What Does Psalm 135:3 Mean in the King James?
Praise the LORD; for the LORD is good: sing praises unto his name; for it is pleasant.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The song does not make the LORD good; it rises because his nature is already good, and that response is pleasant.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s goodness is already present for you; your praise does not cause it. His name is his nature, and your song attends to what is good. Praise gives that goodness a voice, and the singing itself is pleasant.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You do not have to earn the LORD’s goodness by praising him; the verse names that goodness before it names the song.
THE ROOT
נָעִים
na’im
GROWS FROM
נעם
pleasantness, delight, or what is beautiful to experience
“pleasant” in this verse is na’im. The same root appears in the word translated “beauty” in Psalm 27:4. The pleasantness of praise here is connected to the LORD’s beauty: what the song delights in is also what can be beheld.
ALSO GROWS
na’im: pleasant, delightful
נָעִים
This is the word describing the pleasantness of praise in this verse.
no’am: pleasantness, delight; rendered “beauty” in Psalm 27:4
נֹעַם
It links the pleasure of singing to the beauty of the LORD that the reader beholds.
זָמַר
zamar
GROWS FROM
זמר
to make music or sing
“sing praises” in this verse is zamar. The verse’s singing and the Hebrew word for a psalm grow from the same root. Praise here is not only an inward judgment about goodness; it takes musical form and gives that goodness a voice.
ALSO GROWS
mizmor: a psalm or musical composition
מִזְמוֹר
The psalm itself belongs to the same word family as the singing praised in this verse.
zimrah: song or music
זִמְרָה
This branch makes audible the shared root beneath singing and praise.
THE PATTERN
Praise rises from goodness already present and gives that goodness a voice.
For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.Psalm 135 calls praise נָעִים (na’im, pleasant), while Psalm 27 calls the LORD’s beauty נֹעַם (no’am, pleasantness), forms from the same root נעם. The root joins singing to beholding: the pleasantness praised here is also the LORD’s beauty.
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