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href="../psalms/103-7.htm" title="Psalm 103:7">◄</a> Psalm 103:8 <a href="../psalms/103-9.htm" title="Psalm 103:9">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="topverse">The LORD <i>is</i> merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.</div><div id="jump">Jump to: <a href="/commentaries/barnes/psalms/103.htm" title="Barnes' Notes">Barnes</a> • <a href="/commentaries/benson/psalms/103.htm" title="Benson Commentary">Benson</a> • <a href="/commentaries/illustrator/psalms/103.htm" title="Biblical Illustrator">BI</a> • <a href="/commentaries/calvin/psalms/103.htm" title="Calvin's Commentaries">Calvin</a> • <a href="/commentaries/cambridge/psalms/103.htm" title="Cambridge Bible">Cambridge</a> • <a href="/commentaries/clarke/psalms/103.htm" title="Clarke's Commentary">Clarke</a> • <a href="/commentaries/darby/psalms/103.htm" title="Darby's Bible Synopsis">Darby</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ellicott/psalms/103.htm" title="Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers">Ellicott</a> • <a href="/commentaries/expositors/psalms/103.htm" title="Expositor's Bible">Expositor's</a> • <a href="/commentaries/edt/psalms/103.htm" title="Expositor's Dictionary">Exp Dct</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gaebelein/psalms/103.htm" title="Gaebelein's Annotated Bible">Gaebelein</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gsb/psalms/103.htm" title="Geneva Study Bible">GSB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gill/psalms/103.htm" title="Gill's Bible Exposition">Gill</a> • <a href="/commentaries/gray/psalms/103.htm" title="Gray's Concise">Gray</a> • <a href="/commentaries/guzik/psalms/103.htm" title="Guzik Bible Commentary">Guzik</a> • <a href="/commentaries/haydock/psalms/103.htm" title="Haydock Catholic Bible Commentary">Haydock</a> • <a href="/commentaries/hastings/psalms/103-1.htm" title="Hastings Great Texts">Hastings</a> • <a href="/commentaries/homiletics/psalms/103.htm" title="Pulpit Homiletics">Homiletics</a> • <a href="/commentaries/jfb/psalms/103.htm" title="Jamieson-Fausset-Brown">JFB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kad/psalms/103.htm" title="Keil and Delitzsch OT">KD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/kelly/psalms/103.htm" title="Kelly Commentary">Kelly</a> • <a href="/commentaries/king-en/psalms/103.htm" title="Kingcomments Bible Studies">King</a> • <a href="/commentaries/lange/psalms/103.htm" title="Lange Commentary">Lange</a> • <a href="/commentaries/maclaren/psalms/103.htm" title="MacLaren Expositions">MacLaren</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhc/psalms/103.htm" title="Matthew Henry Concise">MHC</a> • <a href="/commentaries/mhcw/psalms/103.htm" title="Matthew Henry Full">MHCW</a> • <a href="/commentaries/parker/psalms/103.htm" title="The People's Bible by Joseph Parker">Parker</a> • <a href="/commentaries/poole/psalms/103.htm" title="Matthew Poole">Poole</a> • <a href="/commentaries/pulpit/psalms/103.htm" title="Pulpit Commentary">Pulpit</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sermon/psalms/103.htm" title="Sermon Bible">Sermon</a> • <a href="/commentaries/sco/psalms/103.htm" title="Scofield Reference Notes">SCO</a> • <a href="/commentaries/ttb/psalms/103.htm" title="Through The Bible">TTB</a> • <a href="/commentaries/tod/psalms/103.htm" title="Treasury of David">TOD</a> • <a href="/commentaries/wes/psalms/103.htm" title="Wesley's Notes">WES</a> • <a href="#tsk" title="Treasury of Scripture Knowledge">TSK</a></div><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="comtype">EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)</div><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/ellicott/psalms/103.htm">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</a></div>(8) <span class= "bld">Merciful and Gracious.</span>—The original confession (<a href="/exodus/34-6.htm" title="And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,">Exodus 34:6</a>) had become a formula of the national faith. In addition to the marginal references, see <a href="/joel/2-13.htm" title="And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repents him of the evil.">Joel 2:13</a>, <a href="/psalms/145-8.htm" title="The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.">Psalm 145:8</a>.<p><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/benson/psalms/103.htm">Benson Commentary</a></div><span class="bld"><a href="/context/psalms/103-8.htm" title="The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy....">Psalm 103:8-10</a></span>. <span class="ital">The Lord is merciful and gracious </span>— See on <a href="/exodus/34-6.htm" title="And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,">Exodus 34:6</a>. <span class="ital">Slow to anger — </span>Not speedily punishing sinners, but patiently waiting for their repentance. <span class="ital">He will not always chide — </span>Or contend by his judgments with sinners, but is ready to be reconciled to them, namely, upon their repentance, as is manifest from innumerable texts, and from the whole scope and design of the Scriptures. <span class="ital">Neither will he keep his anger for ever</span> — The word <span class="ital">anger, </span>though not in the original, is necessarily understood here, as it is also <a href="/jeremiah/3-5.htm" title="Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you could.">Jeremiah 3:5</a>, and in many other places. <span class="ital">He hath not dealt with us after our sins — </span>He hath punished us less than our iniquities have deserved.