What Does Psalm 98:8 Mean in the King James?
Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together
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 rivers do not merely witness the LORD’s arrival; they clap for it, and the hills answer in one song.
THE MEANING
The rivers strike their hands in a pictured act of celebration, and the hills ring out together as the LORD comes to judge the world in righteousness (v. 9). Creation has a voice in this scene: moving water keeps time, and the land joins the song.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that only human beings can answer God: here, rivers and hills join the song themselves.
THE ROOT
יִמְחֲאוּ
yimḥaʾu
GROWS FROM
מחא
m-ḥ-ʾ
To strike or clap with the hand.
“clap” in this verse is yimḥaʾu. This is a physical gesture, not just a description of cheerful water. Isaiah uses the same rare verb for trees clapping their hands, giving rivers and trees a shared way to answer.
ALSO GROWS
māḥāʾ: To clap or strike with the hand.
מָחָא
This is the verb’s base form behind the rivers’ gesture.
yimḥaʾu kaf: They clap their hands.
יִמְחֲאוּ כַּף
Isaiah 55:12 uses this same verb for the trees of the field, extending the gesture across creation.
יְרַנֵּנוּ
yerannenu
GROWS FROM
רנן
r-n-n
To ring out, shout, or sing aloud.
“be joyful” in this verse is yerannenu. The hills’ joy is vocal: the Hebrew verb gives it sound. What English can leave as an inward feeling becomes a ringing song shared by the landscape.
ALSO GROWS
rinnah: A ringing shout or song of joy.
רִנָּה
The related noun makes clear that this family of words carries joy as an audible cry.
yerannenu: They sing or shout aloud.
יְרַנְּנוּ
Psalm 96:12 uses this same verb for the trees of the forest singing for joy, again giving creation a voice.
THE PATTERN
Creation is pictured voicing its response to the LORD’s acts, with its own sounds and song.
Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.THE THREAD
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.Isaiah 55:12 uses the same Hebrew verb מָחָא (māḥāʾ), “to clap,” for the trees of the field. It also gives mountains and hills a song, opening Psalm 98’s image into a chorus shared across creation.
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