What Does Psalm 126:3 Mean?
The LORD has grown great in doing with us, and we were glad.
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 LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.THE KEY
The verse repeats the prior line’s “great things for them,” but changes it to “with us”, the wonder becomes shared and personal.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s work among you is named as great, and recognizing it brings gladness into the present. You are included in that “us”: the verse holds shared joy in what the LORD has done.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The good in our lives is too small to count as great.
THE ROOT
הִגְדִּיל
higdil
GROWS FROM
גדל
Grow, become great; in this causative form, make great or magnify.
“has grown great in doing” in this verse is higdil. The verb translated “hath done great things” carries the sense of making great or magnifying. Hebrew keeps that movement visible, then joins it to “with us”: the LORD’s action is named as great among the people sharing in it.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: Great.
גָּדוֹל
This adjective comes from the same root, showing that the verse’s “great things” and the language of greatness grow from one seed.
gadal: Grow or become great.
גָּדַל
The growth sense sits beneath “magnified,” revealing an image of greatness increasing rather than merely a label attached to an act.
THE PATTERN
Recognizing the LORD’s works as great turns remembrance into gladness and praise.
For you, LORD, gladden me by your work; I ring out in the deeds of your hands.For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and set apart is his name.THE THREAD
Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with a ringing cry. Then they said among the nations, The LORD has grown great in doing with these.This is the line’s immediate echo: the same Hebrew verb, הִגְדִּיל (higdil, “has made great” or “magnified”), appears in both verses. The declaration shifts from “for them” to “with us,” as witnessed greatness becomes shared gladness.
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