What Does Psalm 9:11 Mean?
Sing praises to the LORD, who settles in Zion; tell among the peoples his deeds.
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
Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.THE KEY
The verse turns praise into public witness: what the LORD does is set before the peoples in words.
THE MEANING
The LORD dwells in Zion, and his deeds are spoken among the peoples. Praise gives those deeds a public voice, carrying what is known in one place into shared awareness now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that praise is only private feeling: the verse binds song to making the LORD’s acts known among the peoples.
THE ROOT
הַגִּידוּ
haggidu
GROWS FROM
נָגַד
To be in front or conspicuous; in a causative form, to make known or set forth.
“tell” in this verse is haggidu. The root links “declare” with what is placed before someone. The LORD’s acts are set before the peoples through speech, made visible in the public space of testimony.
ALSO GROWS
higgid: To tell, declare, or make known.
הִגִּיד
This verb names the act of bringing the LORD’s deeds into shared speech.
neged: Before, in front of, or opposite.
נֶגֶד
This spatial sense illuminates declaration as setting something before listeners.
nagid: A leader or prince; one who is in front.
נָגִיד
This related form carries the sense of being before or prominent, echoing how the deeds are placed before the peoples.
עֲלִילוֹתָיו
ʿalilotav
GROWS FROM
עָלַל
To act or deal with; as a noun, an act or deed.
The word points to concrete acts, the ways God has acted. The same Hebrew noun appears in Psalm 77:12, where God’s deeds are both meditated on and spoken of.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalilah: A deed, action, or act.
עֲלִילָה
This noun names the concrete actions that the verse says are declared among the peoples.
hitʿallel: To act or deal with; used of what God did in Egypt in Exodus 10:2.
הִתְעַלֵּל
This related verb appears where God’s acts are to be told to later generations, joining deeds with their retelling.
THE PATTERN
Praise makes God’s deeds public, so what is encountered in one place becomes known among many.
Extend your hands to the LORD, call out to his name, and make his deeds known among peoples.And on that day you will say, Extend your hands to the LORD, call upon his nature, make his doings known among the peoples, and speak aloud that his nature is lifted high.Return to your own house, and tell how much God has done for you. And he went away and heralded throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.THE THREAD
I murmur over all your work, and murmur over your doings.Both verses use the Hebrew noun עֲלִילוֹת (ʿalilot, “deeds”). Psalm 9:11 carries those deeds into public declaration; Psalm 77:12 shows them being meditated on and spoken, so public praise grows from attention to what God does.
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