What Does Psalm 150:5 Mean?
Praise him upon the ringing cymbals that sound; praise him upon the ringing cymbals that shout.
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
Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.THE KEY
One cymbal phrase turns toward what is heard, the other rises like a shout: praise fills the air in more than one voice.
THE MEANING
Praise takes audible form now: cymbals sound, and another burst breaks out like a cry. The verse holds both sounds together as expressions of acclaim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that reverence must sound quiet or restrained: this verse gives loud cymbals and a shout a place in praise.
THE ROOT
שֶׁמַע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear or listen; the root also gives words for sound and report.
“upon the ringing cymbals that sound” in this verse is shemaʿ. The Hebrew phrase names these as cymbals of shemaʿ, sound or hearing, where the KJV says “loud.” Their sound is defined by what reaches the ear, then paired with teruʿah, a cry-like burst.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear or listen; hear and respond when the context implies response.
שָׁמַע
The verb shares the seed of the cymbals’ sound: praise is made to be heard.
shemuʿah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch keeps sound connected to what is received and carried onward.
תְּרוּעָה
teruʿah
GROWS FROM
רוע
To raise a cry or shout.
“upon the ringing cymbals that shout” in this verse is teruʿah. Teruʿah names the cymbal’s sound as a shout or blast. The verse joins sound that is heard with sound that breaks out, giving praise both reach and force.
ALSO GROWS
ruaʿ: To shout or raise a cry.
רוּעַ
The verb names the cry-like quality carried by the cymbal’s sound.
hariʿu: They shouted or cried out.
הָרִיעוּ
This verb form shows the root in a voiced, collective burst, echoing the verse’s forceful sound.
הַלְלוּהוּ
halleluhu
GROWS FROM
הלל
To praise or celebrate.
“Praise him” in this verse is halleluhu. The same root appears in words for praise and in Hallelu-Yah, praise to Yah. Here halleluhu gives the cymbal sounds their shared direction: they are voices of praise.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: Praise or a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
It shows the same root taking shape as voiced praise.
Hallelu-Yah: Praise Yah.
הַלְלוּיָהּ
This familiar acclamation carries the same praise-root as “praise him” in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Praise takes audible form through instruments, voices, and every breathing creature.
Sing to him a new song, and strike the strings well with a shout.Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and songs of breath, singing and plucking the strings in your heart to the Lord.Let every thing that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.THE THREAD
Let every thing that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.The same praise-root, halal (הלל), appears in both verses. The next line widens the cymbals’ sound into praise voiced by every breathing thing.
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