What Does Psalm 105:2 Mean?
Sing to him, make music for him, and speak of all his wonders.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works.THE KEY
The word translated “talk” can also mean “muse,” joining inward attention to spoken praise.
THE MEANING
Your attention to God’s works has a voice: you sing to him and speak of what he does. Wonder moves from private attention into words shared with others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that praise is only a feeling or only a song; the verse joins directed singing with speech about God’s works.
THE ROOT
שִׂיחוּ
sîḥû
GROWS FROM
שיח
s-y-ḥ
To muse, meditate, or speak.
“speak of” in this verse is sîḥû. The same root can name inward musing and outward speech. Here, “talk” is speech shaped by attention to the works being named, not throwaway chatter.
ALSO GROWS
sîaḥ: Meditation or musing.
שִׂיחַ
It shows the inward attentiveness that can accompany speaking of God’s works.
sîḥāh: Conversation or discourse.
שִׂיחָה
It shows the same root reaching into spoken exchange.
נִפְלְאוֹתָיו
nifla’otav
GROWS FROM
פלא
p-l-ʾ
To be extraordinary, surpassing, or wonderful.
The Hebrew calls these acts wonders: what stands beyond the ordinary. The verse puts those wonders into song and speech, making them present in what people say.
ALSO GROWS
pele: A marvel or extraordinary thing.
פֶּלֶא
It names the wonder contained in “his wondrous works.”
nifla: Extraordinary or marvelous.
נִפְלָא
It shares the root that forms the word translated “wondrous.”
זַמְּרוּ
zammeru
GROWS FROM
זמר
z-m-r
To make music or sing praise.
“make music” in this verse is zammeru. The Hebrew verb translated “sing psalms” comes from the same root as the word for a psalm. The musical act and the song belong to one word family.
ALSO GROWS
zāmar: To make music or sing praise.
זָמַר
It is the action commanded in “sing psalms unto him.”
mizmôr: A psalm or musical song.
מִזְמוֹר
It shows the song itself growing from the root used for making music.
THE PATTERN
Remembered wonders become shared song and speech.
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the LORD, and said, I will sing to the LORD, for he has risen high, risen high; horse and rider he has hurled into the sea.I murmur over all your work, and murmur over your doings.And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty; aligned and true are your ways, King of the nations.THE THREAD
I murmur over all your work, and murmur over your doings.The Hebrew root שיח (siach, “muse or speak”) underlies “talk” in Psalm 105:2. Psalm 77:12 places meditation and talk side by side, making explicit the inward attention and outward speech held together by that root.
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