What Does Psalm 138:1 Mean?
A Psalm of David. I extend my hands in thanks to you with my whole heart; before the gods I make music to you.
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
A Psalm of David. I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for praise also carries confession and thanksgiving, so the whole heart openly acknowledges God even before the gods.
THE MEANING
Your praise is the whole heart speaking as one, not a private feeling hidden inside you. It is voiced before the powers named as gods, so the scene around you does not determine whom your heart acknowledges. The verse holds full-hearted praise and public presence together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that praise must wait for privacy or for rival powers to disappear; this verse places it openly before them.
THE ROOT
אוֹדְךָ
ʾôdeḵā
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
To acknowledge, confess, give thanks, or praise.
“I extend my hands in thanks to you” in this verse is ʾôdeḵā. The verb here gathers acknowledgment, thanksgiving, and praise under one root. The whole heart is not only feeling devotion inwardly; it is making its recognition audible before the gods.
ALSO GROWS
todah: Thanksgiving; an expression of thanks.
תּוֹדָה
This noun from the same root shows that the verse’s praise carries the sense of giving thanks and openly acknowledging.
hodu: Give thanks; acknowledge.
הוֹדוּ
This related form names the same outward act of recognition, which English separates into praise and thanksgiving.
THE PATTERN
Whole-hearted praise is public acknowledgment that remains centered on God in the presence of other peoples and powers.
Therefore I extend my hands to you among the nations, O LORD, and I sing praise to your name.Now when Daniel perceived that the writing had been inscribed, he went into his house, and with his windows open in his upper room toward Jerusalem, he knelt on his knees three times in the day, and prayed, and extended his hands in thanks before his God, as he had done from before.And that the nations might give weight to God for compassion, as it is written, For this I will confess to you among the nations, and I will sing to your name.THE THREAD
Therefore I extend my hands to you among the nations, O LORD, and I sing praise to your name.The verb translated “give thanks” shares the root behind “praise” in Psalm 138:1. Here that same acknowledgment is explicitly voiced among the nations, opening up what it means to praise before the gods.
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