Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Psalms 106:2 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 2. 2Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all his praise?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 106:2: Inside “Confession retells rebellion and persistent mercy: Praise and a plea to share in salvation,” “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can…” raises a real poetic question instead of supplying a detached answer.
Read It With
- Psalms 106:1–5
- Psalms 106:1–48
Read Psalms 106:2 with 106:1–5 and 106:1–48. Read alone, “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew…” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 106:1–5, the communal voice carries the movement “Praise and a plea to share in salvation” as part of “Confession retells rebellion and persistent mercy.” Its historical-communal-lament form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 106:1–5 opens Psalm 106 with “Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth…” and establishes the communal voice and “Praise and a plea to share in salvation” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Psalm 106 retells Israel's history through confessed rebellion after Psalm 105 emphasizes remembered covenant and divine faithfulness; the pair keeps praise and confession together. Within that relationship, Psalm 106:2 poses the poem's question through “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all…” and leaves the surrounding lines to answer, intensify, or hold it open.
What Remains True
The verse's role is specific—Psalm 106:2 poses the poem's question through “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all…” and leaves the surrounding lines to answer, intensify, or hold it open. Within that role, Praise remembers concrete divine character and action, gathers many voices, and remains honest about grief rather than demanding one emotional performance. The local movement is “Praise and a plea to share in salvation.” The unit's reviewed limit is: Corporate confession resists self-exoneration but must not feed antisemitic stereotypes, collective guilt across generations, or coercive shame.
How It Can Shape Life
- Psalm 106:2 contributes to “Confession retells rebellion and persistent mercy: Praise and a plea to share in salvation” in a specific way: Psalm 106:2 poses the poem's question through “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew forth all…” and leaves the surrounding lines to answer, intensify, or hold it open. Respond by doing this: Join the praise around “Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? who can shew…” in a form your community can receive, while leaving honest space for silence, lament, and disability.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 106:1–5 — Confession retells rebellion and persistent mercy: Praise and a plea to share in salvationSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Psalms 106:1–5, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Psalms
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ps.xml, OSIS 106:1–5
Open the fixed Hebrew Psalms file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible Notes: Psalms 1-150
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, current official online edition
Supports: Verse-level controls for poetic syntax, imagery, older KJV language, textual issues, headings, and alternatives in Psalms 106:1–5.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 106 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 106:1–5
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