Psalm 150 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 150
Let every breath praise
Verse 150:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[150:1] Praise Yah!
Praise God in His sanctuary;
praise Him in the firmament of His strength.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[150:1] Hallelujah.
Praise God among His holy ones;
praise Him in the firmament of His power.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew in His holiness or sanctuary is rendered spatially. Greek en tois hagiois can be among His holy ones or in His holy places; the former is chosen provisionally, with the latter retained as a live alternative. No doctrinal dispute is inferred solely from this ambiguous phrase. Saints reception: Augustine understands the holy ones as people glorified by God and reads the succeeding instruments as figures of those saints praising in harmony. This is a reception reading, not proof that Greek hagiois excludes holy places. [AUG-PS150-ROOT, §§4, 6]
Verse 150:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[150:2] Praise Him for His mighty deeds;
praise Him according to His abundant greatness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[150:2] Praise Him for His mighty acts;
praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The acts and measure of divine greatness correspond.
Verse 150:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[150:3] Praise Him with the blast of a horn;
praise Him with harp and lyre.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[150:3] Praise Him with the sound of a trumpet;
praise Him with psaltery and lyre.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew shofar is a horn; Greek salpinx a trumpet. Harp and psaltery distinguish nevel and psalterion conventionally, without a precise modern instrument identification.
Verse 150:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[150:4] Praise Him with tambourine and dancing;
praise Him with strings and pipe.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[150:4] Praise Him with tambourine and chorus;
praise Him with strings and instrument.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew dancing becomes Greek chorus; Hebrew ugav is provisionally pipe, Greek organon the broader instrument. Organ would misleadingly specify the later keyboard instrument without source warrant. Saints reception: Augustine explicitly distinguishes the broad Greek instrument term from the narrower bellows instrument called an organ in Latin usage. His figurative interpretation finds concord among diverse saints in the ensemble. [AUG-PS150-ROOT, §§5–6]
Verse 150:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[150:5] Praise Him with resounding cymbals;
praise Him with clashing cymbals.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[150:5] Praise Him with well-sounding cymbals;
praise Him with cymbals of a shout.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both distinguish two emphatic cymbal sounds; the exact acoustic or instrument distinction remains uncertain rather than being assigned modern cymbal types.
Verse 150:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[150:6] Let everything that breathes praise Yah.
Praise Yah!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[150:6] Let every breath praise the Lord.
Hallelujah.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew all breath is rendered as everything breathing and Greek every breath more literally. Both end with the praise formula; no restriction to human worshipers is added.