What Does Psalm 96:3 Mean in the King James?
Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.
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
God’s glory is weight, and this verse says that weight crosses peoples through the telling of what is wondrous.
THE MEANING
The verse presents God’s weight as made known among peoples, while the wonders that disclose it extend to all people. Its paired lines widen both the testimony and its audience: the telling crosses boundaries, and no people sit outside its horizon.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God’s glory is a private possession of one people, or something only insiders can recognize.
THE ROOT
כָּבוֹדוֹ
kavodo
GROWS FROM
כבד
K-B-D
To be heavy or weighty; by extension, to carry importance and honor.
English “glory” can sound like praise or splendor; כָּבוֹד (kavod, weight or weightiness) carries the sense of substantial presence, something that counts and commands recognition. The verse is about making God’s weight known among peoples, not merely repeating an honorific.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy or weighty.
כָּבֵד
The physical sense reveals the substance beneath “glory”: what has weight is consequential and cannot be treated as slight.
kibbed: To honor by treating someone as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
This branch links glory and honor to recognition of the weight the verse says is declared among peoples.
סַפְּרוּ
sapperu
GROWS FROM
ספר
S-P-R
To count or recount; in telling, to relate what has happened.
The verb behind “declare” belongs to the recounting family. Its root connects telling with counting, so God’s weight becomes known as the wonders are spoken and recounted among peoples.
ALSO GROWS
safar: To count or reckon.
סָפַר
It reveals the root’s sense of accounting for something, while the verse recounts what makes God’s weight known.
sefer: A written record or book.
סֵפֶר
The written branch preserves what is told, extending the testimony beyond the moment and the speaker.
mispar: A number or count.
מִסְפָּר
It keeps the root’s counting sense visible beneath the act of recounting.
נִפְלְאוֹתָיו
nifla'otav
GROWS FROM
פלא
P-L-ʾ
To be extraordinary, wondrous, or beyond the ordinary.
The root points to what exceeds the ordinary, and the verse names these wonders as God’s. Its parallel lines join the extraordinary to public telling: wonder becomes something people can hear about across boundaries.
ALSO GROWS
pele: Something extraordinary or wondrous.
פֶּלֶא
It names the quality at the heart of the verse’s “wonders”: what is beyond ordinary experience.
nifla: Wondrous or extraordinary.
נִפְלָא
This related form shows the root describing what stands beyond the ordinary, the quality people hear recounted.
THE PATTERN
God’s character becomes publicly knowable when creation and testimony make his works visible beyond a private circle.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.THE THREAD
And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.Isaiah uses the same noun כָּבוֹד (kavod, weight or weightiness) found beneath “glory” here. The psalm speaks of this weight being declared among peoples; Isaiah widens the scene by saying the whole earth is already full of it.
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