What Does Psalm 118:28 Mean?
You are my God, and I extend my hands to you; my God, I lift you high.
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
Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.THE KEY
The repeated “my God” frames praise as both giving thanks and lifting God high.
THE MEANING
You name God as yours twice: first as the one you praise, then as the one you exalt. Gratitude and exaltation arise from the same address, joined by the repeated “my God.”
THE ROOT
וְאוֹדֶךָּ
ve’odekha
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
To acknowledge, give thanks, or praise.
“I extend my hands to you” in this verse is ve’odekha. The Hebrew verb carries both praise and thanksgiving, where English can make them sound like separate acts. Here, praising God also means acknowledging God as the one to whom thanks are given.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving; a praise offering.
תּוֹדָה
This noun from the same root shows that praise can take the form of expressed thanks.
modeh: One who gives thanks or acknowledges.
מוֹדֶה
This related form keeps acknowledgment and thanksgiving within the same family as praise.
אֲרוֹמְמֶךָּ
’aromemkha
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
To rise or be high.
“I lift you high” in this verse is ’aromemkha. The root carries the sense of rising or being high. The verse pairs thanks with elevation: God is named, thanked, and lifted high in the speaker’s words.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High; exalted.
רָם
This related form shows the root’s basic sense of being raised or high.
marom: Height; high place.
מָרוֹם
This branch makes the spatial image of elevation explicit beneath the verse’s act of exalting.
THE PATTERN
Recognition of God finds voice in thanksgiving and in raising God’s name.
Extend your hands in thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples.O grow the LORD great with me, and let us lift up his name together.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
O extend your hands in thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his faithful love reaches to the ages.The opening verse uses the same Hebrew root for giving thanks that appears here as “I will praise thee.” The psalm moves from its opening call to give thanks to this closing personal address of praise and exaltation.
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