Psalms 115:14

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

May Yahweh increase you more and more, You and your children.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יֹסֵ֣ף

yâçaph

H3254

“to add”

Verb, Hiphil, Jussive, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 210× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 4:2

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 876

to add, increase, do again - (Qal) to add, increase, do again - (Niphal) - to join, join oneself to - to be joined, be added to - (Hiphil) - to cause to add, increase - to do more, do again

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

6: words
4: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Grammatical profile

1 verb
2 nouns
3 prepositions

Verb forms

יֹסֵ֣ף Hiphil · Jussive

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

עֲלֵיכֶ֑ם upon H5921 ×3

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In the original languages it is 6 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Psalms 115:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Deuteronomy 1:11 Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!
Acts 2:39 For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself."
Acts 3:25 You are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, 'In your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.'
Jeremiah 33:22 As the host of the sky can't be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites who minister to me.
Genesis 17:7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to you and to your seed after you.
Genesis 13:16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then your seed may also be numbered.
2 Samuel 24:3 Joab said to the king, Now Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?
Jeremiah 30:19 Out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

Jeremiah 32:38–39 and they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
Revelation 7:4 I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:
Revelation 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'
Zechariah 8:20–23 Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "Many peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come;
Zechariah 10:8 I will signal for them, and gather them; For I have redeemed them; And they will increase as they have increased.
Isaiah 2:2–3 It shall happen in the latter days, that the mountain of Yahweh's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be raised above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.
Isaiah 19:20–21 It shall be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of Hosts in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry to Yahweh because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior, and a defender, and he will deliver them.

Isaiah 27:6 In days to come shall Jacob take root; Israel shall blossom and bud; and they shall fill the surface of the world with fruit.
Isaiah 60:4–22 Lift up your eyes round about, and see: they all gather themselves together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

You’re reading Greek Psalm 113 (Hebrew Psalm 115). The Septuagint counts the superscription, so verse numbers can differ from the Hebrew — chapter-level alignment, not verse-by-verse. Numbering follows Rahlfs.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Psalms 115:14 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

יֹסֵ֣ף יְהוָ֣ה עֲלֵיכֶ֑ם עֲ֝לֵיכֶ֗ם וְעַל בְּנֵיכֶֽם

May Yahweh increase you more and more, You and your children.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Greek Psalm 113:14 Septuagint · lemma form

οὖς ἔχω καί οὐ ἀκούω ῥίς ἔχω καί οὐ ὀσφραίνομαι

No English rendering of this Greek verse — the small residue in the structurally divergent books.

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from a public-domain English Septuagint. How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Psalms 115:14 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Psa 115:14 The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

Ver. 14. The Lord shall increase you] Or, the Lord increase you (detach tephilla, prayer wise), as the Rabbis read it.

You and your children] The care of whose welfare prevaileth far with religious parents, and sitteth close upon their spirits.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Psa 115:14-15. The Lord shall increase you more and more — In number, power, and in all temporal and spiritual blessings, notwithstanding the efforts of your many enemies to diminish, weaken, and distress you. Hebrew, יסŠ עליכם, the Lord shall add to you, namely, further and greater blessings. Here the psalmist turns himself to them, and assures them of the favour of him who created, and who upholds and governs all things. You and your children — The blessing bestowed on you shall descend on your children with a continual increase. There is a blessing entailed on the offspring of them that fear God, even in their infancy. Or, he shall bless you in your children, and you shall have the comfort of seeing them increasing, as in stature, so in wisdom and grace, and in favour with God and men. Ye are blessed of the Lord — You and your children are so; all that see them shall acknowledge that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed, Isa 61:9. Ye are blessed of the Lord — Not of an impotent idol which can do its worshippers neither good nor hurt, but of Jehovah, who made heaven and earth — Whose blessings therefore are free, for he needs not any thing himself; and therefore are rich, for he hath all things at command for you, and if you fear and trust in him he will bless you indeed, in spite of all that your enemies can do against you.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. A. Alexander on Psalms

Joseph Addison Alexander

14. (Psa 115:14) May Jehovah add to you, to you and to your children! This implies a previous diminution of the people, such as really took place in the Babylonish exile. The optative meaning of the verb, both here and in Gen 30:24, is clear from Deu 1:11, 2Sa 24:3. The Hebrew preposition strictly means upon you, and conveys the idea of accumulation much more strongly. See above, on Psa 71:14, where we have an example of the same construction.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

115:14-15 The psalmist blesses (107:37-38, 41) all who trust in and fear the Lord. The Creator will care for the families of those who fear him. • who made heaven and earth: This statement speaks of the Lord’s all-encompassing power in creation.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) The Lord shall increase.—More literally,

“Jehovah shall heap blessings on you,

On you and on your children.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

14. The Lord shall increase you] Jehovah increase you, add to your numbers (Deu_1:11), a specially appropriate prayer for the little community of the returned exiles.

