What Does Proverbs 11:25 Mean in the King James?
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew pictures generosity as a living circuit: the one who waters is watered, and the soul of blessing grows full.
THE MEANING
Your life that refreshes another is itself refreshed; the verse holds giving and receiving together in one movement. The soul of blessing becomes abundant, like a waterer who is watered in turn.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that generosity can only leave the giver empty: its image is of return and fullness.
THE ROOT
מַרְוֶה
marveh
GROWS FROM
רוה
r-w-h
To be saturated, drink one’s fill, or make full with water.
“watereth / shall be watered” in this verse is marveh. The verse uses this root for both the one who waters and the one who is watered. English can make these sound like separate actions, while the Hebrew holds them in one cycle of giving and fullness.
ALSO GROWS
ravah: To be saturated or drink one’s fill.
רָוָה
The root names the fullness that comes back to the waterer.
revayah: Saturation, abundance, fullness.
רְוָיָה
Psalm 23:5 uses this related word for the overflowing cup, extending the water image into abundance.
בְּרָכָה
berakhah
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
To kneel; to bless.
“liberal” in this verse is berakhah. The Hebrew phrase is a “soul of blessing.” The root’s language of blessing gives generosity the shape of bestowing good, and that soul is then described as growing full.
ALSO GROWS
barakh: To bless; to kneel.
בָּרַךְ
The verb carries the root’s bent-knee image into the act of blessing another.
berakhah: Blessing.
בְּרָכָה
This is the word behind “liberal,” showing generosity as a soul characterized by blessing.
תְדֻשָּׁן
tedushshan
GROWS FROM
דשן
d-sh-n
To be fat, grow rich, or become abundant.
“made fat” in this verse is tedushshan. The outcome is expressed as fullness and abundance. Isaiah 58:11 uses this same root for making the bones fat beside the image of a watered garden, joining nourishment and fullness.
ALSO GROWS
dashen: To grow fat, become rich or abundant.
דָּשֵׁן
The verse’s outcome comes from this root’s language of becoming full and well-nourished.
deshen: Fatness, richness, abundance.
דֶּשֶׁן
Psalm 36:8 uses this noun for “the fatness” of God’s house, carrying the root’s sense of abundance into another image of being satisfied.
THE PATTERN
What nourishes life outward continues as return, multiplication, or overflow.
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)THE THREAD
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.The same דשן (d-sh-n) root appears in Proverbs’ “shall be made fat” and Isaiah’s “make fat thy bones.” Isaiah places that fullness beside a watered garden, bringing the verse’s two images, water and abundance, together.
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