What Does Psalm 1:6 Mean in the King James?
For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
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 path itself the dividing line: the LORD knows one way, while the other way itself comes to nothing.
THE MEANING
Your way is the course made by your steps, and the LORD knows it. The path of alignment is known by the LORD; the path formed by wrongdoing reaches its end and disappears.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that the course you take is invisible to God dissolves here: the LORD knows the way itself.
THE ROOT
דֶּרֶךְ
déreḵ
GROWS FROM
דרך
d-r-k
To tread, to make a track.
The root beneath “way” means “to tread”: a path is the track made by movement. The verse speaks of a course actually taken, one the LORD knows or that comes to nothing.
ALSO GROWS
dārak: To tread or step.
דָּרַךְ
It shows that a way is made through movement, not merely named as an idea.
déreḵ: Way, path, or course.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the word repeated for both paths, making the paths themselves the focus of the verse.
צַדִּיקִים
ṣaddîqîm
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
The root carries the sense of alignment, a right relation rather than a mere label. The “way of the righteous” is a path shaped by that alignment.
ALSO GROWS
ṣédeq: Rightness or justice.
צֶדֶק
It shows the quality of alignment carried by the word “righteous.”
ṣədāqāh: Righteousness or justice expressed in action.
צְדָקָה
It shows alignment taking form in the way a person lives and acts.
יוֹדֵעַ
yōdēaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
To know or perceive.
“knoweth” in this verse is yōdēaʿ. The same root carries knowing and perception. Here the LORD’s knowing takes the way itself as its object: the course is seen and recognized.
ALSO GROWS
yādaʿ: To know or perceive.
יָדַע
It is the verb behind “knoweth,” keeping the verse’s focus on the LORD’s recognition of the path.
daʿat: Knowledge or understanding.
דַּעַת
It shows the same root extending from the act of knowing to knowledge itself.
THE PATTERN
Scripture treats a way as a lived direction whose character leads toward life or toward loss.
The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:THE THREAD
Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.This verse joins the same roots for “way” and “know”: derekh (דֶּרֶךְ, way) and yada (יָדַע, know). Psalm 1:6 says the LORD knows the way of alignment; here, being shown the way and knowing are joined.
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