What Does Psalm 67:3 Mean?

Let the peoples extend their hands to you, O God; let all the peoples extend their hands to you.

Psalm 67:3 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

THE KEY

The Hebrew word for praise also means give thanks and acknowledge, so the verse pictures all peoples sharing one act of recognition.

THE MEANING

Praise here is a shared acknowledgment of God, voiced by a people and widened to all people. Your voice belongs within that widening circle; no people is outside the verse’s horizon.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the belief that praise belongs to one people alone: the verse’s horizon includes all peoples.

THE ROOT

יוֹדוּךָ

yodukha

GROWS FROM

ידה

y-d-h

To acknowledge, give thanks, or praise.

“extend their hands to you” in this verse is yodukha. The same root holds praise, thanks, and acknowledgment together. The repeated verb makes praise a shared recognition, and the verse widens that act until all peoples are included.

ALSO GROWS

todah: Thanksgiving, thanks, or praise.

תּוֹדָה

Psalm 100:4 uses this noun for thanksgiving, showing that the praise in this verse belongs to the same family of gratitude.

Yehudah: Judah; a name associated with praise.

יְהוּדָה

At Judah’s naming, Leah says, “Now will I praise the LORD” (Genesis 29:35), joining the name to this same root.

THE PATTERN

Praise expands from one gathered voice to the voices of all peoples.

Praise the LORD, all you nations; shout for him, all you peoples.

Psalm 117:1 · SDVLike Psalm 67:3, this verse repeats the call to praise and explicitly extends it to every nation and people.

And again, Praise the LORD, all you nations, and let all the peoples praise him.

Romans 15:11 · SDVThe call crosses into the New Testament and again gathers Gentiles and all peoples into praise.

THE THREAD

Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with a clamor of praise; lift your hands to him, and bless his nature.

Psalm 100:4 · SDV

“Thanksgiving” translates todah, from the same ⁨ידה⁩ root as yodukha, “praise,” in Psalm 67:3. The shared root reveals praise as gratitude and acknowledgment, a voice the verse gathers from all peoples.

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