What Does Psalm 95:3 Mean?
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King over all gods.
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
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.THE KEY
The verse makes greatness a question of sovereignty: every power called a god stands beneath the LORD’s rule.
THE MEANING
The LORD stands as the highest authority now, and every power you meet that claims to be ultimate remains beneath that rule. The title “King” gives greatness an active shape: it orders the whole field of powers. What is ultimate is measured against the LORD’s sovereignty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the strongest power you face must therefore be the highest authority.
THE ROOT
גָּדוֹל
gādōl
GROWS FROM
גדל
Grow, become great; increase or magnify.
The root carries the sense of growing or being made great, though here the adjective names the LORD as already great. Paired with “King,” greatness becomes supremacy over every power named in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
gādal: Grow, become great.
גָּדַל
The verb family shows the movement beneath the adjective “great,” adding the sense of rising in stature.
migdāl: Tower.
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises high and stands visibly above its surroundings, echoing the verse’s language of being above every other power.
מֶלֶךְ
melekh
GROWS FROM
מלך
Rule, reign.
“King” in this verse is melekh. English gives a title; the root also points to ruling as an act and a kingdom as its scope. “Above all gods” names the reach of that rule, extending over every power the verse can name.
ALSO GROWS
mālak: To reign, rule.
מָלַךְ
The noun “King” opens into an active verb: kingship is the exercise of rule.
mamlākhāh: Kingdom, realm.
מַמְלָכָה
The kingdom is the realm under the king’s rule; the verse places every divine power within that reach.
THE PATTERN
Every power that claims divinity is placed beneath the LORD’s rule.
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?For you, LORD, are Most High above all the earth; you are lifted far above all gods.And on his garment and on his thigh he has a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.THE THREAD
For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised; he is to be held in awe above all gods.The connected verse repeats גדול (gādōl, “great”) and the claim that the LORD is above all gods, so the same root and hierarchy appear again. Its added movement from greatness to praise and awe makes the kingship of this verse visible in the reader’s present response.
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