What Does Psalm 57:9 Mean?
I extend my hand to you among the peoples, O Lord; I pluck the strings for you among the nations.
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
I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: I will sing unto thee among the nations.THE KEY
The praise here is both thankful acknowledgment and song, carried into the hearing of peoples and nations.
THE MEANING
Your praise does not stay enclosed within private devotion: this verse places gratitude among peoples and song among nations. Its voice meets you now as an outward expression of what you recognize in God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that praise belongs only in private or among your own people.
THE ROOT
אוֹדְךָ
ʾôdeḵā
GROWS FROM
י־ד־ה
y-d-h
Give thanks, praise, acknowledge.
“extend my hand” in this verse is ʾôdeḵā. The verb translated “praise” here is yādâ, which carries the sense of giving thanks and acknowledging. Its branch todāh names thanksgiving, and Genesis links the same root to Judah’s name: praise is spoken aloud and can become part of a people’s identity.
ALSO GROWS
tōdāh: Thanksgiving or an expression of thanks.
תּוֹדָה
This branch makes the gratitude within the verse’s praise audible.
Yəhûdāh: A personal name linked in Genesis to praising the LORD.
יְהוּדָה
The name echoes praise becoming a spoken acknowledgment tied to a people.
אֲזַמְּרְךָ
ʾăzammerəḵā
GROWS FROM
ז־מ־ר
z-m-r
Sing or make music in praise.
“pluck the strings for you” in this verse is ʾăzammerəḵā. The verse joins thankful acknowledgment to music: praise is not only named, it is sung. Both actions are placed among peoples and nations, so the song’s reach extends beyond the speaker’s immediate community.
ALSO GROWS
mizmôr: A song or musical composition, especially a psalm.
מִזְמוֹר
The word for a psalm grows from the same root as the singing in this verse.
zimrāh: Song or music.
זִמְרָה
This branch shows the musical sense carried by the verse’s verb for singing.
THE PATTERN
Thankful praise becomes public song that crosses the boundaries between peoples.
Therefore I extend my hands to you among the nations, O LORD, and I sing praise to your name.And that the nations might give weight to God for compassion, as it is written, For this I will confess to you among the nations, and I will sing to your name.Recount his weight among the nations; his wonders among all peoples.THE THREAD
Therefore I extend my hands to you among the nations, O LORD, and I sing praise to your name.This verse uses the same paired roots: yādâ, giving thanks or praise, and zāmar, singing. Their repetition among the nations shows that the movement from gratitude to public song is built into the verse’s structure.
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