What Does Psalm 107:8 Mean?
Let them extend their hands in thanks to the LORD for his faithful love, and for his wonders to the children of humankind.
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
Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!THE KEY
Praise here is the recognition that faithful love becomes visible in deeds that leave people astonished.
THE MEANING
The verse gives voice to a wish that people would praise the LORD because faithful love shows itself in works that astonish. Human lives are where that love becomes tangible.
THE ROOT
חַסְדּוֹ
chasdo
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful, loyal love expressed in action.
The word rendered “goodness” is chesed: faithful love recognized in what it does, not only a pleasant quality. A related branch names the faithful person, binding the nature of this love to the life it shapes.
ALSO GROWS
chasid: A faithful or devoted person
חָסִיד
The same root connects faithful love with the person who embodies that loyalty.
chasad: To act with loyal kindness
חָסַד
This verbal branch shows chesed as something enacted, which fits the verse’s focus on deeds.
יוֹדוּ
yodu
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
To acknowledge openly, give thanks, or praise.
“Let them extend their hands in thanks” in this verse is yodu. The verb behind “praise” also means to acknowledge and give thanks; praise is recognition spoken aloud. Thanksgiving and confession share this root’s movement of bringing something into acknowledgment.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving or thanks
תּוֹדָה
This noun makes the link between praise and grateful acknowledgment explicit.
hitvaddah: To confess or acknowledge
הִתְוַדָּה
This form shows the same root expressing acknowledgment in confession as well as in praise.
נִפְלְאוֹתָיו
nifla'otav
GROWS FROM
פלא
p-l-ʾ
To be extraordinary or beyond the ordinary; a wonder.
“wonders” in this verse is nifla'otav. The root describes what exceeds the ordinary frame of expectation. The verse presents faithful love as something recognizable in deeds that astonish.
ALSO GROWS
pele: A wonder or marvel
פֶּלֶא
This branch names the extraordinary quality carried by the works in the verse.
nifla: Wonderful or extraordinary
נִפְלָא
This form describes what stands out as beyond the ordinary.
THE PATTERN
Praise rises as human lives encounter God’s faithful love in works that can be recognized.
Extend your hands in thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his faithful love reaches to the ages.Always giving thanks for all things to God and the Father, in the nature of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice gave weight to God.THE THREAD
Extend your hands in thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his faithful love reaches to the ages.The word rendered “mercy” here is the same chesed translated “goodness” in verse 8. The connection reveals the wonders as expressions of enduring faithful love: the verse names the character behind the deeds.
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