What Does Psalm 103:18 Mean in the King James?
To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
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
Here, remembering is already pointed toward action: the verse makes memory something lived.
THE MEANING
Covenant lives here as something kept under watch and recalled into practice. Remembering does not stop at recollection; the verse carries it through to doing. What is held in mind takes form in action now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that remembering remains private recollection: the verse directly joins remembering with doing.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמְרֵי
shomrê
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
to guard, watch over, or keep
“keep” in this verse is shomrê. The form “those keeping” names an ongoing act of guarding, so the covenant is held as something actively tended. The following clause shows that this watchfulness continues into action.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: keeper, watchman
שֹׁמֵר
The keeper watches over what has been entrusted, giving “keep his covenant” the sense of active care.
mishmeret: guard, charge, watch
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch connects keeping with a responsibility that must be maintained.
זֹכְרֵי
zokhrê
GROWS FROM
זכר
to remember, recall, or bring to mind
“remember” in this verse is zokhrê. This root also gives זִכָּרוֹן (zikkaron, memorial) and זֵכֶר (zeker, remembrance or record), words for what brings something back into awareness. Here, remembering is expressly aimed at action, bringing the covenant’s words into the present as conduct.
ALSO GROWS
zikkaron: memorial, remembrance
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial keeps something present to awareness, echoing the verse’s active remembering.
zeker: remembrance, record
זֵכֶר
This branch shows that remembering can preserve something for ongoing recall.
פִּקּוּדָיו
piqqudav
GROWS FROM
פקד
to attend to, appoint, or oversee
The word פִּקּוּדִים (piqqudim, charges or precepts) grows from פקד (paqad, attend to or appoint). This shades the commandments as entrusted charges to be attended to, which helps explain why remembering them runs directly into doing them.
ALSO GROWS
paqīd: appointed officer, overseer
פָּקִיד
This branch carries the root’s sense of an assigned responsibility under someone’s oversight.
pequddah: charge, appointment, oversight
פְּקֻדָּה
Like the commandments in this verse, a charge is something entrusted for attention and fulfillment.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly joins receiving or remembering instruction with carrying it into practice.
And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.THE THREAD
And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.Genesis uses שׁמר (shamar, guard or keep) for keeping the garden, giving covenant keeping the texture of watchful care for what is entrusted. Here that same attentiveness joins זכר (zakar, remember) to action.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us