What Does Psalm 148:14 Mean?
He lifts the horn of his people, the praise of all his faithful ones, the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise the LORD.
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
He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.THE KEY
God lifts his people’s horn as he names them a people near to him, so their exaltation and closeness belong together.
THE MEANING
The LORD raises the strength of his people, a people near to him. The verse speaks of your dignity as something held within belonging to God: strength and nearness stand together.
THE ROOT
קְרֹבוֹ
qerovo
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
to approach, draw near
The word translated “near” belongs to a root that also describes approaching or being brought close. Nearness here carries movement and relationship within it: the people belong close to God.
ALSO GROWS
qarav: To approach or come near
קָרַב
It makes clear that nearness is a movement into closeness, not merely a label for the people.
qorban: Drawing near
קָרְבָּן
This branch carries the same approach toward closeness, illuminating the verse’s picture of a people near to God.
חֲסִידָיו
chasidav
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
faithful love, loyal devotion
The word rendered “saints” belongs to the family of חֶסֶד (chesed, “faithful love”). That root lets the verse’s faithful ones be heard through the nature of faithful love, while the people are also named as near to God.
ALSO GROWS
chesed: Faithful love
חֶסֶד
This is the root-family idea carried into the description of God’s faithful ones.
chasid: A person marked by faithful devotion
חָסִיד
This singular form shows how the root’s faithful-love quality describes the people called “saints.”
וַיָּרֶם
vayyārem
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
to be high, rise, or lift up
“lifts” in this verse is vayyārem. The verb keeps the image of upward movement: God raises the horn, the people’s strength. The same root family names what is high and the height itself, so the verse’s exaltation remains a concrete lifting.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, elevated
רָם
It shows the upward sense held inside the verb translated “exalteth.”
marom: Height, high place
מָרוֹם
This noun preserves the same vertical image of being lifted up.
THE PATTERN
God raises the strength of a people whose identity is nearness to him.
All the horns of the wicked I cut off; but the horns of the aligned one are lifted high.Flourishing is the man you choose and bring near, to lodge in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your set-apart temple.But now, in the Anointed One, Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of the Anointed One.THE THREAD
Flourishing is the man you choose and bring near, to lodge in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your set-apart temple.The word translated “near” is קְרֹבוֹ (qerovo, “near to him”), from the same קרב (q-r-b, “approach, draw near”) root as “causest to approach” in Psalm 65:4. Together the verses reveal nearness as both the people’s belonging and the movement by which they come close.
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