What Does Psalm 116:12 Mean?
What shall I give back to the LORD for all he deals out to me?
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
What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?THE KEY
“Render” and “benefits” echo the Psalm’s earlier words for “return” and “deal bountifully”: the speaker’s return answers the LORD’s prior generosity.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s goodness is already reaching you, and your response begins with the question of what you can return. The verse leaves that response open, holding gratitude as an answer to what you have received.
THE ROOT
אָשִׁיב
ashiv
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
Turn back; return.
“give back” in this verse is ashiv. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of returning, giving the question a relational direction: what can turn back toward the giver after goodness has reached you? The same root returns in this Psalm’s “Return unto thy rest” (verse 7).
ALSO GROWS
shav: A form of the verb meaning “he returned.”
שָׁב
It shows the root as an act of turning back, the same movement named in the speaker’s question.
teshuvah: A noun associated with returning or turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
It makes visible the directional sense beneath “render”: the response turns back toward the one who gave.
תַּגְמוּלוֹהִי
tagmulohi
GROWS FROM
גמל
Deal with or recompense; the sense depends on context.
“all he deals out to me” in this verse is tagmulohi. The word translated “benefits” comes from the same root as the LORD’s “dealt bountifully” in Psalm 116:7. English separates the gift from the action: the verse speaks of what the LORD has actively dealt toward the speaker.
ALSO GROWS
gāmal: To deal with someone; in Psalm 116:7, to deal bountifully.
גָּמַל
This is the same root used earlier in the Psalm, linking the LORD’s giving directly to the speaker’s question of return.
gemul: A recompense or an act of dealing.
גְּמוּל
It shows that this word family can name what is done or returned, sharpening the exchange of generosity and response in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Goodness received from God draws a response that returns attention, voice, or life toward God.
I lift the cup of deliverances, and in the nature of the LORD I call.When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.Therefore I urge you, brothers, through the compassions of God, to set your bodies beside God as a living sacrifice, set apart, well-pleasing to him, which is your true service.THE THREAD
Turn back, my living soul, to your settling place; for the LORD deals out good to you.“Return” in verse 7 and “render” in verse 12 share שׁוּב (shuv, “return”); “dealt bountifully” and “benefits” share גמל (gamal, “deal or recompense”). The paired roots make the Psalm answer its own question: the speaker’s return rises from the LORD’s prior generosity.
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