Bible Strands
Psalms 145:3
Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised; His greatness is unsearchable.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses Yahweh directly, mid-cycle in a daily act of praise (v. 2) that he intends to pass to the next generation (v. 4).
The words — חֵקֶר (cheqer, "inquiry, searching") sits in the negative existential אֵין חֵקֶר, literally "there is no inquiry," a construction the English "unsearchable" flattens into a single adjective. The passive participle מְהֻלָּל (meḥullal, "to be praised") marks God as the object of praise, not its agent.
The thread — The pairing of greatness and unsearchability recurs in Job 5:9 ("great and unsearchable things") and Psalms 147:5 ("understanding has no limit"), and Paul picks up the same motif in Romans 11:33.
Why it lands — The verse does not ask the reader to resolve God's greatness; it asks them to praise in the same breath that they concede they cannot.
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
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
Cross-references
- Psalms 147:5 Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.
- Romans 11:33 O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Job 5:9 the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
- Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.
- Job 9:10 He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.
- Psalms 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
- Psalms 48:1 A song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, His holy mountain.
- Psalms 96:4 For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.
- Job 11:7 Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
- Job 26:14 Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”