What Does Isaiah 12:5 Mean?
Sing to the LORD, for he has done what rises. This is known in all the earth.
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
Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth.THE KEY
The Hebrew word translated “excellent” comes from a root meaning to rise high, so the LORD’s deed carries an exalted quality that becomes earth-wide song.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s work is already done, and its scale exceeds the private moment in which you recognize it. The song gives that recognition a voice that moves outward through the earth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that praise is only private: here the song carries what has been done toward recognition across the whole earth.
THE ROOT
גֵּאוּת
gēʾût
GROWS FROM
גאה
to rise high, be elevated, or be exalted
“what rises” in this verse is gēʾût. The word translated “excellent things” names elevation or majesty. The verse presents the LORD’s deed as something that rises beyond the private moment and becomes known throughout the earth.
ALSO GROWS
gāʾāh: to rise, be exalted
גָּאָה
This verbal form shares the root גאה and gives the height or exaltation that גֵּאוּת names.
gēʾeh: exalted, majestic
גֵּאֶה
This adjective shares the same root and carries its elevated quality into a description of what is majestic.
זַמְּרוּ
zammĕrū
GROWS FROM
זמר
to sing or make music
“Sing” in this verse is zammĕrū. The command calls for voiced, musical praise. Its root also appears in words for song and psalm, joining the LORD’s exalted deed to a sound that can travel beyond the one who sings.
ALSO GROWS
zimrāh: song, musical praise
זִמְרָה
Its consonants זמר connect it to the verse’s command to sing and show praise as music.
mizmōr: psalm, musical composition
מִזְמוֹר
It shares the root זמר, linking this sung praise with the language of psalms.
THE PATTERN
Praise gives the deeds of God a public voice that carries across peoples and places.
Recount his weight among the nations; his wonders among all peoples.But now is brought into the light, through the writings of the prophets, according to the command of the God of the ages, made known to all nations for the hearing and response of trust.THE THREAD
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said, I will sing to the LORD, for he has risen high, risen high; horse and rider he has hurled into the sea.Exodus uses גָּאָה (gāʾāh, to rise or be exalted) for the LORD’s triumph, echoing Isaiah’s גֵּאוּת (gēʾût, exaltation or majesty). In both verses, song answers a deed whose greatness becomes visible.
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