What Does Psalm 96:4 Mean?
For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised; he is to be held in awe above 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 great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.THE KEY
The word translated “feared” is nora, awe-inspiring: the LORD’s greatness draws praise and reverence that no rival god can claim.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s greatness exceeds every rival claim, and the verse presents praise and awe as the response to that surpassing reality. The reader encounters the LORD not as one power in an equal field, but as the one above all gods.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the LORD is simply one power among equals: the verse places every other god beneath the greatness that evokes praise and awe.
THE ROOT
נוֹרָא
nora
GROWS FROM
י־ר־א
To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
“held in awe” in this verse is nora. The Hebrew form nora describes what evokes awe. With the LORD as its subject, the word holds reverence alongside fear, opening a depth that the English phrase can leave out.
ALSO GROWS
yir’ah: Awe or fear
יִרְאָה
The same root names the human response of awe that this verse associates with the LORD.
yare: To fear or revere
יָרֵא
This verb shows that the root can describe reverence as well as fear.
מְהֻלָּל
mehullal
GROWS FROM
ה־ל־ל
To praise or celebrate.
The verse uses a form of halal for the LORD as the one praised, while “greatly” intensifies that praise. The same root appears in familiar praise words, joining this verse’s response to a wider language of praise.
ALSO GROWS
tehillah: Praise; a song of praise
תְּהִלָּה
It shows the root’s movement from praising to the expression or song of praise.
hallelu-yah: Praise Yah
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ
This familiar call to praise shares the same root as “praised” in the verse.
גָּדוֹל
gadol
GROWS FROM
ג־ד־ל
To grow or become great.
The root carries the sense of growing or becoming great, as well as greatness itself. That depth lets “great” carry a sense of eminence that surpasses the powers named beside the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
gadal: To grow or become great
גָּדַל
This verb shows the root’s link between greatness and growth.
migdal: Tower
מִגְדָּל
A tower is a related form from the same root, extending the image of height or eminence.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s surpassing greatness draws praise and awe beyond every competing power.
For great is the LORD, greatly to be praised, and held in awe above all gods.For the LORD is a great God, and a great King over all gods.Who will not stand in awe of you, Lord, and give weight to your name? For you alone are set apart, and all the nations come and bow down before your face, for your judgments are made visible.THE THREAD
Let them extend their hands to your great and awesome nature; for it is set apart.The same Hebrew roots return: gadol names greatness, and nora, from yare, names what evokes awe. Here praise gathers around the LORD’s name as his nature, set apart.
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