What Does Psalm 22:3 Mean?
But you are set apart, settling upon the praises of Israel.
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
But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel.THE KEY
Hebrew holds “inhabit” close to “sit”: Israel’s praise becomes the throne-like place where the Holy One dwells.
THE MEANING
God is holy and is pictured as dwelling in Israel’s praise now. Praise is not only spoken toward God; the verse presents it as the place where God is present.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that praise is only speech directed toward a distant God; here it is also where God’s presence is pictured as seated.
THE ROOT
יֹשֵׁב
yoshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
to sit, settle, or dwell
“settling upon” in this verse is yoshev. The word translated “inhabitest” also carries the sense of sitting. That shared meaning lets the line picture God’s dwelling in Israel’s praise as a seat, with the presence of the Holy One and the image of enthronement held together.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: to sit, remain, or dwell
יָשַׁב
The verb’s range holds sitting and dwelling together, deepening the image behind “inhabitest.”
moshav: a seat or dwelling place
מוֹשָׁב
This related form preserves the same link between being seated and having a home.
תְּהִלּוֹת
tehillot
GROWS FROM
הלל
halal
to praise or celebrate
“praises” in this verse is tehillot. The root itself means praise; its placement beside the word for sitting makes Israel’s praise the seat-like setting of the verse. The same seed also appears in the familiar call “Hallelujah,” joining Israel’s praise here to praise of Yah.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: praise or a song of praise
תְּהִלָּה
This singular form shares the root of Israel’s “praises” and shows the same praise as one expression.
halelu-yah: praise Yah
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
The familiar call to praise carries the same root as the praise in which the verse pictures God dwelling.
יִשְׂרָאֵל
Yisra’el
GROWS FROM
שרה
sarah
to strive or contend
Genesis 32:28 links the name Israel with striving with God and with people. The praises named here belong to a people whose name carries that persistent relationship with God within it.
ALSO GROWS
sarita: you have striven or contended
שָׂרִיתָ
This verb in Genesis 32:28 connects the root with the struggle used to explain the name Israel.
Yisra’el: Israel, the name linked with striving with God
יִשְׂרָאֵל
The name identifies the people whose praises become the dwelling place in this verse.
THE PATTERN
Praise is pictured as the space that holds God’s presence and gathers around God’s throne.
And it came to be, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one voice heard in praising and in extending the hands to the LORD; and when they lifted their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of song, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; his faithful love is for the ages. Then the house was filled with a cloud, the house of the LORD.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
Praise the LORD. Sing to the LORD a new song, and his praise in the assembly of the faithful ones.“His praise” here is tehillah, from the same root as the “praises” in Psalm 22:3. The congregation makes visible the shared setting in which Israel’s praise becomes the dwelling place named in the current verse.
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