The Meaning of Psalms 147:8 Explained

Psalms 147:8

KJV: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

YLT: Who is covering the heavens with clouds, Who is preparing for the earth rain, Who is causing grass to spring up on mountains,

Darby: Who covereth the heavens with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains;

ASV: Who covereth the heavens with clouds, Who prepareth rain for the earth, Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Who covereth  the heaven  with clouds,  who prepareth  rain  for the earth,  who maketh grass  to grow  upon the mountains. 

What does Psalms 147:8 Mean?

Context Summary

Psa 147:1-11 - Why We Praise The Lord
It has been supposed that this psalm was prepared for use when the new walls of the city were completed in the days of Nehemiah. It contains a further enumeration of God's present tenses. The psalmist never tires of celebrating the immediateness of God. He will not tolerate the intervention of second causes, which are the artifice of scientific explanation. Laws are, after all, only the convenient statement of the regularity of God's methods. The couplets of this psalm are amazingly suggestive. By contrast they complete each other. God builds up the great city of Jerusalem, but His heart goes out to the individual prodigal. He is equally at home in the hospital where broken hearts congregate, and among the stars, which He names and counts as a shepherd His flock. He upholds the meek and overthrows the proud. Spring, with its clouds and rain and sprouting grass, is His work; but so also the wild life of the forest, with its beasts and birds. He has no such delight in athletic strength or speed as He has in the reverent worship of His people. There is a perfect balance and rhythm in God's nature. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psa 147

1  The prophet exhorts to praise God for his care of the church
4  His power and wisdom
6  His mercy
7  His providence
12  To praise him for his blessings upon the kingdom
15  For his power over the elements
19  And for his ordinances in the church

What do the individual words in Psalms 147:8 mean?

Who covers the heavens with clouds who prepares for the earth rain who makes to grow on the mountains grass
הַֽמְכַסֶּ֬ה שָׁמַ֨יִם ׀ בְּעָבִ֗ים הַמֵּכִ֣ין לָאָ֣רֶץ מָטָ֑ר הַמַּצְמִ֖יחַ הָרִ֣ים חָצִֽיר

הַֽמְכַסֶּ֬ה  Who  covers 
Parse: Article, Verb, Piel, Participle, masculine singular
Root: כָּסָה  
Sense: to cover, conceal, hide.
שָׁמַ֨יִם ׀  the  heavens 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: שָׁמַיִם  
Sense: heaven, heavens, sky.
בְּעָבִ֗ים  with  clouds 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, common plural
Root: עָב 
Sense: darkness, cloud, thicket.
הַמֵּכִ֣ין  who  prepares 
Parse: Article, Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: כּוּן 
Sense: to be firm, be stable, be established.
לָאָ֣רֶץ  for  the  earth 
Parse: Preposition-l, Article, Noun, feminine singular
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
מָטָ֑ר  rain 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מָטָר  
Sense: rain.
הַמַּצְמִ֖יחַ  who  makes  to  grow 
Parse: Article, Verb, Hifil, Participle, masculine singular
Root: צָמַח  
Sense: to sprout, spring up, grow up.
הָרִ֣ים  on  the  mountains 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: הַר  
Sense: hill, mountain, hill country, mount.
חָצִֽיר  grass 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חָצִיר 
Sense: grass, leek, green grass, herbage.