| 34. Linguistic Exegesis The verse is an exhortation that begins with the plural imperative hodu {הוֹד֤וּ | hô·dû} ‘give thanks,’ calling the gathered community to a shared act of praise, followed immediately by the dative phrase laYHWH {לַיהוָה֙ | la-Yahweh} that directs thanksgiving to the covenant God. Two parallel causal clauses introduced by ki {כִּי | kî} provide the grounds for praise: first, ki tov {כִּי ט֔וֹב | kî ṭôv} is a verbless predication (“for {He} good”), where the subject is understood from context (the LORD) and English supplies the copula with “He is.” Second, ki leolam chasdo {כִּ֥י לְעוֹלָ֖ם חַסְדּֽוֹ | kî lə-ʿô·lām ḥas·dô} presents a tersely ordered clause in which the fronted duration phrase leolam ‘to forever’ highlights permanence, while chasdo ‘His steadfast love’ states the enduring basis for worship. The English renderings preserve the double-reason structure (“for…for / because…because”) to keep the verse’s balanced, liturgical parallelism. |