and our father's offspring of the precious truth of God, it would be shameful indeed if we did so. Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord. We will look forward to future generations, and endeavour to provide for their godly education.
We will not hide them - In those ancient times there was very little reading, because books were exceedingly scarce; tradition was therefore the only, or nearly the only, means of preserving the memory of past events. They were handed down from father to son by parables or pithy sayings and by chronological poems. This very Psalm is of this kind, and must have been very useful to the Israelites, as giving instructions concerning their ancient history, and recounting the wonderful deeds of the Almighty in their behalf.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
We will not hide them from their children - From their descendants, however remote. We of this generation will be faithful in handing down these truths to future times. We stand between past generations and the generations to come. We are entrusted by those who have gone before us with great and important truths; truths to be preserved and transmitted in their purity to future ages. That trust committed to us we will faithfully discharge. These truths shall not suffer in passing from us to them. They shall not be stayed in their progress; they shall not be corrupted or impaired. This is the duty of each successive generation in the world, receiving, as a trust, from past generations, the result of their thoughts, their experience, their wisdom, their inventions, their arts, their sciences, and the records of their doings, to hand these down unimpaired to future ages, combined with all that they may themselves invent or discover which may be of use or advantage to the generations following. Shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord - The “reasons” why he should be praised, as resulting from his past doings - and the wags in which it should be done. We will keep up, and transmit to future times, the pure institutions of religion. And his strength - The records of his power. And his wonderful works that he hath done - In the history of his people, and in his many and varied interpositions in their behalf.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נְכַחֵ֨ד׀ | nekhached | we will hide | H3582 → | 32 times |
| מִבְּנֵיהֶ֗ם | mibeneihem | from descendants their | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| לְד֥וֹר | ledor | to a generation | H1755 → | 167 times |
| אַחֲר֗וֹן | ʾacharon | later | H314 → | 51 times |
| מְֽ֭סַפְּרִים | mesaperim | recounting | H5608 → | 159 times |
| תְּהִלּ֣וֹת | tehilot | [the] praises of | H8416 → | 56 times |
| יְהוָ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| וֶעֱזוּז֥וֹ | veezuzo | and might his | H5807 → | |
| וְ֝נִפְלְאוֹתָ֗יו | venifleotav | and wonders his | H6381 → | 71 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָשָֽׂה׃ | ʾasah | he has done | H6213 → | 2628 times |
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
נְכַחֵ֨ד׀we will hide
nekhachedH3582 →32 times
מִבְּנֵיהֶ֗םfrom descendants their
mibeneihemH1121 →4930 times
לְד֥וֹרto a generation
ledorH1755 →167 times
אַחֲר֗וֹןlater
ʾacharonH314 →51 times
מְֽ֭סַפְּרִיםrecounting
mesaperimH5608 →159 times
תְּהִלּ֣וֹת[the] praises of
tehilotH8416 →56 times
יְהוָ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
וֶעֱזוּז֥וֹand might his
veezuzoH5807 →
וְ֝נִפְלְאוֹתָ֗יוand wonders his
venifleotavH6381 →71 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָשָֽׂה׃he has done
ʾasahH6213 →2628 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
Deuteronomy 4:9Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 6:7
And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 11:19
Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 78:3–8
that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 18:19
For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that…
- Deuteronomy 32:46
he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.
- Deuteronomy 6:7
Through
Deuteronomy 6:7And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 4:9–10
Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 6:4
Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Psalms 78:4–6
We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might, and the wonders He has performed.
- Deuteronomy 4:9–10
Where this verse is studied
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About Psalms
This page draws on 9 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); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 78; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 3; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Homily 11, on Psalm 77; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.