What Does Psalm 98:4 Mean?
Shout to the LORD, all the earth. Burst open, ring out, and make music.
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
Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise.THE KEY
The verse turns praise into a crescendo: the whole earth raises a shout, voices joy, then makes music.
THE MEANING
The whole earth is summoned into audible praise before the LORD. The summons moves through a shout, a ringing expression of joy, and music, making praise a shared sound rather than a private thought.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that praise is only an inward feeling or quiet speech: the verse gives it a forceful, musical voice and addresses the whole earth.
THE ROOT
הָרִיעוּ
hariu
GROWS FROM
רוע
rua
To raise a shout or cry aloud.
The Hebrew verb behind “make a joyful noise” is a command to raise a shout. Its family can describe a shout of triumph or an alarm signal, so praise here has an outward, forceful voice.
ALSO GROWS
teruah: A shout, signal cry, or blast.
תְּרוּעָה
This noun shows the shout can carry a clear public signal, not merely sound without meaning.
hariu: Raise a shout; the plural command used here.
הָרִיעוּ
The verse calls the whole earth into this audible response.
וְרַנְּנוּ
werannenu
GROWS FROM
רנן
ranan
To ring out, cry aloud, or sing for joy.
“ring out” in this verse is werannenu. The verb rendered “rejoice” can carry an audible cry or song, so joy here has a voice. Beside the opening shout and the following music, it makes praise a progression of sound rather than an invisible mood.
ALSO GROWS
rinnah: A joyful cry or song.
רִנָּה
This branch holds both rejoicing and vocal expression in one word.
renanah: A ringing cry or song of joy.
רְנָנָה
Its sense of ringing out echoes the verse’s call for the earth to make its joy audible.
וְזַמֵּרוּ
wezammeru
GROWS FROM
זמר
zamar
To make music, sing, or play music.
“make music” in this verse is wezammeru. The word rendered “sing praise” comes from a root for making music. Praise’s final movement is shaped song, extending the verse from a shout into music.
ALSO GROWS
mizmor: A psalm or song set to music.
מִזְמוֹר
This familiar branch shows the root’s place in sung praise.
zimrah: Song, music, or melody.
זִמְרָה
It makes explicit the musical quality carried by the verse’s final command.
THE PATTERN
Praise rises through the created world as audible, many-voiced expression.
For you shall go out in joy, and be carried forth in wholeness. The mountains and the hills shall burst into singing before you, and all the trees of the field shall clap their palms.Let every thing that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD.And every created thing in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, I hear them saying, Blessing, and honor, and weight, and power, be to the one who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb, into the ages of the ages.THE THREAD
Rejoice in the LORD and leap, you who are aligned, and ring out, all you who are straight of heart.“Shout for joy” carries the same root רנן as “rejoice” in Psalm 98:4. The shared root lets you hear joy as more than a state: it breaks into a voice.
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