As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.
What does Psalms 103:12 mean?
Truly God is good to all: he is in a special manner good to Israel. He has revealed himself and his grace to them.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside its immediate passage and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Psalms 103:12
As far as the east is from the west - As far as possible; as far as we can imagine. These are the points in our apprehension most distant from each other, and as we can conceive nothing beyond them, so the meaning is, that we cannot imagine our sins could be more effectually removed than they are. The literal meaning of the Hebrew is, "like the distance of the east from the west" or, "like its being far." So far hath he removed our transgressions from us - That is, he has put them entirely away. They are so removed that they cannot affect us any more.
Key words
- west
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As far as the east is from the west,.
Context in Psalms 103
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Psalms 103 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as Book IV. Psalms is the Bible’s great book of sung prayer, teaching the full range of faithful speech from anguish and repentance to jubilation and doxology. Read this chapter with the wider themes of prayer, praise, and lament in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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