On Repetitive Worship Songs | Desiring God

Audio transcript

Pastor John, as you know, contemporary worship songs are criticized for their repetition. Many of them repeat choruses over and over again. So I think the criticism overall is justified and should be addressed. But then, as we read the Navigators Bible Reading Plan together, we open our Bibles today to Psalm 136—and it’s full of repetition! Psalm 136 is unlike any other chapter in the entire Bible, repeating the same phrase 26 times: “For his mercy endures forever.” The psalm has never appeared in over two thousand APJ episodes, so I guess it’s overdue. What is the point of Psalm 136? Why so much repetition? And what does this mean for our debates about repetition in our worship songs today?

I’ve really enjoyed thinking about this Psalm. We’ve often read it antiphonally in church, with the congregation singing the chorus and the leader doing the narration. But before I get into the substance, here are a few stylistic observations about worship songs.

Rare repetition

First of all, this strange psalm really does exist. Let’s just say it like this. It’s there. It’s in the Bible. It contains 26 repetitions of the English phrase “for his mercy endures forever” – or sometimes translated as “for his love endures forever” or “his steadfast love endures forever”. So it sounds something like this:

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his mercy endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his mercy endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his mercy endures forever.
to the one who alone does great miracles,
for his mercy endures forever. (Psalm 136:1–4)

And continue for 26 repetitions.

Second, it’s rare. There are many Psalms. It’s not that every Psalm sounds like that. There’s nothing like it. It’s the rarity that gives it such power. If all Psalms did that, we’d be exhausted. Stylistically, something unusual is happening here. It’s so unusual for the Psalms, in fact, that we feel compelled – and this is what you asked – to ask: Why? Why does he do that?

“The mood in the worship service should be awakened and maintained above all by the truth, supported by music.”

Thirdly, the English refrain “for his mercy endures forever” consists of ten syllables. In Hebrew there are only six – kî lə’ōwlām ḥasdōw. That’s a cumulative difference or increase of 104 syllables in English throughout the Psalm. That might make it a slightly different experience. We just have to keep that in mind. It might have been a little easier to have the chorus kî lə’ōwlām ḥasdōw and not “for his mercy endures forever.” That’s a significant phonetic difference.

Songs with substance

Fourth, repetition itself is not the problem with contemporary worship songs. That is not the problem. Old, great hymns use repetition, like “And Can It Be.” Five times:

Incredible love! How can this be?
That you, my God, should die for me!

The problem is not repetition per se, but whether there is enough substance, enough rich truth about God in the repetition to justify it, to justify it. That is the problem. There is a difference between repetition that is brought about by the repeated crescendo of new, glorious truth, and repetition that serves as a kind of mantra without sufficient truth and simply serves to maintain or intensify a mood. Moods in worship should be aroused and maintained primarily by Truthsupported by music – not primarily by Music with a pinch of truth to justify the singing.

So what strikes us about Psalm 136 is not just that “for his mercy endures forever” occurs 26 times, but that these 26 statements are woven into a truthful narrative of Israel’s history. Be thankful: He is the God of gods. He created everything in the universe. He defeated the Egyptians and delivered Israel. He defeated the Amorite kings and gave Israel the land. He rescued them from trouble and delivered their enemies. He feeds them, and indeed, “He gives food to all flesh” (Psalm 136:25). Be thankful: He is the God of heaven.

So that’s the main impression you get. The steadfast love of God applies to everything from the highest heaven of heavens to the smallest feeding of birds and animals. From wandering through the wilderness to the destruction of kings, everything applies to the steadfast love of God. You can’t miss that if you pay attention.

Logic of unwavering love

But here’s something I hadn’t thought of before that I think is so significant. He could have simplified it. The Psalmist could have simplified the refrain by saying, “His mercy endures forever.” He didn’t say that. In every single one of the 26 repetitions, he says, “Because His steadfast love endures forever. Because His steadfast love endures forever. Because his mercy endures forever.” He made the logic clear 26 times. It’s awkward! Really! When you use a “for” or “because” – I see this a lot in contemporary worship songs where the logic seems awkward, and I say, “Just take that out and make it simpler. It would come across better.” The Hebrew word kî (“because” or “for”) is placed at the front as number one in each phrase, 26 times.

In other words, the whole of creation, the whole of God’s superiority over other supposed gods, his whole destruction in Egypt, his whole patience in the desert, his whole victory over kings, his whole mercy in times of need, his whole provision of food for creatures – all this is not only vaguely connected with the unswerving love of God; it is Because the steadfast love of God. In other words, the Psalmist made the refrain more awkward with the word “because” so as not to undermine the theological depth that was meant to be made clear – namely, that everything God does in creation and history and redemption and consummation ultimately springs from his free goodness and mercy and love toward his people.

Mercy in every work

What is particularly remarkable is that this includes his punitive justice against the enemies in Egypt and the kings of the Amorites. According to this psalm, God has not stopped acting out of his steadfast love even when he punishes his enemies with destruction. This is how Jonathan Edwards puts it in his commentary on this psalm (he has only a brief commentary in his Notes on Scripture):

The Psalm confirms to me that a final aim of the creation of the world and of all God’s works is his goodness, or the communication of his goodness to his creatures. For this Psalm sufficiently teaches that all of God’s works, from the beginning of the world to its end, are works of mercy towards his people, and even works of his vengeful justice and wrath, as is clear from the Psalms 136:10, Psalms 136:15, Psalms 136:17-22(Works of Jonathan Edwards, 24:537)

So I conclude that the content of this Psalm is so profound that it justifies 26 repetitions, to force us, so to speak, to think about the logic, about the fact that everything God does happens because – Because — his steadfast love endures forever.