What Does Psalm 98:1 Mean in the King James?
A Psalm. O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvellous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory.
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” is a voice made fresh by deliverance, because the victory is the LORD’s own act.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s deliverance is present as an act that can be named. The song becomes new as that deliverance renews the voice; the decisive action belongs to the LORD’s own hand and arm.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that victory must be self-made before there is anything to sing: the verse places the decisive action in the LORD’s own hand and arm.
THE ROOT
הוֹשִׁיעָה
hoshi'ah
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-sh-ʿ
To deliver or rescue; in the movement expressed here, to bring out of constriction into spaciousness.
The verb underneath “victory” is הוֹשִׁיעָה (hoshi’ah, “he delivered”), from יָשַׁע (yasha, “to deliver”). Victory here carries the sense of deliverance enacted by the LORD’s own hand and arm, a movement out of constriction.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance, rescue.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun names the same kind of deliverance that the LORD’s hand and arm enact in the verse.
Yeshua: Yeshua, a name formed from the deliverance root.
יֵשׁוּעַ
The name carries deliverance as nature, echoing the verse’s picture of victory as the LORD’s own delivering act.
חָדָשׁ
chadash
GROWS FROM
חדש
ch-d-sh
To be new or renewed; to make fresh.
The root shared by “new,” “month,” and “renew” lets newness carry a shade of recurring renewal, not novelty alone. The song is fresh because deliverance makes fresh expression possible.
ALSO GROWS
chodesh: Month; new moon.
חֹדֶשׁ
Its link to the new moon gives “new” a sense of renewal that returns in cycles.
chaddesh: Renew; make fresh.
חַדֵּשׁ
This verb makes explicit the renewing shade within the “new song” that follows deliverance.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance becomes a new song when the LORD’s action becomes the ground of expression.
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.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
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.Isaiah names the LORD’s help as יְשׁוּעָה (yeshuah, “deliverance”), from the same root ישע (yasha, “to deliver”) carried by Psalm 98’s verb. This opens the psalm’s “victory” as a lived movement of being brought out, with trust and song arising within that deliverance.
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