What Does 2 Samuel 22:50 Mean?
Therefore I will throw my hands out to you, O LORD, among the nations, and I will sing to your nature.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.THE KEY
The song carries the LORD’s name, his nature, beyond the singer’s own people.
THE MEANING
Your thanks is voiced among peoples beyond your own circle. What you sing is the LORD’s name, his nature and character, so praise makes that character audible. The verse moves from inward acknowledgment to shared song.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that praise belongs only in private or among people who already know the name.
THE ROOT
אוֹדְךָ
ʾōdeḵā from yādâ
GROWS FROM
ידה
Acknowledge, praise, give thanks.
“throw my hands out” in this verse is ʾōdeḵā from yādâ. The word translated “give thanks” belongs to the yādâ family, which also gives תּוֹדָה (tōdāh, thanksgiving) and is woven into יְהוּדָה (Yehūdāh, Judah), linked to Leah’s words “Now will I praise the LORD.” English separates gratitude, praise, and a name; the Hebrew carries the praise-root through all three.
ALSO GROWS
tōdāh: Thanksgiving, thanks.
תּוֹדָה
This related form shows that the verse’s acknowledgment belongs to a wider vocabulary of expressed thanks.
Yehūdāh: Judah; a name linked to praise.
יְהוּדָה
Leah connects the name to her declaration of praise, so the same root can be heard in a person’s name as well as in an act of thanks.
אֲזַמֵּר
ʾăzammēr from zāmar
GROWS FROM
זמר
Sing, make music.
“sing” in this verse is ʾăzammēr from zāmar. The song is directed to the LORD’s שֵׁם (shem, name as nature), making the LORD’s character audible among the nations. The related words for psalm and song show this praise branching into a whole family of music.
ALSO GROWS
mizmōr: Psalm, a musical poem.
מִזְמוֹר
This related form places the verse’s singing within the language of composed praise.
zemīrāh: Song, music.
זְמִירָה
The shared root links the act of singing here to the broader language of song.
THE PATTERN
Praise moves from direct thanks to public witness, making the LORD’s name audible among many peoples.
I extend my hand to you among the peoples, O Lord; I pluck the strings for you among the nations.And on that day you will say, Extend your hands to the LORD, call upon his nature, make his doings known among the peoples, and speak aloud that his nature is lifted high.And that the nations might give weight to God for compassion, as it is written, For this I will confess to you among the nations, and I will sing to your name.THE THREAD
And she conceived again, and bore a son, and she said, Now I will extend my hands to the LORD. Therefore she called his name Judah, Praise, and she stood from bearing.The Hebrew word behind “give thanks” here is yādâ, the same root Leah uses when she says, “Now will I praise the LORD,” before naming her son Judah. The praise-root moves from her spoken declaration into a name, and in 2 Samuel it is sung among the nations.
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