Bible Strands
Psalms 102:26
They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them, and they will be passed on.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses God directly, placing the declaration between statements about God laying the earth’s foundations and God’s unchanging years. The speaker contrasts the temporary nature of the created order with the unchanging presence of the Lord.
The words — תַ֫עֲמֹ֥ד (ta.'a.Mod) literally means "you will endure," while כַּ/בֶּ֣גֶד (ka./Be.ged) translates to "like the garment." These terms anchor the verse’s contrast between divine permanence and created decay.
The thread — The motif of creation’s dissolution appears in Isaiah 51:6, where the heavens vanish like smoke and the earth wears out. Jesus reiterates this in Matthew 24:35 and Luke 21:33, contrasting the passing of heaven and earth with the permanence of divine speech.
Why it lands — The text demands a clear-eyed assessment of reality: created things decay, but the speaker does not. It calls the reader to anchor trust in what endures rather than investing in what is designed to pass.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.
- Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Luke 21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.
- Isaiah 34:4 All the stars of heaven will be dissolved. The skies will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their stars will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like foliage from the fig tree.
- Revelation 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.
- Psalms 102:12 But You, O LORD, sit enthroned forever; Your renown endures to all generations.
- Isaiah 66:22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, “so your descendants and your name will endure.
- Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope
- Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
- Isaiah 65:17 For behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.