אֲרוֹמְמֶֽךָּ׃ (’ă·rō·wm·me·kā) in Psalms 118:28: Verb - Piel - Imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common singular | second person masculine singular
אֲרוֹמְמֶֽךָּ׃ (’ă·rō·wm·me·kā) in Psalms 118:28
Source Word
Psalm 118:28 row 5 aligns the H7311 Piel imperfect with contextual cohortative force and masculine singular suffix with I will exalt You.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
I will exalt You keeps the worshiper as speaker and God as addressee, while the parallel I will give You thanks shows the action as responsive praise. The BSB's I will exalt You communicates the first-person imperfect in its contextual resolve, and You directly reflects the masculine singular suffix addressed to God.
How To Communicate It
Identify the first-person worshiper and the second-person divine addressee, then read exaltation beside thanksgiving and the psalm's completed account of deliverance.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not treat exaltation as adding greatness to God or derive a full theology of worship from the Piel label and suffix alone.
- The final he supports a cohortative reading in context, but discourse and poetic parallelism still guide how the resolve is expressed in English.
- The form does not add status that God lacks, identify praise as a means of controlling divine favor, or make the cohortative nuance certain from spelling without context.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Verb - Piel - Imperfect Cohortative if contextual - first person common singular | second person masculine singular
Piel
Imperf.h
First
Common
Singular
Not applicable
Second person masculine singular
The Piel imperfect is first-person singular with cohortative force in context and carries a masculine singular suffix addressing God. The psalmist is the speaker, and the parallel confession You are my God frames the resolve rendered I will exalt You.
The form voices the speaker's personal resolve to exalt God and marks God as the directly addressed suffix participant.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The worshiper's direct confession that the Lord is his God and his paired response of thanksgiving and exaltation
The closing thanksgiving of Psalm 118 after the Lord's saving answer and enduring covenant love have been celebrated
The form voices the speaker's personal resolve to exalt God and marks God as the directly addressed suffix participant.
The form does not add status that God lacks, identify praise as a means of controlling divine favor, or make the cohortative nuance certain from spelling without context.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: The form turns the psalm's saving testimony into a first-person response addressed directly to God.
The Piel imperfect is first-person singular with cohortative force in context and carries a masculine singular suffix addressing God. The psalmist is the speaker, and the parallel confession You are my God frames the resolve rendered I will exalt You.. The form voices the speaker's personal resolve to exalt God and marks God as the directly addressed suffix participant.. Attached to the worshiper's direct confession that the Lord is his God and his paired response of thanksgiving and exaltation. Governed by the closing thanksgiving of Psalm 118 after the Lord's saving answer and enduring covenant love have been celebrated. The form does not add status that God lacks, identify praise as a means of controlling divine favor, or make the cohortative nuance certain from spelling without context.
Who exalts whom in Psalm 118:28, and what accompanies that resolve? The psalmist resolves to exalt God, alongside the parallel resolve to give Him thanks because He is the psalmist's God.
Direct: The BSB's I will exalt You communicates the first-person imperfect in its contextual resolve, and You directly reflects the masculine singular suffix addressed to God.
The final he supports a cohortative reading in context, but discourse and poetic parallelism still guide how the resolve is expressed in English. The masculine singular suffix means You; the confession You are my God establishes the addressee.
The paragogic form treated as a mechanical guarantee of cohortative force or the suffix used alone to identify God: Do not treat exaltation as adding greatness to God or derive a full theology of worship from the Piel label and suffix alone. exalt You understood as increasing God's inherent greatness or earning the deliverance already celebrated: Keep "[and] I will exalt You" connected to אֲרוֹמְמֶֽךָּ׃, row 5, and the full Psalms 118:28 clause.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
Psalm 118:28 row 5 aligns the H7311 Piel imperfect with contextual cohortative force and masculine singular suffix with I will exalt You.
This row 5 H7311 witness is a worshiper's direct resolve to exalt God, distinct from Hosea 11:7 where exaltation of the people is denied.
The Piel imperfect is first-person singular with cohortative force in context and carries a masculine singular suffix addressing God. The psalmist is the speaker, and the parallel confession You are my God frames the resolve rendered I will exalt You.
Psalm 118:28 answers the Lord's deliverance with direct confession, thanks, and exaltation before the psalm closes by repeating the call to give thanks for steadfast love.
This resolve belongs to Israel's thanksgiving psalm and its confession of the Lord's saving faithfulness; later christological uses of Psalm 118 require their own textual argument.
Identify the first-person worshiper and the second-person divine addressee, then read exaltation beside thanksgiving and the psalm's completed account of deliverance.
Do not treat exaltation as adding greatness to God or derive a full theology of worship from the Piel label and suffix alone.