What Does Psalm 145:6 Mean?
They speak of the strength of your awe-stirring deeds, and I recount your greatness.
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
And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.THE KEY
The verse turns awe into a countable story: many voices speak of the acts, and one voice recounts the greatness they reveal.
THE MEANING
The acts that awaken awe are speakable now, carried in the stories you hear and remember. As you recount them, their greatness comes into view; the many voices and the singular “I” share in the same telling.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that what is awe-inspiring must remain unspoken: here, people speak of the acts and the speaker recounts the greatness.
THE ROOT
אֲסַפְּרֶנָּה
asapperennah
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-p-r
Count, recount, tell.
“recount” in this verse is asapperennah. This verb can carry both counting and recounting: the declaration gathers the acts into a remembered account. English “declare” can sound like a single statement, while the Hebrew retains the sense of telling them out.
ALSO GROWS
sefer: Book; written record.
סֵפֶר
The same root links telling with a recorded account.
sofer: Scribe; one who records.
סוֹפֵר
The scribe’s work gives the recounting a durable form.
עֱזוּז
ʿezuz
GROWS FROM
עזז
ʿ-z-z
Be strong; be powerful.
The might being spoken is strength with force, not an abstract quality. The same word appears in Psalm 78:4 as the strength that is recounted to the next generation.
ALSO GROWS
ʿoz: Strength; might.
עֹז
This noun makes the root’s force explicit.
ʿaz: Strong; fierce.
עַז
The adjective shows the root describing force in a person or thing.
נוֹרְאֹתֶיךָ
nora'otekha
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
Fear; stand in awe.
“terrible acts” in this verse is nora'otekha. The word carries fear and awe together. Paired with “greatness” and the call to recount, it presents the acts as more than frightening: they evoke awe that can be spoken and remembered.
ALSO GROWS
yare: Stand in awe; fear.
יָרֵא
The root verb names the response these acts awaken.
yir'ah: Awe; fear.
יִרְאָה
This noun holds the same response as a lasting state or quality.
THE PATTERN
Awe becomes shared memory when voices keep recounting what God has done.
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.Recount his weight among the nations; his wonders among all peoples.Cretes and Arabians, we hear them speak in our tongues the great works of God.THE THREAD
We will not hide them from their children, recounting to the generation that follows the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonders that he has done.The Hebrew verb סָפַר (saphar, count or recount) behind “declare” recurs in Psalm 78:4 as “shewing,” and עֱזוּז (ʿezuz, might) recurs there as “strength.” Psalm 78 carries that recounting forward to the next generation, placing this speaker’s declaration inside a wider chain of remembered speech.
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