What Does Psalm 106:40 Mean in the King James?

Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.

Psalm 106:40 · KJV

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 places divine abhorrence beside the words “his own inheritance”: rejection and belonging occupy the same sentence.

THE MEANING

This verse holds a difficult tension in the present: anger can turn against a people, while they are still named as God’s own inheritance. It leaves the force of abhorrence beside the force of belonging, without resolving either one.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that belonging makes a people immune from severe judgment.

THE ROOT

וַיְתָעֵב

vayta'ev

GROWS FROM

תעב

To abhor or regard as detestable.

The verb for “abhorred” shares its root with words for a detestable thing. That fierce verdict stands beside “his own,” so the verse holds repudiation and belonging together.

ALSO GROWS

to'evah: A detestable thing; an abomination.

תּוֹעֵבָה

It shares the root ⁨תעב⁩ and shows the force carried by the verse’s verb of abhorrence.

nit'av: Detestable or loathsome.

נִתְעָב

This form from the same root describes what is regarded with abhorrence, echoing the severity of the verse’s judgment.

נַחֲלָתוֹ

nachalato

GROWS FROM

נחל

To inherit or possess as a share.

The people are named as God’s ⁨נַחֲלָה⁩ (nahalah, inheritance or allotted share) even as the verse says he abhors them. This root can describe both receiving a share and handing one on, making the phrase more intimate than an abstract claim of ownership.

ALSO GROWS

nahalah: Inheritance, possession, or allotted share.

נַחֲלָה

It is the noun form that appears in “his own inheritance,” naming the people as what belongs to him.

nahal: To inherit or receive as a possession.

נָחַל

This verb shares the root ⁨נחל⁩ and gives the verse’s inheritance language the sense of a received share.

hinchil: To give or apportion as an inheritance.

הִנְחִיל

This causative form from ⁨נחל⁩ shows the root’s other direction: a share can also be handed on.

THE PATTERN

Scripture can name a people’s belonging to God and God’s severe rejection of them in the same relational frame.

And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.

Deuteronomy 32:19 · KJVAbhorrence stands beside the names of sons and daughters, keeping kinship in the sentence that carries judgment.

I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.

Jeremiah 12:7 · KJVWithdrawal is expressed through the language of house and heritage, so judgment still addresses what is claimed as belonging.

I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Romans 11:1 · KJVThe question of whether God has cast away his people is answered with a refusal, holding rejection and belonging in tension.

THE THREAD

For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

Psalm 94:14 · KJV

This verse repeats ⁨נַחֲלָה⁩ (nahalah, inheritance), the word Psalm 106:40 uses for what is “his own.” Here the LORD will not forsake that inheritance, exposing a tension between abhorrence and continued belonging without dissolving either line.

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