What Does Psalm 78:1 Mean?
Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, my people, to my instruction; bend your ears to the words of my mouth.
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
Maschil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.THE KEY
The verse makes listening a movement: instruction enters as the ear turns toward the voice.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as one who can receive instruction through listening: the words reach your ear, and your attention turns toward them. The instruction comes as spoken words, close enough to be heard and taken in.
THE ROOT
הַטּוּ
hattu
GROWS FROM
נטה
natah
To stretch out, extend, bend, or turn.
“bend your ears” in this verse is hattu. The verb makes listening a directed movement: the ear turns toward the voice. Its wider sense of extending shows attention as something reaching out to receive what is spoken.
ALSO GROWS
natuy: Extended, outstretched.
נָטוּי
This form makes the extension within “incline” visible: the ear reaches toward the voice.
matteh: Staff, rod; tribe.
מַטֶּה
The staff is an extended object, carrying the root’s sense of stretching outward into a concrete form.
תּוֹרָה
torah
GROWS FROM
ירה
yarah
To throw or cast; by extension, to point, direct, or teach.
“my instruction” in this verse is torah. The word translated “law” carries the sense of instruction that directs. Beside words spoken aloud, it is something received as guidance through hearing.
ALSO GROWS
yarah: To throw, cast, point, direct, or teach.
יָרָה
The verb shows the directional sense inside instruction: it points toward a way.
moreh: Teacher, instructor.
מוֹרֶה
The teacher is the one who directs or instructs, bringing the root’s movement into the voice heard here.
THE PATTERN
Receiving instruction begins with attention turned toward the voice.
My son, give ear to my words; bend your ear to my sayings.Bend your ear and come to me. Hear and respond, and your living soul shall live. I will cut a covenant of the ages with you, the steady faithful loves of David.Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to swell.THE THREAD
Bend your ear and come to me. Hear and respond, and your living soul shall live. I will cut a covenant of the ages with you, the steady faithful loves of David.The same Hebrew verb for “incline,” meaning to stretch out or turn, appears in both verses. Psalm 78 names what the ear receives as instruction; Isaiah shows this turning toward the voice opening into life and covenant.
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