Hebrew Word Study – Then Sings My Soul   Ki ‘Azamarah Nepheshi   כי אזמרה נפשי   Kap Yod    Aleph Zayin Mem Resh Hei    Nun Pei Shin Yod

Psalms 71:23: “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.”

A few months ago I read about the origin of the beloved hymn “How Great Thou Art.” It was originally a poem written by a Swedish poet Carl Boberg who lived from 1859-1940,  It was matched to an old Swedish folk song in the late 1800s and was sung by the underground church when Baptists and other evangelicals were under persecution.  The song found its way into Ukraine and was translated by the Ukrainians into their language. The song was virtually unknown by the world until an English missionary, Stuart K. Hine on a mission trip shortly after World War II was traveling through Ukraine. As he stopped to admire that majestic scene of the Carpathian mountains, he  heard a group of hikers hiking through the Carpathian Mountains singing “Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, How great Thou Art.” I have never been to Ukraine but I viewed a number of pictures of the Carpathian Mountains and even in the pictures I could imagine these Ukrainian Christians hiking through that glorious scene and being awed by the greatness of God bursting out in song of the greatness of God. Stuart Hines said to himself, “That is one song I am going to translate and bring to the Western World.”  That is exactly what he did and thanks to Billy Graham this song was introduced to the Western World during the Toronto crusade in 1957 where it was sung a hundred times during that crusade and became a worldwide favorite. 

Oddly, for me, it is the words “Then sings my soul” that really capture my attention. Do you ever understand something but can’t explain it?  That is what those words do for me.  I fully understand what it means for my soul to sing to God, yet, I cannot explain it.  Still, I know exactly what those Ukrainian hikers and Stuart Hines felt when they burst out in singing “How Great Thou Art.” 

The moment I sense the awesomeness of God, His greatness, and His power. When I look up at a cloudless sky at night I know my soul is singing. I am not speaking words from my lips, but there is a nonverbal communication going on between God and me as I just “Bow in humble adoration and there proclaim, my God how great Thou Art.”

Psalms 71:23: “My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.”  When I examine this in the Hebrew the syntax seems a little ambiguous. On the one hand, it seems that David is singing with his lips and his soul. There are two separate parts to his being and both are singing to God.  Then this could also be rendered as “Then by lips sing my soul to Thee.”  I tend to think both renderings mean the same thing. 

I grew up in the church and I heard a lot of choirs, duets, trios, quartets and soloist sing. I know one should not be judgmental but I am just sharing what I felt. I heard a lot of show boaters. These are talented individuals. They know how to sing, they can take a breath in the right spot, they can sing on key and do all the right things and what comes out is beautiful. And they know they sound beautiful.  Yet, it feels like something is missing, something is just not right.

Then I listen to someone sing, the person does not have the greatest voice, cannot really hit that high note, and is maybe a bit off-key. Yet, I am mesmerized, I am moved and I can see tears in the eyes of people around me. 

There is the story of a great artist who sat all day in an art museum where his work was on display.  Nobody recognized him as an artist.  He just quietly sat in front of his favorite paintings anxious to hear the wonderful comments that people would make. After a day of sitting and watching people pass by his work he went to the curator and demanded that the painting be removed.  The curator asked why and he said: “I sat all day watching hundreds of people view my painting and not one had a comment.  I wished they would have hated it and expressed their hatred, then at least I know my painting stirred something within someone. Yet, not one person had a comment, they just looked and walked by. That painting, my painting is not art and it must be removed from the gallery. It does not stir the soul.” 

That is why David says his lips and soul will sing. The word song that is used here in Hebrew is zamar which is a song of praise. So are other words for a song in Hebrew. This word is unique in that it is also a word for pruning and energizing.  Zamar is not a song of entertainment, not a song telling a story, it is a form of art, it is a song that is often wordless but creates a sense of energy.  The word good, tov, means to be in harmony.  When God created the world He saw that it was good, and in harmony with Him. It was in harmony with Him because just before creation we learn the Spirit of God hovered over the earth.  Some translations say fluttered, and some say brooded but the word in Hebrew is rachaph which means to move back and forth very quickly.  Today we would use the word vibrate.  

Now, what is a musical song, but vibrations? So when your soul sings or vibrates to God, it is joined with God’s vibrations, in harmony with His vibrations and when musical vibrations are in total synchronization, you have something very beautiful and pleasing to the ear.  No matter how perfect your musical voice may be and how great it may sound, it does not mean that it is in harmony if your soul is not singing it to God. 

If you can describe what it means for the soul to sing to God,  I would love to hear from you for I cannot describe it, but I know when it is both the lips and the soul in harmony with God. I know it but I just can’t explain it.  My first year in Bible College was at a small Bible College in Missouri. It had about 300 students. One of the founders of the college was still alive and would visit the college often. He had to be in his 90’s.  He loved the students, we loved him and he was the most spiritually-minded man I ever met. One day he spoke in chapel.  He concluded his message by singing an old hymn. His voice broke, he wasn’t on key. Maybe in his day, he had a fine musical voice, but age had obviously robbed him of it.  Yet, there was dead silence as he sang, tears were in the eyes of many students and even my roommate who was usually rather cynical leaned over and whispered to me: “You know where that song came from.” His soul was singing not only to the God that he loved with all his heart but to the students that he also loved. 

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