What are the differences between the three names of God in Psalms 136:1-3?<\/p>\n\t
“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
\nGive thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
\nGive thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting<\/em>” (Psalms 136:1-3).<\/blockquote>\n“LORD” is a translation of the Hebrew word,\u00a0yahweh<\/em>. There is some debate as to its meaning. It is related to the Hebrew phrase “I am”, so it describes God as eternal and self-existing, but given that Jesus translated this word as “lord” also tells us it also refers to God being the ruler. Translators write it in all capitals to let readers know that it is different from the usual word for “lord” in Hebrew.<\/p>\n
Yahweh<\/em>\u00a0is a name that God first used with the Israelites. “God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them<\/em>” (Exodus 6:2-3). It can be abbreviated and found at the ends of words or names, such as hallelu Yah<\/em>\u00a0(praise Yahweh) or Isaiah (Yahweh has saved). It also is found at beginning of names, such as Joash (Yahweh has come to help) — in older English and Germanic languages, “j” makes a “y” sound.<\/p>\n
“The God of gods” is a phrase that means that God is the only real God in a crowded field of false gods. “For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, strength and joy are in His place<\/em>” (I Chronicles 16:25-27).<\/p>\n“The Lord of lords” means that God rules far above all the other rulers in the world and controls them. “Daniel said, “Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him.
\nIt is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding<\/em>” (Daniel 2:20-21).\nAll three names also appear in: “For the LORD your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality nor take a bribe<\/em>” (Deuteronomy 10:17).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: What are the differences between the three names of God in Psalms 136:1-3? Answer: “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psalms 136:1-3).…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[90,998,516],"class_list":["post-50854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-god","tag-names","tag-psalms"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86489,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/precious-things\/","url_meta":{"origin":50854,"position":0},"title":"Precious Things","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Leon Mauldin via Biblical Insights, Vol. 15 No. 2, February 2015 The Word of the Lord I Samuel 3:1 gives the setting for God's initial calling of young Samuel to the prophetic office: \"And the child Samuel ministered unto Jehovah before Eli. And the word of Jehovah was precious\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26650,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-only-yahweh-gods-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":50854,"position":1},"title":"Is only Yahweh God’s name?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In \"The Divine Name,\" you did not explain the name YAHWEH\/YHWH and how it was taken out of the Scriptures.\u00a0 God, Lord, Father are all titles(mother, daughter, son, worker), but not His true name.\u00a0 Please explain verse Psalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing praises to His name;\u00a0 Extol Him\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69253,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-does-the-bible-talk-of-other-gods\/","url_meta":{"origin":50854,"position":2},"title":"Why does the Bible talk of other gods?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening! I have been wondering about certain things in the Bible, specifically the \"Divine Council.\" There are many different verses I can use, but I want to focus on three: The first being Psalm 82:1: \"God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods.\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1390,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-gods-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":50854,"position":3},"title":"What is God’s name?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is God's name? The Jehovah's Witnesses tell me it is \"Jehovah,\" but that appears less than ten times in my Bible. Answer: The name \"Jehovah\" appears eight times in the King James Version of the Bible. It is not used in the New American Standard Bible or the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19484,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-wrong-to-refer-to-god-as-jehovah-in-a-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":50854,"position":4},"title":"Is it wrong to refer to God as Jehovah in a prayer?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it wrong or scripturally incorrect to refer to God as Jehovah?\u00a0 For instance, when you pray to Him, to address Him as Jehovah.\u00a0In Matthew 6:9, Jesus is showing the disciples how to pray.\u00a0He starts with \"Our Father in Heaven.\" Since\u00a0Jesus never refers to God as Jehovah and when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13426,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-name-of-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":50854,"position":5},"title":"The Name of God","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Exodus 3:10-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses have gone out into the world declaring that God\u2019s name is \u201cJehovah.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A reader of our website wrote to ask why this claim is made since he was only able to find less than ten instances of the name \u201cJehovah\u201d in his Bible.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50854","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50854"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50854\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50854"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50854"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50854"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}