What Does Psalm 69:30 Mean in the King James?

I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Psalm 69:30 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

Thanksgiving does not make God greater; it gives audible form to the greatness already carried by God’s name.

Your song and gratitude bring God’s nature into speech, so praise and thanks become two ways of voicing the same recognition. The verse holds a tension in “magnify”: God is already great, yet you give that greatness voice through thanksgiving.

וַאֲגַדְּלֶנּוּ

va’agaddelenu

GROWS FROM

גדל

To grow, become great, or make great.

“magnify” in this verse is va’agaddelenu. The verb carries the sense of making great or exalting. Here, thanksgiving voices God’s greatness; the singer makes it perceptible without making it originate in the singer.

ALSO GROWS

gadol: Great.

גָּדוֹל

This branch makes explicit the greatness the verse voices through thanksgiving.

migdal: Tower.

מִגְדָּל

A tower rises into view, echoing how the song makes God’s greatness visible in speech.

תּוֹדָה

todah

GROWS FROM

ידה

To acknowledge, give thanks, or praise.

“thanksgiving” in this verse is todah. Todah comes from yadah, the language of acknowledgment and thanks. Gratitude here is more than a feeling: it names God’s nature aloud, joining the song in giving praise a voice.

ALSO GROWS

yadah: To acknowledge, give thanks, or praise.

יָדָה

This is the verb beneath todah, linking gratitude with spoken recognition.

lehodot: To give thanks or acknowledge.

לְהוֹדוֹת

This related verb keeps the same movement of gratitude as acknowledgment.

אֲהַלְלָה

ahalelah

GROWS FROM

הלל

To praise, celebrate, or boast.

Halal is voiced celebration, not praise held only as a private thought. Its branches connect praise with both a song of praise and the call to praise Yah, fitting the verse’s joining of song and thanksgiving.

ALSO GROWS

tehillah: Praise or a song of praise.

תְּהִלָּה

This branch brings the root directly into the verse’s image of praise carried by song.

hallelu-yah: Praise Yah.

הַלְלוּ־יָהּ

The same praise-root forms a voiced call to celebrate God.

Praise gives audible form to recognition of God’s nature through song and thanksgiving.

A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 34:1 · KJVPraise lives in spoken words, making recognition of the LORD a continual voice.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Psalm 100:4 · KJVThanksgiving and praise meet in blessing God’s name.
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.
Hebrews 13:15 · KJVPraise and thanks become the fruit of the lips, giving voice to God’s name.
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Psalm 20:7 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨שֵׁם⁩ (shem, “name” as nature): Psalm 69 gives that name voice through song and thanks, while Psalm 20 places trust in it. Read together, praise is audible recognition of the same character on which trust rests.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us