What Does Psalm 72:18 Mean?
Let the LORD God be blessed, the God of Israel, who alone does wonders.
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
Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.THE KEY
The wonders are not one power among many: the LORD does them alone.
THE MEANING
The LORD is the God of Israel, whose action reaches beyond what you can make or explain. The verse gives you words to bless the One whose wonders have no rival.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the LORD’s wondrous work is only one power among several: the verse says the LORD does these wonders alone.
THE ROOT
נִפְלָאוֹת
niflaʾot
GROWS FROM
פ־ל־א
p-l-ʾ
To be extraordinary or marvelous, beyond the ordinary.
“wonders” in this verse is niflaʾot. The word translated “wondrous things” grows from the same root as the Hebrew word for a wonder or marvel. The verse points to acts so extraordinary that they exceed ordinary explanation.
ALSO GROWS
pele: Wonder, marvel
פֶּלֶא
This related word makes explicit that the LORD’s deeds are themselves wonders.
palaʾ: To be extraordinary, marvelous
פָּלָא
The verb carries the quality behind the deeds: they surpass what is ordinary.
לְבַדּוֹ
levaddo
GROWS FROM
ב־ד־ד
b-d-d
To be alone or apart.
“Only” carries the sense of being alone, apart from others. It does more than intensify the claim: it names the LORD as the one who acts without a rival in these wonders.
ALSO GROWS
badad: Alone, apart
בָּדָד
The root’s sense of separateness makes the exclusivity in this verse concrete.
badad: To dwell alone or apart
בָּדָד
The same root can describe being apart; here that separation marks the LORD’s unmatched action.
בָּרוּךְ
barukh
GROWS FROM
ב־ר־ך
b-r-k
To bless; the related noun also means knee.
“be blessed” in this verse is barukh. The word for blessing is connected with the knee, bringing the posture of kneeling into the word’s background. Here blessing is the response that recognizes the LORD’s unmatched deeds.
ALSO GROWS
barakh: To bless
בָּרַךְ
This is the verb behind the verse’s opening declaration of blessing.
berekh: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
This related word gives the root’s bodily image of bending the knee.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s unmatched wonders become the ground of praise.
Who is like you among the mighty ones, O LORD? Who is like you, majestic in being set apart, awe-inspiring in praises, doing wonders?You are the God who makes wonders; you make known your strength among the peoples.For the Mighty One has done great things for me, and set apart is his name.THE THREAD
You are the God who makes wonders; you make known your strength among the peoples.The same Hebrew root פ־ל־א (p-l-ʾ), meaning “to be extraordinary,” appears in both verses’ language of wonders. Psalm 72 says the LORD does them alone; Psalm 77 shows those wonders making the LORD’s strength known.
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