What Does Psalm 105:13 Mean in the King James?
When they went from one nation to another, from one kingdom to another people;
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 journey crosses more than borders: it passes through nations, systems of rule, and peoples.
THE MEANING
You live among changing communities and structures of rule, and no single setting contains the whole of your path. The verse places nation, kingdom, and people in one line of passage, so belonging appears within movement rather than as its fixed end.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that the people or political order around you must be the final measure of where your life can go.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְהַלְּכוּ
wayyithallĕkhu
GROWS FROM
הלך
to go, walk, move along
“went” in this verse is wayyithallĕkhu. This verb carries the sense of going about, giving the line the feel of ongoing passage rather than one move followed by arrival. Its root also gives words for walking and a course of movement, so the motion itself becomes a path.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: to go or walk
הָלַךְ
The base verb makes the passage bodily and ongoing: they move through, rather than simply change location once.
halikhah: walking or a course of movement
הֲלִיכָה
This branch keeps the same motion in view as a continuing way, which fits the verse’s sequence from one people and kingdom to another.
מַמְלָכָה
mamlakhah
GROWS FROM
מלך
to reign, exercise kingship
The word for kingdom shares its root with words for king and reigning. Beside nation and people, it shows that the passage crosses political rule as well as geography.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: king
מֶלֶךְ
The king is the figure named by the same root that forms the kingdom, linking a territory to its rule.
malakh: to reign or rule
מָלַךְ
This verb exposes the action inside “kingdom”: a structure of rule that the journey passes through.
malkhut: kingship or sovereignty
מַלְכוּת
This branch names the authority itself, widening the verse’s movement from borders to forms of power.
THE PATTERN
A life passes through changing places and conditions, so no present location or community exhausts its whole path.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.THE THREAD
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:“Get thee out” carries the same root הָלַךְ (halakh, go or walk) as “went” here. Together, the verses make movement the thread: a departure can open into passage through changing places and forms of belonging.
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