<span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="mhc" id="mhc"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/mhc/psalms/103.htm">Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></div>103:6-14 Truly God is good to all: he is in a special manner good to Israel. He has revealed himself and his grace to them. By his ways we may understand his precepts, the ways he requires us to walk in; and his promises and purposes. He always has been full of compassion. How unlike are those to God, who take every occasion to chide, and never know when to cease! What would become of us, if God should deal so with us? The Scripture says a great deal of the mercy of God, and we all have experienced it. The father pities his children that are weak in knowledge, and teaches them; pities them when they are froward, and bears with them; pities them when they are sick, and comforts them; pities them when they are fallen, and helps them to rise; pities them when they have offended, and, upon their submission, forgives them; pities them when wronged, and rights them: thus the Lord pities those that fear him. See why he pities. He considers the frailty of our bodies, and the folly of our souls, how little we can do, how little we can bear; in all which his compassion appears.<a name="bar" id="bar"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/barnes/psalms/103.htm">Barnes' Notes on the Bible</a></div>The Lord is merciful and gracious - See the notes at <a href="/psalms/78-38.htm">Psalm 78:38</a>. The idea here is derived evidently from <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/34-6.htm">Exodus 34:6-7</a> - that great and glorious statement of God himself in regard to his own character. Our world is a different world under that statement from what it would be if that and kindred declarations had not been made. There is here a "progression" of thought; an "advance" on the previous statements. At first the psalmist referred to his own individual experience <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/103-3.htm">Psalm 103:3-5</a>; then he referred to the dealings of God toward the Hebrew people <a href="http://biblehub.com/psalms/103-6.htm">Psalm 103:6-7</a>; and now he rises to the general contemplation of his character as it relates to all mankind. It was a characteristic of God in respect to all, that he was kind, compassionate, and forbearing.<p>Slow to anger - That is, patient; not soon excited; bearing much, and bearing it long. See <a href="/james/5-11.htm">James 5:11</a>; compare <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/34-6.htm">Exodus 34:6-7</a>.<p>And plenteous in mercy - Margin, "great of mercy." The Hebrew word means "much," or great;" and the idea is, that mercy is not manifested by him in small or stinted measure. It is rich; full; abundant; overflowing; free. <a name="jfb" id="jfb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/jfb/psalms/103.htm">Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary</a></div>8-10. God's benevolence implies no merit. He shows it to sinners, who also are chastened for a time (Ex 34:6).<p>keep (anger)—in Le 19:18, bear a grudge (Jer 3:5, 12).<div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/poole/psalms/103.htm">Matthew Poole's Commentary</a></div> <span class="bld">Slow to anger; </span> not speedily punishing sinners, but patiently waiting for their repentance. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a name="gil" id="gil"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gill/psalms/103.htm">Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible</a></div>The Lord is merciful and gracious,.... So he made himself known to Moses, <a href="http://biblehub.com/exodus/34-6.htm">Exodus 34:6</a>, and so David found him to be, and therefore calls upon his soul to bless his name. God is "merciful" in the most tender and affectionate manner; he has bowels of mercy, which yearn towards his people, as those of a tender parent to its child, as the word signifies; his mercy is free, without any motive or merit in men to engage it; he delights in showing it; he constantly bestows it; it is the source of all good things; it is communicated through Christ; all mercies temporal and spiritual come by him; and this lays a foundation for faith and hope: and he is gracious, as appears in the eternal choice of his people to salvation; in providing a Saviour and a ransom for them; in giving all grace and the blessings of it to them in his Son; in giving him for them, and all things to them with him; in justifying them by his righteousness; in pardoning their sins for his sake; in taking them into his family; in regenerating, calling, preserving, and saving them: <p>slow to anger, or "longsuffering" (d); even to wicked men, to the vessels of wrath, to the old world, yea, to Jezebel, to whom he gave space to repent; which longsuffering being abused and despised, is an aggravation of condemnation: but rather here it intends God's longsuffering to his people, as before conversion, waiting till the time comes that he is gracious to them; and after conversion, notwithstanding their backslidings and revoltings; and this longsuffering is their salvation: <p>and plenteous in mercy; large and abundant in it, as appears by the various instances of it, and ways and methods in which he shows it; in election, in the covenant, in redemption, in regeneration, in pardon and eternal life; and by the abundance of it which he bestows on every one of his people; and by the vast numbers which do partake of it. <p>(d) "longanimis", V. L. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius. <a name="gsb" id="gsb"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/gsb/psalms/103.htm">Geneva Study Bible</a></div><span class="cverse2">The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.</span></div></div><div id="centbox"><div class="padcent"><div class="comtype">EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)</div><a name="pul" id="pul"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/pulpit/psalms/103.htm">Pulpit Commentary</a></div><span class="cmt_sub_title">Verse 8.