- Name 62 of 70My Song
- HebrewZimrat Yah
- In plain wordsThe One I sing about
- Where to find itExodus 15:2, on the shore of the Red Sea
My Song is a name of God that was first sung, not spoken. Right after Israel crossed the Red Sea, Moses and the people lifted their voices and said The LORD is my strength and song
(Exodus 15:2). The Hebrew word for song here is zimrat, and the idea is simple: God is the One we sing about. He is not just the giver of the music. He is the music.
A song on the far shore of the sea
To feel the weight of this name, start one chapter earlier. For generations the Israelites had been slaves in Egypt, making bricks for Pharaoh. God sent plagues, Pharaoh finally let them go, and then he changed his mind. He chased them with his chariots and trapped them against the water.
Exodus 14 tells what happened next. God opened a path through the sea, and the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea
(Exodus 14:29). When the Egyptian army followed, the water came back over them. By morning the people who had been running for their lives were standing safe on the other side, looking at an empty sea.
What do you do in a moment like that? Israel sang. Exodus 15 is often called the Song of the Sea, and many scholars count it among the oldest poems in the Bible. It opens with Moses and the people together:
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.
Exodus 15:1
The very next line gives God His new title. Then, later in the chapter, Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, picked up a timbrel (a hand drum) and led the women out dancing (Exodus 15:20). The whole camp was making noise for God. Nobody had to tell them to. Being rescued did that on its own.
Zimrat: what the Hebrew word holds
The Hebrew of the key phrase is short: ozzi vezimrat Yah. Here it is piece by piece.
- Ozzi means "my strength." It comes from oz, a common word for might and power.
- Vezimrat is "and song." The root verb, zamar, means to make music, often with fingers on strings. Strong's dictionary, a standard word list keyed to the King James Bible, defines zimrat as instrumental music and, by extension, praise.
- Yah is a short form of God's personal name, the name the King James usually prints as LORD in capital letters. You hear the same short form at the end of "Hallelujah," which means "praise Yah."
So a very literal reading is "my strength and song is Yah." The word zimrat is rare. In the Bible it shows up in only three verses, and all three are this same line.
It is fair to say that experts have puzzled over it. Some scholars think zimrat here might carry a second sense, something like "my might" or "my protection," based on a similar word in a related language. Others hold to "song." The King James translators chose song, and most Bibles still do. Either way, the verse is about a God who saved His people and became the center of their praise.
Notice the grammar too. The verse does not say God gave Israel a song, or that He likes songs. It says He is the song. When they opened their mouths, He was the subject.
One line, sung three times in Scripture
This phrase did not stay on the beach. It became a kind of chorus that the Bible brings back at big turning points.
The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.
Exodus 15:2
The first time is the one you have already met. A habitation is a dwelling place. Israel promised to make a home for the God who had just made a way for them.
The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
Psalm 118:14
The second time is in Psalm 118, the song of someone who was surrounded by enemies and pulled through. Psalm 118 closes a group of praise psalms (113 to 118) called the Hallel, which Jewish families have long sung at Passover, the feast that remembers the night Israel left Egypt. So the old song of the sea kept being sung every spring at the table.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:2
The third time is in Isaiah 12, a short song about a future day when God would gather His scattered people home. In this verse the Hebrew sets the short name Yah right beside the full name of God, and the King James shows that by printing the LORD JEHOVAH
. The order of the verse is worth slowing down for: salvation first, then trust, then freedom from fear, and then the song.
Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Isaiah 12:3
Isaiah follows it with a picture of people pulling up buckets of joy from a well that never runs dry. A song that starts with being saved has a deep supply.
Living with God as your song
Everyone has a song, even people who never sing out loud. It is the thing you keep coming back to, the topic your thoughts drift toward when nobody is talking. For some it is a sad tune: "nothing ever works out for me." For others it is "look at what I did." Listen to yourself for a day and you will hear what yours is.
This name invites you to change the subject of your song. Israel's song was not about how brave they were or how hard Egypt had been. It was about what God had done. That does not mean you pretend your trouble is gone. Israel still had a long desert in front of them. It means the loudest thing in your life becomes the God who brought you this far.
If you cannot carry a tune, that is no problem. The Bible tells people to Make a joyful noise unto the LORD
(Psalm 100:1). Noise counts. And if life has gone quiet and you have not felt like singing for a long time, you are not the first. The Bible says God giveth songs in the night
(Job 35:10). Sometimes the song comes back slowly.
- Read Exodus 15:1 to 21 out loud, the way it was meant to be heard.
- Write down one thing God has brought you through, then say Exodus 15:2 over it.
- Pay attention to what you listen to all day. Songs teach, and they go in deep.
- Hum or sing one hymn or worship song this week while you do an ordinary chore.
My Song is name 62 of the 70 in the book. The next name turns from music to gladness itself: God My Exceeding Joy. You can also see where this title fits among the others on the names of God in the Bible page.
