What Does Psalm 101:2 Mean in the King James?
I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.
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 word translated “perfect” names the same wholeness in the path and the heart, so integrity reaches all the way into the house.
THE MEANING
Your way and your heart belong to one life of wholeness. God’s nearness is longed for within the ordinary place you inhabit, where this integrity is carried through daily life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that a respected public path can excuse a divided private life: the verse names wholeness for the way and for the heart inside the house.
THE ROOT
תָּמִים
tamim
GROWS FROM
תמם
To be complete or brought to wholeness.
The two forms translated “perfect” come from the same root: תָּמִים (tamim, whole) describes the way, and תֹּם (tom, integrity) describes the heart. Hebrew holds the path and the inner life together as one wholeness, including within the house.
ALSO GROWS
tamim: Whole, complete, sound; often rendered blameless or perfect.
תָּמִים
This form describes the way, making the path itself a life carried in wholeness.
tom: Integrity, completeness.
תֹּם
This form describes the heart, showing that the wholeness of the path also lives in the inner person.
tamam: To be complete, come to completion.
תָּמַם
The verb shows wholeness as a state of completion, not merely an outward appearance.
THE PATTERN
Integrity is one wholeness carried through the path, the heart, and the household.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.The just man walketh in his integrity: his children are blessed after him.Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.THE THREAD
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.Genesis uses תָּמִים (tamim, whole), from the same root תמם (tamam, to be complete) as the word translated “perfect” here. It also joins walking before God with wholeness, so the longing for God’s nearness reaches into the way life is lived at home.
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