14–18. Prayers for blessing and resolves to employ life in Jehovah’s praise.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

The Lord shall increase you more and more,.... The Word of the Lord, as the Targum, shall do it; in a temporal sense, with a numerous posterity, with riches, wealth, and honour; and in a spiritual sense, with an addition of spiritual blessings; with renewed instances of divine layout: with an increase of the gifts and graces of the Spirit of God, as faith, hope, love, joy, patience, humility, and other graces; and with more knowledge of God and Christ, and of divine and spiritual things.

You and your children; not only they that feared the Lord of the present generation, but those that should succeed them, and be as they were, a seed to serve the Lord, and who should be accounted to him for a generation.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord shall increase you more and more - He will increase your numbers and your power. We may suppose that the people were greatly diminished by the captivity, and that on their return to their country their number was comparatively small. This promise of a great increase was in accordance with the cherished wishes of the Hebrew people, and with the repeated promises which God had made to their fathers. Compare Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12.

You and your children - The blessing shall be not only on you, but it shall go down to future generations,

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Shall increase you in number, notwithstanding all the attempts of your enemies to diminish and destroy you. Or, shall add to you, to wit, further and greater blessings.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Treasury of David

Charles H. Spurgeon

Ver. 14. The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children. Just as in Egypt he multiplied the people exceedingly, so will he increase the number of his saints upon the earth; not only shall the faithful be blessed with converts, and so with a spiritual seed; but those who are their spiritual children shall become fruitful also, and thus the multitude of the elect shall be accomplished; God shall increase the people, and shall increase the joy. Even to the end of the ages the race of true believers shall be continued, and shall increasingly multiply in number and in power. The first blessing upon mankind was, "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth"; and it is this blessing which God now pronounces upon them that fear him. Despite the idols of philosophy and sacramentarianism, the truth shall gather its disciples, and fill the land with its defenders.

Verse 14. The LORD shall increase you, etc. This is expressive of the further and increasing blessing of Jehovah on his Israel, upon his ministers, and upon the whole church. They are to be increased in light and knowledge, in gifts and graces, in faith and utterance, in numbers and multitude. Samuel Eyles Pierce.

Ver. 14.

The Lord will heap his blessings upon you,

Upon you and your children. William Green, in "A New Translation of the Psalms, "1762.

Ver. 14.

1. Gracious increasein knowledge, love, power, holiness, usefulness, etc.

2. Growing increasewe grow faster, and advance not only more, but more and more.

3. Relative increaseour children grow in grace through our example, etc.

Ver. 14. The blessings of God are,

1. Ever flowing "more and more."

2. Over flowing "you and your children." Let parents seek more grace for themselves for the sake of their children. (a) That they may be more influenced by their example. (b) That their prayers may be more prevalent on their behalf. (c) That their children may be more blessed for their sakes. G. R.

Psalms 115:15*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

14. A form of blessing founded on Deu_1:11, and timely here, as the danger threatened general wasting and desolation.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

Vers. 14-16. Again the leader raises his voice and announces special no longer general blessings:

(1) increase of their numbers (ver. 14); and

(2) inheritance of the earth (ver. 16).

The Lord shall increase you more and more. This was the original blessing bestowed on Abraham, (Gen_13:16 Gen_17:4-6) and continually reiterated. (Gen_18:18 Gen_22:17 Gen_28:14, etc.) It is much dwelt upon by Isaiah. The (Isa_49:8-12, 18-23 54:1-3 60:3-12, etc.) main fulfillment of the promise was through the conversion of the Gentiles, who, when converted, became the true "Israel of God." But, even apart from this, the lineal descendants of Abraham have "increased more and more," to an extent which is most extraordinary. You and your children. You yourselves shall increase; but your children shall yet more increase. The multiplying would begin at once, but would be greater and more striking afterwards.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Psalms, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 6 words (4 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yâçaph (“to add”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to add” (yâçaph) contribute to the verse as a whole?
Deuteronomy 1:11 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
“upon” occurs 3× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «יֹסֵ֣ף» is Hiphil Jussive. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 9 words in this verse.
“upon” occurs 3× in this single verse.
4 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.