Bible Strands
Psalms 115:16
The highest heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth He has given to mankind.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — A corporate voice of praise, positioned between a benediction (v. 15) and a statement that the dead do not praise (v. 17). The speaker addresses Yahweh in third person, declaring His ownership and His delegation.
The words — נָתַ֥ן (na.Tan, H5414) is a perfect-tense verb: a completed, definitive act of giving, not an ongoing process. The recipient is לִ/בְנֵי־אָדָם (li/v'nei-'adam), "children of humankind," not Israel specifically.
The thread — Genesis 1:28 issues the mandate to fill and subdue the earth; Psalms 8:6 places everything under humanity's feet; Psalms 89:11 affirms both heavens and earth as Yahweh's foundation.
Why it lands — The verse hands the reader a concrete responsibility: the earth is not merely Yahweh's property but a trust placed in human hands, and that trust carries weight.
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
The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
Cross-references
- Psalms 8:6 You made him ruler of the works of Your hands; You have placed everything under his feet:
- Psalms 89:11 The heavens are Yours, and also the earth. The earth and its fullness You founded.
- Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that crawls upon the earth.”
- Jeremiah 27:5 By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please.
- Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.
- Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
- Psalms 144:5 Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- Isaiah 66:1 This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
- Psalms 148:4 Praise Him, O highest heavens, and you waters above the skies.
- Lamentations 3:66 You will pursue them in anger and exterminate them from under Your heavens, O LORD.