What Does Romans 15:9 Mean?
And that the nations might give weight to God for compassion, as it is written, For this I will confess to you among the nations, and I will sing to your name.
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
And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name.THE KEY
The song of the nations gives God’s nature a public voice, and mercy is what carries it there.
THE MEANING
God’s mercy reaches across peoples, and the Gentiles give God weight openly among one another. Their song names the nature of the God whose mercy they have encountered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that access to God depends on belonging to the right people or carrying the right ancestry.
THE ROOT
δοξάσαι
doxasai
GROWS FROM
δόξ-
δόξ- (dox-, the dox- stem) carries the sense of regard, reputation, and honor; δόξα (dóxa) is the weight or honor recognized and attributed.
“give weight to” in this verse is doxasai. The Greek wording makes the nations’ response an act of giving God weight among them. Mercy is not hidden inside a private feeling: it becomes public recognition and song.
ALSO GROWS
dóxa: honor, reputation, weight
δόξα
This related word shows the weight the nations recognize when they glorify God.
doxazō: to glorify, honor, give weight
δοξάζω
This is the verb family behind the verse’s “glorify,” joining praise to the recognition of God’s worth.
ἔλεος
éleos
GROWS FROM
ἐλε-
ἐλε- (ele-, the ele- stem) carries the sense of mercy and compassion shown to one in need.
The verse places the nations’ praise in compassion they receive, not in a status they first establish. The mercy named here reaches outward and becomes something people can acknowledge together.
ALSO GROWS
eleeō: to show mercy
ἐλεέω
This related verb makes mercy an active showing of compassion, the ground for the nations’ response.
eleēmosynē: mercy expressed in charitable giving
ἐλεημοσύνη
This branch shows compassion taking outward form, echoing how mercy in the verse becomes public song.
ὄνομα
ónoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ-
ὀνομ- (onom-, the onom- stem) means name or designation: the identity by which someone is known.
The nations sing to God’s name as the nature made known to them, not to a detachable label. Hebrew שֵׁם (shem, name as nature) carries the same way of hearing a name: it tells what is known of the one named.
ALSO GROWS
onomazō: to name or call
ὀνομάζω
Naming makes someone known, which illuminates the verse’s song directed to God’s nature.
onomastos: named, renowned
ὀνομαστός
This branch links a name with the character and reputation by which someone is recognized.
THE PATTERN
God’s mercy draws people across boundaries into shared life and praise.
Praise the LORD, all you nations; shout for him, all you peoples.But God, rich in faithful love, for the great love with which he loved us, Even when we were dead in our stumbles, he made us alive together with the Anointed One, by favor you have been delivered.After this I see, and look, a great crowd that no one can number, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wrapped in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. And they cry out with a loud voice, saying, Deliverance to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb!THE THREAD
Therefore I extend my hands to you among the nations, O LORD, and I sing praise to your name.The Greek wording of both verses repeats ὄνομα (ónoma, name), keeping the song centered on God’s nature made known among the nations. The Hebrew song says אוֹדְךָ (ʾôdeḵā, I will thank or praise you), from ידה (yādāh, to praise or give thanks); the public acknowledgment becomes the voice that carries God’s nature into the nations.
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