Bible Strands
Psalms 147:19
He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist names God's action: He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel. This sits between God's power over weather (v.18) and the exclusivity claim that no other nation knows His judgments (v.20).
The words — חֻקּוֹ (chu.Kav, "decrees") and מִשְׁפָּטָיו (mish.pa.Tav, "judgments") are paired deliberately: the first covers fixed, established ordinances; the second covers right-ordering decisions and legal rulings.
The thread — The same pairing of statutes and judgments for Israel appears in Malachi 4:4 (Moses at Horeb) and Psalms 78:5 (a testimony established in Jacob, a law appointed in Israel). Deuteronomy 33:2 echoes the Sinai scene where this word was first given.
Why it lands — The verse is a claim of particularity: this word was not broadcast to all nations but addressed to one people. It asks the reader to stop treating Scripture as generic wisdom and receive it as a specific address.
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
He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.
Cross-references
- Malachi 4:4 “Remember the law of My servant Moses, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him for all Israel at Horeb.
- Psalms 78:5 For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
- Deuteronomy 33:2 He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
- Deuteronomy 4:45 These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,
- Deuteronomy 5:22 The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
- Deuteronomy 5:31 But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them to possess.”
- Romans 3:2 Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
- Romans 9:4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
- Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words:
- Deuteronomy 4:1 Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow, so that you may live and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.