What Does Psalm 144:9 Mean in the King James?
I will sing a new song unto thee, O God: upon a psaltery and an instrument of ten strings will I sing praises unto thee.
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 “new song” binds renewal to audible praise: renewal is heard as a changed voice.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the reader a voice for a renewed song directed toward God. Sung voice and stringed sound meet in one act of praise, making renewal audible rather than abstract. Its movement is from renewal into expression.
THE ROOT
חָדָשׁ
chadash
GROWS FROM
ח־ד־שׁ
ḥ-d-sh
To be new or renew.
Chadash carries the sense of becoming new and renewing; its word family includes chodesh, “month” or “new moon.” That link lets “new” suggest renewal’s returning rhythm, so the song’s freshness is more than novelty.
ALSO GROWS
chodesh: Month; new moon.
חֹדֶשׁ
Its place in the same word family connects newness with a recurring renewal.
chiddesh: Renewed; made new.
חִדֵּשׁ
This form makes explicit the renewing sense carried by “new.”
אֲזַמְּרָה
azammerah
GROWS FROM
ז־מ־ר
z-m-r
To sing or make music.
The verb translated “sing praises” belongs to the same word family as words for psalm and music. Praise here takes musical form: voice and instrument join in a single expression.
ALSO GROWS
mizmor: Psalm; song.
מִזְמוֹר
A psalm shares the root of the verse’s musical act of praise.
zimrah: Song; music.
זִמְרָה
This branch makes the musical sense within “sing praises” audible.
THE PATTERN
Renewal becomes audible as a new song voiced toward God.
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;THE THREAD
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.Psalm 40:3 uses the same Hebrew pairing, שִׁיר חָדָשׁ (shir chadash, “new song”). Here the song is placed in the mouth, opening Psalm 144’s image of renewal as praise made audible.
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