Going Beyond “Thank You”

The Bible shows it is inadequate sometimes to say a simple “Thank you.” So perhaps we should not judge too harshly the “other nine” healed lepers who failed to return to Jesus to express their gratitude. When we say “Thank you” after receiving a gift or being granted a favor, what do we say next? Silence often follows, becoming more awkward the greater distance there is between the gift or favor and our unadorned “Thank you.”  

There is one thing we can do, and it is very biblical. We can praise the giver in front of others. This is what the Bible often does. Hebrew has no exact equivalent to English “to thank.” The nearest to it is the Hebrew imperative verb hôdû, which can be translated into English either as “thank” or “praise.” For example, the New Revised Standard Version translates Psalm 118:1, “O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever!” in contrast to the New Jewish Publication Society Tanakh: “Praise the Lord, for He is good, His steadfast love is eternal.” Which translation expresses more precisely a response to the Lord’s dramatic rescue of the psalmist from life-threatening danger? Both translations are correct. Praising the giver deepens and widens our gratitude, and turns people’s attention to the giver rather than ourselves. 

The story of how the great Syrian general Naaman came to praise Israel’s God for his cure illustrates how giving praise and giving thanks play out in the Bible. The general had a leprous skin disease for which he was persuaded to plunge himself into the Jordan River seven times. Having expected a much more elaborate cure befitting his high and mighty station, he was reluctant to adopt such a simple remedy. But it worked. He was cured, and his gratitude turned into praise of Israel’s God as he declared to all, “Now I know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. . . . I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice to any other god except to the Lord.”  

In Luke’s Gospel, only the Samaritan “foreigner” returned to give thanks for being cured of leprosy. Unwilling to take for granted Jesus’s healing his body and restoring him to community life, he came back “glorifying God in a loud voice, and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” This Samaritan appreciated the generous gift of God and gave public praise. He provides us with an example of saying “Thank you” by acknowledging God’s gift publicly. 

Richard Clifford, S.J., has taught biblical studies for 55 years, most recently at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry, Boston College, and has written many scholarly and popular books and articles.