What Does Psalm 99:3 Mean?
Let them extend their hands to your great and awesome nature; for it is set apart.
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
Let them praise thy great and terrible name; for it is holy.THE KEY
The name being praised is the nature itself: great, awe-inspiring, and set apart.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now: the name before you carries a nature that is great, awe-inspiring, and set apart. Praise acknowledges that nature, while awe is the response to its holiness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The name is only a title to pronounce; here, it is the nature being praised.
THE ROOT
קָדוֹשׁ
qādôsh
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart, consecrate, or mark as sacred.
The name is called qādôsh: its nature is set apart. The root family connects holiness with the act of setting something apart and with the sacred place where that distinction is encountered.
ALSO GROWS
qōdesh: Holiness or what is sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shows that the verse’s holiness belongs to a wider idea of what is set apart.
miqdāsh: Sanctuary, a sacred or set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It carries the same root into a place marked by sacred presence.
qiddēsh: To set apart or consecrate.
קִדֵּשׁ
It reveals the action contained in the description: holiness marks something as set apart.
נוֹרָא
nôrāʾ
GROWS FROM
ירא
To fear or stand in awe.
“awesome” in this verse is nôrāʾ. The word carries the trembling edge of fear and the wonder of awe. The root lets both remain in the verse: the name is not merely impressive, but awe-inspiring in its set-apart nature.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾāh: Fear or awe.
יִרְאָה
It names the response that the verse’s awe-inspiring name draws forth.
yārēʾ: To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
יָרֵא
It links the name’s fearsome quality with the experience of awe before God.
וְיוֹדוּ
wəyōdû
GROWS FROM
ידה
To acknowledge, give thanks, or praise.
“let them extend their hands to” in this verse is wəyōdû. The praise here is acknowledgment: the nature of the name is recognized and voiced. This same root appears in thanksgiving and in Judah’s name, which Leah connects with praising the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
tôdāh: Thanksgiving or praise.
תּוֹדָה
It shows praise as voiced acknowledgment, not merely admiration.
Yəhûdāh: Judah, associated with praise.
יְהוּדָה
In Genesis 29:35, Leah connects Judah’s name with praising the LORD, echoing this verse’s language.
THE PATTERN
The divine name draws praise and awe because its nature is holy and set apart.
He sends deliverance to his people; he commands his covenant for the ages. Set apart and awe-filled is his name.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?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
He sends deliverance to his people; he commands his covenant for the ages. Set apart and awe-filled is his name.Psalm 111:9 names the same connection directly: God’s name is holy and reverend. It repeats the root קדש (q-d-sh), set apart, and links that holiness to reverence for the nature the name reveals.
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