What Does Psalm 56:10 Mean?
In God I praise his word; in the LORD I praise his word.
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
In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word.THE KEY
The verse praises God’s word itself, repeating that praise under both divine names.
THE MEANING
You can praise what God says even while fear is present; both lines place your attention on God’s word. The repetition makes that word a steady ground for trust when circumstances are unsettled.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that fear makes praise impossible dissolves here: praise can rest on God’s word while the situation remains unsettled.
THE ROOT
דְּבָרוֹ
dĕvārō
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; the related noun davar means word, matter, or affair.
The Hebrew word translated “word” can also name a matter or affair, joining what is spoken with what is at stake. Repeated here, God’s word is not a passing sound: it is the matter on which praise and trust rest.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke.
דִּבֵּר
The spoken word grows from the same root as davar, linking God’s speech with the word being praised.
devarim: Words, matters, or affairs.
דְּבָרִים
This plural preserves the root’s range: words are also matters, giving the verse’s repeated “his word” a sense of substance.
THE PATTERN
God’s spoken word becomes a ground for confidence, joy, and praise.
I leap at your word, like one who finds great plunder.So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but shall do what I delight in, and shall break through in the thing to which I sent it.He did not split in two at the promise of God through not leaning his full weight, but was made strong in trust, giving weight to God.THE THREAD
So I have an answer for the one who taunts me, for I lean my weight on your word.The phrase “thy word” uses the same Hebrew noun, דָּבָר (davar), meaning word or matter. Psalm 119 shows that word becoming an answer under reproach, opening Psalm 56’s praise as trust grounded in what God has spoken.
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