What Does Psalm 118:19 Mean?
Open to me the gates of alignment; I enter them, and I extend my hands to the LORD.
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
Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:THE KEY
Alignment is pictured as a gate you can enter, and praise is the sound of having passed through it.
THE MEANING
The verse places you now at a threshold of alignment: you ask for the gates to open and then enter through them. Praise follows as voiced acknowledgment and thanks to the LORD.
THE ROOT
צֶדֶק
tsedeq
GROWS FROM
צדק
tsadaq
To be just, right, and aligned.
“gates of alignment” in this verse is tsedeq. The word rendered righteousness carries the sense of alignment and right order. Here that alignment is not only a quality: it is pictured as a gate the speaker asks to open and then enters.
ALSO GROWS
tsaddiq: A person who is just or aligned; righteous.
צַדִּיק
The related word describes someone living in the order named by the gate.
tsedaqah: Righteousness, justice, or right action.
צְדָקָה
This branch shows alignment taking form in what is done, not remaining an abstract status.
פִּתְחוּ
pitḥu
GROWS FROM
פתח
pataḥ
To open or make an opening accessible.
“open” in this verse is pitḥu. The verse begins with an opening, then moves to entry. The passage is made accessible before the speaker crosses its threshold.
ALSO GROWS
petaḥ: An opening, doorway, or entrance.
פֶּתַח
This branch makes clear that opening creates a passage through which someone can enter.
patuach: Open or opened.
פָּתוּחַ
The related form describes the state that allows the speaker’s movement through the gates.
אוֹדֶה
odeh
GROWS FROM
ידה
yadah
To acknowledge, give thanks, or praise.
“I extend my hands to the LORD” in this verse is odeh. The root of praise also carries the sense of acknowledgment and thanksgiving, so praise is voiced recognition. The speaker’s response follows entry: the crossing itself leads into acknowledgment of the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving or praise.
תּוֹדָה
This branch names the gratitude that the verse places after entry.
modeh: One who gives thanks or acknowledges.
מוֹדֶה
It shows praise as recognition expressed by the person who has entered.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents God’s gates as thresholds to be crossed, with entry following an opening or invitation.
Open the gates, that the aligned nation which keeps what is steady may enter in.Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with a clamor of praise; lift your hands to him, and bless his nature.Flourishing are those who wash their robes, so that the right to the tree of life will be theirs, and they may enter through the gates into the city.THE THREAD
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with a clamor of praise; lift your hands to him, and bless his nature.Psalm 100 makes the praise sequence explicit: its gates are entered with thanksgiving. The two verses share the Hebrew gate-word שַׁעַר (sha’ar, gate) and the root יָדָה (yadah, acknowledge or give thanks), showing that praise is already woven into the act of entry.
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