What Does Proverbs 15:29 Mean in the King James?
The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.
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 verse makes the LORD’s hearing a response to alignment, while wickedness meets distance.
THE MEANING
The LORD is far from those who make wickedness their way, yet he hears and responds to the prayer of the aligned. The verse holds distance and attentive nearness together, with the prayer inseparable from the life that gives it voice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that prayer is a technique whose words secure God’s attention regardless of the life they come from.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמָע
yishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen; here, hear and respond.
“heareth” in this verse is yishmaʿ. The root carries more than sound reaching an ear: it can name attentive hearing that answers. The verse presents the LORD’s hearing as engaged attention toward the prayer.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; listen and respond.
שְׁמַע
The familiar call “Shema” uses the same root, joining hearing with response rather than mere reception.
shomeaʿ: One who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
This participle shares the root and shows hearing as an active posture, the quality the verse attributes to the LORD toward prayer.
צַדִּיקִים
tsaddiqim
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Rightness, justice, alignment.
The righteous are people characterized by alignment, not merely people carrying a religious label. Their prayer rises from that alignment, which the verse places beside the LORD’s attentive response.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This root noun names the quality carried by the “righteous” in the verse.
tsedaqah: Justice; right or aligned action.
צְדָקָה
This branch shows alignment taking form in action, connecting the person’s way of life with the prayer they offer.
רָחוֹק
rachōq
GROWS FROM
רחק
r-ḥ-q
Be distant; move away or put at a distance.
The verse names distance as a real contrast to the LORD’s hearing of the aligned person’s prayer. Its wording places the LORD far from the wicked, then turns to his attentive response to the righteous.
ALSO GROWS
richuq: Distance, separation.
רִחוּק
This noun from the same root makes the separation in “far” visible as a state of distance.
hirchiq: Move away; put at a distance.
הִרְחִיק
This verb shows the root’s movement away, adding force to the verse’s image of distance.
THE PATTERN
The LORD turns toward aligned prayer and sets himself against wickedness.
The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.THE THREAD
The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.The word “heareth” shares the root שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, hear and respond) with Proverbs 15:29. Psalm 34:17 opens the movement further: the righteous cry, the LORD hears, and deliverance follows.
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