Psalms 136:16

Bible in Basic English (1941)

To him who took his people through the waste land: for his mercy is unchanging for ever.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

לְמוֹלִ֣יךְ עַ֭מּוֹ בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר כִּ֖י לְעוֹלָ֣ם חַסְדּֽוֹ

Transliteration

to-môlîk ʿammô in-the-midbār because to-ʿôlām ḥasdô

Grammar Details

• *môlîk*: hiphil participle, masculine singular with prefixed preposition lamed - to/for the one leading
• *ʿammô*: noun, masculine singular with 3rd person masculine singular suffix - his people
• *midbār*: noun, masculine singular with definite article and prefixed preposition bet - in the wilderness/desert
• *ʿôlām*: noun, masculine singular with prefixed preposition lamed - to/for eternity/forever
• *ḥasdô*: noun, masculine singular with 3rd person masculine singular possessive suffix - his steadfast love/mercy/kindness

Word Meanings

• *môlîk*: leading/guiding/causing to walk
• *ʿammô*: his people/his nation
• *midbār*: wilderness/desert/uninhabited land
• *ʿôlām*: eternity/long duration/antiquity
• *ḥasdô*: his steadfast love/mercy/kindness/covenant faithfulness

Referenced Verses

• Exod 13:18 : 18 But God took the people round by the waste land near the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up in fighting order out of the land of Egypt.
• Exod 15:22 : 22 Then Moses took Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the waste land of Shur; and for three days they were in the waste land where there was no water.
• Deut 8:15 : 15 Who was your guide through that great and cruel waste, where there were poison-snakes and scorpions and a dry land without water; who made water come out of the hard rock for you;
• Ps 77:20 : 20 You were guiding your people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
• Isa 49:10 : 10 They will not be in need of food or drink, or be troubled by the heat or the sun: for he who has mercy on them will be their guide, taking them by the springs of water.
• Isa 63:11-14 : 11 Then the early days came to their minds, the days of Moses his servant: and they said, Where is he who made the keeper of his flock come up from the sea? where is he who put his holy spirit among them, 12 He who made the arm of his glory go at the right hand of Moses, by whom the waters were parted before them, to make himself an eternal name; 13 He who made them go through the deep waters, like a horse in the waste land? 14 Like the cattle which go down into the valley, they went without falling, the spirit of the Lord guiding them: so you went before your people, to make yourself a great name.
• Neh 9:12 : 12 And you went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light on the way they were to go.
• Neh 9:19 : 19 Even then, in your great mercy, you did not give them up in the waste land: the pillar of cloud still went before them by day, guiding them on their way, and the pillar of fire by night, to give them light, and make clear the way they were to go.
• Num 9:17-22 : 17 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the House, then the children of Israel went journeying on; and in the place where the cloud came to rest, there the children of Israel put up their tents. 18 At the order of the Lord the children of Israel went forward, and at the order of the Lord they put up their tents: as long as the cloud was resting on the House, they did not go away from that place. 19 When the cloud was resting on the House for a long time the children of Israel, waiting for the order of the Lord, did not go on. 20 Sometimes the cloud was resting on the House for two or three days; then, by the order of the Lord, they kept their tents in that place, and when the Lord gave the order they went on. 21 And sometimes the cloud was there only from evening to morning; and when the cloud was taken up in the morning they went on their journey again: or if it was resting there by day and by night, whenever the cloud was taken up they went forward. 22 Or if the cloud came to rest on the House for two days or a month or a year without moving, the children of Israel went on waiting there and did not go on; but whenever it was taken up they went forward on their journey.
• Deut 8:2 : 2 And keep in mind the way by which the Lord your God has taken you through the waste land these forty years, so that he might make low your pride and put you to the test, to see what was in your heart and if you would keep his orders or not.