What Does Psalm 145:1 Mean?
David’s Psalm of praise. I lift you up, my God, O King, and I bless your name through the ages and the ages.
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
David’s Psalm of praise. I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.THE KEY
The verse blesses the nature carried by God’s name, so praise addresses who God is rather than merely repeating a title.
THE MEANING
Your praise lifts God as king and speaks blessing over the nature carried in God’s name. “For ever and ever” stretches this response through the ages, holding God’s worth beyond one passing moment.
THE ROOT
וַאֲבָרֲכָה
va’avarekha
GROWS FROM
ברך
barakh
To bless; the root also carries the sense of bending the knee.
The word translated “bless” shares its consonants with the word for “knee,” holding a posture of honor inside the act of speaking well. Here the blessing is directed to God’s name, God’s nature made known, so praise acknowledges God’s character.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
It shares the root consonants and reveals the posture of honor carried by blessing.
berakhah: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
It shows the same root extending from the act of blessing into the blessing itself.
אֲרוֹמִמְךָ
aromimkha
GROWS FROM
רום
rum
To be high, rise, or be lifted up.
“lift you up” in this verse is aromimkha. “Extol” grows from a root of height and lifting. The praise names the height of the one addressed, lifting God above the speaker’s frame.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High or exalted
רָם
It shares the root and makes the height in “extol” visible.
marom: Height or high place
מָרוֹם
It shows the root’s movement from being high to the height itself.
הַמֶּלֶךְ
hammelekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
malakh
To reign or rule.
The title “king” grows from the root for reigning. It carries the nature of governance, so God is praised not only by a title but as the one who rules.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King
מֶלֶךְ
It names the one who reigns.
malkhut: Kingdom or reign
מַלְכוּת
It names the rule and realm that grow from the same root.
THE PATTERN
Praise blesses God’s name by speaking honor over the nature God reveals, across every age.
A Psalm of David, when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed. I bless the LORD at all times, and his praise is continually in my mouth.A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, my living soul, and all my inward parts, bless his set-apart name.And every created thing in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, I hear them saying, Blessing, and honor, and weight, and power, be to the one who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, into the ages of the ages.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, my living soul, and all my inward parts, bless his set-apart name.The same Hebrew root, ברך (barakh), appears in both verses as “bless.” Psalm 103 opens the phrase further: the blessing of God’s name gathers in “all that is within me,” joining the whole person to the praise.
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