Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Psalms 78:4 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 4. 4We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Psalm 78:4: The speaker's “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the…” contributes testimony, resolve, or self-address to “A teaching poem retells rebellion and mercy: Teaching the next generation.”
Read It With
- Psalms 78:1–8
- Psalms 78:1–72
Read Psalms 78:4 with 78:1–8 and 78:1–72. Read alone, “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation…” could lose the communal voice, the parallel line or movement it develops, and the psalm's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Within Psalms 78:1–8, the communal voice carries the movement “Teaching the next generation” as part of “A teaching poem retells rebellion and mercy.” Its historical-wisdom form and poetic parallelism hold the petitions, images, memories, or praise together before any single line is applied.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Psalms 78:1–8 opens Psalm 78 with “Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth” and establishes the communal voice and “Teaching the next generation” movement before later lines develop or answer it. Within that relationship, Psalm 78:4 voices testimony, resolve, or self-address in “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come…,” preserving the poem's individual or communal speaker.
What Remains True
The lasting force of “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation…” comes through Psalms 78:1–8 and Book III, not isolation. People in households and communities bear dignity beyond productivity, fertility, gender role, status, or usefulness; gifts of relationship never make another person property. The local movement is “Teaching the next generation.” The unit's reviewed limit is: The poetic retelling selects and interprets Israel's past; it is not a neutral chronology, an anti-Jewish caricature, or permission to shame descendants.
How It Can Shape Life
- Because Psalm 78:4 belongs to “A teaching poem retells rebellion and mercy: Teaching the next generation,” its role must lead the practice: Psalm 78:4 voices testimony, resolve, or self-address in “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come…,” preserving the poem's individual or communal speaker. Let “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation…” support a household practice of safety, listening, shared responsibility, and care without shaming childlessness, singleness, disability, or a nontraditional circumstance.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Psalms 78:1–8 — A teaching poem retells rebellion and mercy: Teaching the next generationSources 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 78:1–8, 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 78:1–8
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 78:1–8.
Exact location: Official NET Bible Psalm 78 HTML, translator, textual, and study notes attached to Psalms 78:1–8
Open the official NET Psalms notes ↗