Psalms 136:16

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

to the one who led his people through the wilderness, for his loyal love endures,

📖 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 So God brought the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea, and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle.
• Exod 15:22 : 22 The Bitter Water Then Moses led Israel to journey away from the Red Sea. They went out to the wilderness of Shur, walked for three days into the wilderness, and found no water.
• Deut 8:15 : 15 and who brought you through the great, fearful wilderness of venomous serpents and scorpions, an arid place with no water. He made water flow from a flint rock and
• Ps 77:20 : 20 You led your people like a flock of sheep, by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
• Isa 49:10 : 10 They will not be hungry or thirsty; the sun’s oppressive heat will not beat down on them, for one who has compassion on them will guide them; he will lead them to springs of water.
• Isa 63:11-14 : 11 His people remembered the ancient times. Where is the one who brought them up out of the sea, along with the shepherd of his flock? Where is the one who placed his holy Spirit among them, 12 the one who made his majestic power available to Moses, who divided the water before them, gaining for himself a lasting reputation, 13 who led them through the deep water? Like a horse running through the wilderness they did not stumble. 14 Like an animal that goes down into a valley to graze, so the Spirit of the LORD granted them rest. In this way you guided your people, gaining for yourself an honored reputation.
• Neh 9:12 : 12 You guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and with a pillar of fire by night to illumine for them the path they were to travel.
• Neh 9:19 : 19 “Due to your great compassion you did not abandon them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud did not stop guiding them in the path by day, nor did the pillar of fire stop illuminating for them by night the path on which they should travel.
• Num 9:17-22 : 17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the Israelites would begin their journey; and in whatever place the cloud settled, there the Israelites would make camp. 18 At the commandment of the LORD the Israelites would begin their journey, and at the commandment of the LORD they would make camp; as long as the cloud remained settled over the tabernacle they would camp. 19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions of the LORD and did not journey. 20 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a number of days, they remained camped according to the LORD’s commandment, and according to the LORD’s commandment they would journey. 21 And when the cloud remained only from evening until morning, when the cloud was taken up the following morning, then they traveled on. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud was taken up they traveled. 22 Whether it was for two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, the Israelites remained camped without traveling; but when it was taken up, they traveled on.
• Deut 8:2 : 2 Remember the whole way by which he has brought you these forty years through the wilderness so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.