What Does Psalm 78:5 Mean in the King James?
For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
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 verse turns inheritance from passing down a text into making its testimony become knowledge in the next generation.
THE MEANING
The witness and instruction are already set among you, and their life continues as they become known in those who follow you. You stand inside a chain where received truth becomes shareable knowledge, so the verse reaches beyond what you possess to what can live through you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that receiving scripture is a private endpoint: here, what is received is meant to become knowable across generations.
THE ROOT
לְהוֹדִיעָם
lehodiaʿam
GROWS FROM
ידע
to know, recognize, perceive
“make them known” in this verse is lehodiaʿam. The phrase uses the causative form of ידע (yadaʿ, to know or perceive): literally, to cause them to know. English can sound like passing along information, while the Hebrew connects the act of making something known to knowing itself; the testimony is meant to become knowledge in those who receive it.
ALSO GROWS
yadaʿ: to know, recognize, perceive
יָדַע
This is the base verb whose causative form appears in the verse’s phrase “make them known.”
daʿat: knowledge, understanding
דַּעַת
This noun names the knowing toward which the verse’s act of making known leads.
hôdîaʿ: to make known, inform
הוֹדִיעַ
This causative form shows the verse describing knowledge being brought about in another.
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
ירה
to direct, point out, instruct
Torah carries the sense of direction and instruction beneath the familiar rendering “law.” The verse joins a remembered witness with a way of being directed, so what reaches the next generation is both testimony and guidance.
ALSO GROWS
yarah: to direct, teach
יָרָה
This verb shares the root and carries the sense of pointing toward instruction.
moreh: teacher, instructor
מוֹרֶה
This related word shows the root extending from instruction to the one who teaches.
עֵדוּת
ʿēdût
GROWS FROM
עוד
to bear witness, attest
Testimony is rooted in bearing witness: something that can be voiced and reaffirmed. Set alongside instruction, it gives the next generation both a witness to receive and a direction to follow.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēd: witness
עֵד
The witness is the bearer of testimony, giving the verse’s testimony a voice and presence.
hēʿîd: to testify, attest
הֵעִיד
This verb names the act of bearing witness, showing testimony as something spoken and reaffirmed.
THE PATTERN
What is received as witness and instruction is carried forward by being made known to the next generation.
And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.“Make them known” in Psalm 78:5 and “I know him” in Genesis 18:19 share the root ידע (yadaʿ, to know or perceive). Genesis places that knowing beside instruction carried through a household, opening the connection between being known and making knowledge known.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us