The Meaning of Psalms 103:8 Explained

Psalms 103:8

KJV: The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

YLT: Merciful and gracious is Jehovah, Slow to anger, and abundant in mercy.

Darby: Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness.

ASV: Jehovah is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

The LORD  [is] merciful  and gracious,  slow  to anger,  and plenteous  in mercy. 

What does Psalms 103:8 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 103:1-12 - The Lord's Abundant Mercies
David's name heads this peerless psalm, which expresses, as none other, the soul of the universal Church and of the individual Christian. Notice the present tenses throughout these verses. God's tender dealings run parallel with our lives. He is never weary nor exhausted. When once He begins, He keeps on. Let us enumerate the blessings that He gives in such unbroken abundance, and as the fingers tell the successive beads, praise Him: forgiveness; healing, Exodus 15:26; redemption from perils and accidents, seen and unseen; the crowns that He places on our unworthy heads; entire satisfaction, Psalms 36:8; Isaiah 58:11; perennial youth.
It was a proverb among Orientals that the eagle literally grows younger. This is the psalmist's reference in Psalms 103:5. For us it means that the life which is fed from the eternal springs is eagle-like in royal strength and sunward flight. Ways or plans are revealed to the inner circle; the ordinary congregation knows only acts. The Father does chide, but only till we put sin away. Conceive the infinite spaces of East and West-such is the distance of forgiven sin from us. It is impossible that the blame or curse of it should ever return upon the redeemed soul. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 103

1  An exhortation to bless God for his mercy
5  And for the constancy thereof

What do the individual words in Psalms 103:8 mean?

Merciful and gracious Yahweh [is] Slow to anger and abounding in mercy
רַח֣וּם וְחַנּ֣וּן יְהוָ֑ה אֶ֖רֶךְ אַפַּ֣יִם וְרַב־ חָֽסֶד

רַח֣וּם  Merciful 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רַחוּם  
Sense: compassionate.
וְחַנּ֣וּן  and  gracious 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine singular
Root: חַנּוּן  
Sense: gracious.
יְהוָ֑ה  Yahweh  [is] 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: the proper name of the one true God.
אֶ֖רֶךְ  Slow 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular construct
Root: אָרֵךְ 
Sense: long (pinions).
אַפַּ֣יִם  to  anger 
Parse: Noun, md
Root: אַף 
Sense: nostril, nose, face.
וְרַב־  and  abounding 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adjective, masculine singular construct
Root: רַב 
Sense: much, many, great.
חָֽסֶד  in  mercy 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֶסֶד 
Sense: goodness, kindness, faithfulness.