The Praise That Precedes the Answer

tôdāh · H8426 · HEBREW

The Hebrew word tôdāh (תּוֹדָה) means to offer thanksgiving as a voluntary sacrifice — praise that is chosen, not coerced, given before the circumstances have changed, send worship ahead as an act of warfare — the praise that goes before the army, before the miracle, before the rescue, and make a public confession of faith — declaring before witnesses what God has done and trusting Him for what He has not yet done. Towdah is rooted in the verb yadah — to extend the hands outward in praise — and it always costs the one who offers it something.