What Does Psalm 118:16 Mean?
The right hand of the LORD is lifted high; the right hand of the LORD makes strength.
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
The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.THE KEY
The same right hand is both lifted high and already at work: its exaltation is action, not display.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s hand is raised and active in your present life, carrying strength that acts decisively. The verse holds elevation and action together: divine power is not distant status but force at work.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that divine strength is only distant or symbolic: the verse presents it as raised and acting with force.
THE ROOT
רוֹמֵמָה
romemah
GROWS FROM
רוּם
rum
to rise or be high
“is lifted high” in this verse is romemah. The Hebrew word grows from רום, the root of rising high, so the right hand is pictured as lifted into prominence. Because the same line immediately says this hand acts with valor, its elevation is active power rather than ornament.
ALSO GROWS
ram: high, elevated
רָם
This related form carries the root’s sense of height into a description of the hand’s raised position.
marom: height, high place
מָרוֹם
This noun shows the root’s spatial dimension: exaltation evokes being raised to a height.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s raised hand makes divine strength visible through decisive action and support.
Your right hand, O LORD, grew majestic in strength; your right hand, O LORD, shattered the enemy.Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.He has worked strength with his arm, and scattered those lifted high in the thinking of their hearts.THE THREAD
You have an arm with might; your hand is strong, and your right hand is lifted.Psalm 89 calls the right hand high, using the same Hebrew root רום found in “exalted” here. It joins that height to the strength of the hand, making the raised hand an image of power at work.
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