What Does Praise Becomes Thee Mean?
An old evening prayer says that praise, hymns, and glory become God. Understand becomes as fitting or befitting, not as a claim that praise changes God into something else.
Revised 2026-11-04The verb has more than one use
In ordinary speech, becomes often means turns into: water becomes ice, or a quiet room becomes noisy. The evening prayer linked here uses the word differently. It says that praise becomes God, hymns become God, and glory becomes God. Reading the verb only in its change-of-state sense makes the sentence difficult or nonsensical. The older use concerns what is fitting or appropriate to someone.
A familiar surviving example is the expression becoming conduct, meaning conduct suited to a person or occasion. In the prayer, praise is described as befitting God. The sentence is not claiming that praise transforms God into a new being, or that hymns supply a missing divine identity. Recognizing the use of the verb allows the sentence to resume its role within a prayer of praise.
Notice the surrounding actions
The prayer begins by calling children to praise the Lord, then names praising, singing hymns, and blessing. The later statements about what becomes God follow those actions. This repetition supports the reading of fittingness: the worshippers are saying why the praise they offer belongs in this address. The grammar is not introducing an unexpected theory of transformation midway through the prayer.
Read the short text aloud, substituting is fitting for in your explanatory notes where appropriate. Keep the source wording visible so you do not confuse the paraphrase with a quotation. If the sentence now makes sense within the surrounding praise, you have a useful account of the expression. That does not require claiming that this is the only meaning the verb can have in every older text.
Fitting praise is not necessarily elaborate praise
A person may hear fittingness as a demand for ornate language or accomplished music. The prayer does not set a standard of musical skill or verbal sophistication. It names praise and hymns as appropriate to God without specifying that only polished performers can offer them. A simple, attentive expression need not be disqualified because it would not impress an audience.
For example, someone praying alone may use the text quietly without singing at all. Someone in a congregation may join as they are able, including through listening where that is appropriate. The phrase becomes thee concerns the relation of praise to its divine addressee, not a ranking of worshippers by talent. Do not make a grammatical clarification into an entrance examination for participation.
Fittingness differs from flattery
Flattery often says what will please a powerful person regardless of whether it is true. Praise in this prayer is framed by what the worshippers confess about God and Christ. It is not presented as an attempt to invent pleasing compliments so that a request will be granted. The prayer contains little of the bargaining structure that a reader might assume belongs to every address to a superior.
That distinction can shape your own words. If you add a sentence of praise, choose something you actually mean within your faith rather than searching for the most impressive adjective. Do not exaggerate a personal experience to make the praise sound stronger. A truthful acknowledgment is more coherent with worship than an elaborate claim you would not defend outside the devotional moment.
Explain the phrase without taking over the prayer
When using the text with newcomers, a short note may be enough: here becomes means befits or is appropriate to. You need not stop at every line to offer a lecture on historical English. The purpose of explanation is to remove an obstacle to understanding so that the prayer can be read, not to replace the act of prayer with a display of the leader's knowledge.
If someone still finds the wording awkward, an openly labeled modern adaptation may be helpful in a setting where adaptations are appropriate. Preserve the meaning and identify the change. Do not silently alter a text that participants expect to be a historical quotation. A study handout can easily show both forms, allowing people to see what the original says and why the explanation has been offered.
Let the sentence make a claim you can understand
After clarifying the verb, ask what the repeated statement contributes. The worshippers do not merely report that they happen to feel like praising. They affirm that praise belongs to the one addressed. That gives the line a direction beyond the speaker's immediate mood. It can be spoken thoughtfully even when enthusiasm is quiet, provided the speaker understands what is being affirmed.
The evening prayer's language becomes less remote once the verb is heard correctly. Praise does not become God in the sense of turning into him; it becomes him in the sense of being fitting. This small distinction prevents a large misunderstanding and returns attention to the prayer's actual movement: people blessing and honoring God through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, rather than describing a change in divine identity.