Bible Strands
Psalms 136:12
with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. His loving devotion endures forever.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses a worshiping assembly recounting the Exodus event. This verse sits between the declaration that God brought Israel out from among the Egyptians and the description of dividing the Red Sea.
The words — The phrase יָד חֲזָקָה (Yad Chazakah) literally means "strong hand," paired with זְרֹועַ נְטוּיָה (Zroa Netuyah) meaning "outstretched arm." These terms describe the physical means of the rescue before the text attributes the enduring covenant loyalty to God.
The thread — This imagery of divine rescue through a strong hand and outstretched arm appears in Deuteronomy 4:34 and Jeremiah 32:21. It also anchors the promise in Exodus 6:6 where God declares He will deliver Israel from Egyptian bondage.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that historical deliverance stems from God’s covenant loyalty, not human strength. Readers must acknowledge this pattern of power and faithfulness when evaluating present circumstances.
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
With a strong hand, and with a stretched out arm: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 32:21 You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.
- Deuteronomy 4:34 Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?
- Exodus 6:6 Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.
- Psalms 44:3 For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.
- Exodus 13:14 In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Exodus 15:6 Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
- Deuteronomy 11:2 Know this day that it is not your children who have known and seen the discipline of the LORD your God: His greatness, His mighty hand, and His outstretched arm;
- Isaiah 51:9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?
- Acts 7:36 He led them out and performed wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.