Bible Strands
Psalms 36:6
Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD, shifting from the preceding description of divine steadfast love to a declaration of God’s moral character and sustaining action. The speaker stands in the context of worship, contrasting heavenly faithfulness with the earthbound preservation of all living creatures.
The words — צִדְקָתֶךָ (tzid.ka.tekha) translates literally as “your righteousness,” while תְּהוֹם רַבָּה (te.hom ra.bah) means “great deep” or “deepest sea.” These terms anchor the verse’s imagery of immovable justice and vast, unsearchable judgment.
The thread — The imagery of God’s unsearchable judgments echoes the depth described in Romans 11:33, while the motif of divine preservation through vast waters recalls the path through the mighty waters in Psalms 77:19. The sustaining role of the Creator aligns with the enduring power noted in Isaiah 40:28.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine justice operates on a scale beyond human measurement, yet it actively sustains both human and animal life. A reader must acknowledge that God’s moral order and creative preservation are inseparable, requiring reliance on His sustaining power rather than human calculation.
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
Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O Lord, thou preservest man and beast.
Cross-references
- 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!
- Psalms 77:19 Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.
- 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.
- Deuteronomy 32:4 He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.
- Nehemiah 9:6 You alone are the LORD. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all things, and the host of heaven worships You.
- Job 37:23 The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness He does not oppress.
- Psalms 71:19 Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God, You who have done great things. Who, O God, is like You?
- 1 Timothy 4:10 To this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe.
- Psalms 92:5 How great are Your works, O LORD, how deep are Your thoughts!
- Psalms 97:2 Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.