What Does Psalm 107:22 Mean?
And let them slaughter the sacrifices of extended hands, and recount his works with rejoicing.
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
And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.THE KEY
In Hebrew, thanksgiving is not merely felt: it is offered, then its telling rings out as joy.
THE MEANING
Gratitude takes shape as an offering, and God’s works become a spoken account. The verse holds the telling and the rejoicing together: what is remembered about God is voiced with joy.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the idea that gratitude is only a private feeling: here it becomes an offering and a spoken account of what God does.
THE ROOT
תּוֹדָה
todah
GROWS FROM
ידה
Y-D-H
Acknowledge, give thanks, praise.
“extended hands” in this verse is todah. Thanksgiving shares its root with acknowledging and giving thanks aloud. The offering is an act of naming what is true about what God has done.
ALSO GROWS
yadah: Acknowledge, give thanks, praise.
יָדָה
This verb shows that thanksgiving is an act of recognition, not only a feeling.
hodu: Give thanks.
הוֹדוּ
This plural form carries the same acknowledgment into a shared expression.
וִיסַפְּרוּ
visapperu
GROWS FROM
ספר
S-P-R
Count, recount, tell.
“recount” in this verse is visapperu. The Hebrew verb for declaring can also mean counting or recounting. God’s works are given shape as they are told one by one.
ALSO GROWS
mispar: Number, count.
מִסְפָּר
This branch shows the root’s connection to counting what can be recounted.
sefer: Book, record.
סֵפֶר
A written record preserves what the telling brings into view.
רִנָּה
rinnah
GROWS FROM
רנן
R-N-N
Ring out, sing or cry aloud.
The word for rejoicing carries the sound of a ringing cry or song. The telling of God’s works is not flat report; it has a joyful voice.
ALSO GROWS
ranan: Sing aloud, shout for joy.
רָנַן
The verb makes clear that this joy is voiced.
renanah: A ringing cry or joyful song.
רְנָנָה
This related noun makes rejoicing something heard, not merely inward.
THE PATTERN
What is received from God becomes praise when it is voiced as testimony.
He sets a new song in my mouth, praise to our God. Many see and stand in awe, and lean their weight upon the LORD.And on that day you will say, Extend your hands to the LORD, call upon his nature, make his doings known among the peoples, and speak aloud that his nature is lifted high.Through him, then, let us always carry up a sacrifice of praise to God, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David. I extend my hands to the LORD with my whole heart; I recount all your wonders.The Hebrew behind “shew forth” shares the root ספר with “declare” in this verse: both carry the sense of recounting. Psalm 9 makes that recounting an expression of whole-heart praise.
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