</span> - <span class="cmt_word">The Lord is merciful</span> <span class="cmt_word">and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.</span> This was a part of the revelation made to Moses (<a href="/exodus/34-6.htm">Exodus 34:6</a>), whose words the psalmist closely echoes, both here and in <a href="/psalms/86-15.htm">Psalm 86:15</a> (comp. also <a href="/psalms/111-4.htm">Psalm 111:4</a>; <a href="/psalms/112-4.htm">Psalm 112:4</a>; <a href="/psalms/145-8.htm">Psalm 145:8</a>). Psalm 103:8<a name="kad" id="kad"></a><div class="vheading2"><a href="/commentaries/kad/psalms/103.htm">Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament</a></div>His range of vision being widened from himself, the poet now in <a href="/psalms/103-6.htm">Psalm 103:6</a> describes God's gracious and fatherly conduct towards sinful and perishing men, and that as it shines forth from the history of Israel and is known and recognised in the light of revelation. What <a href="/psalms/103-6.htm">Psalm 103:6</a> says is a common-place drawn from the history of Israel. משׁפּטים is an accusative governed by the עשׂה that is to be borrowed out of עשׂה (so Baer after the Masora). And because <a href="/psalms/103-6.htm">Psalm 103:6</a> is the result of an historical retrospect and survey, יודיע in <a href="/psalms/103-7.htm">Psalm 103:7</a> can affirm that which happened in the past (cf. <a href="/psalms/96-6.htm">Psalm 96:6</a>.); for the supposition of Hengstenberg and Hitzig, that Moses here represents Israel like Jacob, Isaac, and Joseph in other instances, is without example in the whole Israelitish literature. It becomes clear from <a href="/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8</a> in what sense the making of His ways known is meant. The poet has in his mind Moses' prayer: "make known to me now Thy way" (<a href="/exodus/33-13.htm">Exodus 33:13</a>), which Jahve fulfilled by passing by him as he stood in the cleft of the rock and making Himself visible to him as he looked after Him, amidst the proclamation of His attributes. The ways of Jahve are therefore in this passage not those in which men are to walk in accordance with His precepts (<a href="/psalms/25-4.htm">Psalm 25:4</a>), but those which He Himself follows in the course of His redemptive history (<a href="/psalms/67-3.htm">Psalm 67:3</a>). The confession drawn from <a href="/exodus/34-6.htm">Exodus 34:6</a>. is become a formula of the Israelitish faith (<a href="/psalms/86-15.htm">Psalm 86:15</a>; <a href="/psalms/145-8.htm">Psalm 145:8</a>; <a href="/joel/2-13.htm">Joel 2:13</a>; <a href="http://biblehub.com/nehemiah/9-17.htm">Nehemiah 9:17</a>, and frequently). In <a href="/psalms/103-9.htm">Psalm 103:9</a>. the fourth attribute (ורב־חסד) is made the object of further praise. He is not only long (ארך from ארך, like כּבד from כּבד) in anger, i.e., waiting a long time before He lets His anger loose, but when He contends, i.e., interposes judicially, this too is not carried to the full extent (<a href="/psalms/78-38.htm">Psalm 78:38</a>), He is not angry for ever (נטר, to keep, viz., anger, <a href="/amos/1-11.htm">Amos 1:11</a>; cf. the parallels, both as to matter and words, <a href="/jeremiah/3-5.htm">Jeremiah 3:5</a>; <a href="/isaiah/57-16.htm">Isaiah 57:16</a>). The procedure of His righteousness is regulated not according to our sins, but according to His purpose of mercy. The prefects in <a href="/psalms/103-10.htm">Psalm 103:10</a> state that which God has constantly not done, and the futures in <a href="/psalms/103-9.htm">Psalm 103:9</a> what He continually will not do. <div class="vheading2">Links</div><a href="/interlinear/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 Interlinear</a><br /><a href="/texts/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 Parallel Texts</a><br /><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/niv/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 NIV</a><br /><a href="/nlt/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 NLT</a><br /><a href="/esv/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 ESV</a><br /><a href="/nasb/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 NASB</a><br /><a href="/kjv/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 KJV</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="http://bibleapps.com/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 Bible Apps</a><br /><a href="/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 Parallel</a><br /><a href="http://bibliaparalela.com/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 Biblia Paralela</a><br /><a href="http://holybible.com.cn/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 Chinese Bible</a><br /><a href="http://saintebible.com/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 French Bible</a><br /><a href="http://bibeltext.com/psalms/103-8.htm">Psalm 103:8 German Bible</a><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a><br /></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="mdd"><div align="center"><div class="bot2"><table align="center" width="100%"><tr><td align="center"><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script><br /><br /> </div> <div id="left"><a href="../psalms/103-7.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Psalm 103:7"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Psalm 103:7" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../psalms/103-9.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Psalm 103:9"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Psalm 103:9" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div> <div id="bot"><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhnew2.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></div></body></html>