What Does Psalm 102:10 Mean in the King James?
Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
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 one who lifts the speaker is also the one who casts the speaker down, so elevation here carries no promise of safety.
THE MEANING
When you are raised and then thrown down, this verse names both movements as God’s acts and names the force behind them indignation and wrath. It leaves the wound in view without resolving it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that being lifted by God guarantees lasting safety: the same hand can lift and cast down.
THE ROOT
נְשָׂאתַנִי
nesāʾtānî
GROWS FROM
נשא
Lift, carry, bear; the consonants are n-ś-ʾ.
“lifted me up” in this verse is nesāʾtānî. The root נשא does not mean upward motion alone: it also means to carry or bear. The English “lifted” sits inside a word family that can hold elevation and burden at once, and the next verb makes that elevation feel precarious.
ALSO GROWS
nasi: Prince, leader, or chief; a title associated with one raised up.
נָשִׂיא
The same root can describe elevated status, but the verse shows that being raised does not make that position permanent.
nōśēʾ: One who carries or bears.
נֹשֵׂא
The root holds carrying alongside lifting, so the speaker’s elevation is part of a word family that also bears weight.
וַתַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי
wattashlikheni
GROWS FROM
שלך
Throw, cast, or cast away; the consonants are sh-l-kh.
“cast me down” in this verse is wattashlikheni. The root names a forceful throwing, and its form here makes the speaker the direct object of that action. Set against נשא, the sentence holds two opposite movements, lifting and forceful expulsion, under the same “you.”
ALSO GROWS
hashlekh: Cast or throw; used for casting a burden onto another.
הַשְׁלֵךְ
Psalm 55:22 uses the same root for casting a burden upon the LORD, showing that the verb can describe a weight being placed elsewhere as well as a person being thrown down.
vayyashlekh: He cast or threw.
וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ
This verbal form keeps the physical force of the action in view: something is hurled, not simply lowered.
THE PATTERN
The same divine agency can raise and lower, so elevation does not guarantee permanence.
The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.“Cast” here comes from the same root, שלך (shalakh), as “cast me down” in Psalm 102:10. The shared verb can name both being thrown down and placing a burden elsewhere, opening a striking range without softening the fall in the current verse.
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