Psalm 136:10 celebrates God for striking down the firstborn of Egypt during the Exodus, and it insists that the mercy behind that act never runs out. The verse is a line of praise, not a bare historical note, because the writer wants you to see the rescue of Israel as evidence of God’s steady, faithful love. The psalm is sung by a community gathered to remember what God has done, with the refrain “for his loving kindness endures forever” repeated after each act of power.
To him who struck down the Egyptian firstborn; for his loving kindness endures forever…
Psalm 136:10 (WEB)
What Psalm 136:10 Means
The verse begins by naming God as the one who “struck down” the firstborn of Egypt. This is the final plague in the Exodus story, the event that finally moved Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. The writer does not hide the severity of it. Judgment on Egypt is part of how God acted to free his people, and the psalm presents it plainly rather than softening it.
Then comes the refrain, “for his loving kindness endures forever.” The Hebrew word often translated loving kindness, hesed, describes a committed, covenant love that keeps its promises. By attaching this to a moment of judgment, the psalmist says that God’s faithfulness toward his people is the deeper truth behind what happened. The verse does not promise that God will always act in the same dramatic way, nor does it explain every hard event. It affirms that the character of God, loyal and merciful, stands behind his actions.
What the verse does not do is turn the plague into a formula for understanding every suffering. It is a praise poem that looks back on one defining rescue. Read it as a testimony of trust in God’s covenant love, not as a complete theory of how God deals with the world.
The Context of Psalm 136:10
Psalm 136 is one of the great hymns of thanksgiving in the Psalter, and its structure is a litany. Each verse makes a statement about something God did, from creation to the crossing of the Red Sea, and each closes with the same refrain. The psalm was likely used in worship, with a leader calling out the acts and the congregation answering with the response. Its author is not named, though it is traditionally associated with the temple music of Israel.
Verses 7 through 13 walk through a sequence that moves from creation (the lights in the sky) to the exodus (the firstborn, the Red Sea). Verse 10 sits right in the middle of that sequence, which means it is read as one link in a chain of God’s works. The surrounding lines show that the striking of Egypt’s firstborn is not an isolated event but one piece of a larger pattern of divine faithfulness that runs from the ordering of the cosmos to the freeing of a people.
Key Phrases in Psalm 136:10
Exodus 12:29
At midnight, the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of livestock.
(WEB)
This verse tells the account behind Psalm 136:10 in narrative form, describing the night the firstborn of Egypt died and the Israelites were set free. Reading it alongside the psalm helps you see the historical event that the psalmist is praising.
Lamentations 3:22-23
22 It is because of the LORD’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail. 23 They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
(WEB)
These verses use the same key idea of God’s steadfast love, this time in the midst of grief and ruin. They show that the enduring kindness celebrated in Psalm 136 is also a source of hope when life has fallen apart.
A Short Prayer From Psalm 136:10
Lord, you are the God who acted in history to rescue your people, and your love has not run out since then. Help me to remember the ways you have been faithful to me, even when those memories are buried under present worry. When I face choices I cannot control, teach me to trust the steadiness of your character rather than the shifting details of my circumstances. Let your loving kindness, which endures forever, become the ground I stand on today. Amen.
