What Does Psalm 106:42 Mean in the King James?
Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand.
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
Oppression moves from pressure closing in to people being brought beneath another’s hand.
THE MEANING
When pressure closes around you, this verse names both the squeeze and its consequence: being brought under another’s control. It describes subjection as something imposed by an enemy’s power, not as willing surrender. Oppression narrows a person’s freedom and brings them low.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being under another’s hand does not prove you chose or consented to that rule; the verse names enemy pressure as the cause.
THE ROOT
וַיִּלְחָצוּם
wayyilḥāṣûm
GROWS FROM
לחץ
to press, squeeze, or oppress
The verb comes from a root of pressing, so “oppressed” carries the feel of pressure closing in. The next verb names the lowering that follows, linking the squeeze to its effect.
ALSO GROWS
laḥats: pressure; oppression
לַחַץ
This noun names the constricting pressure inside the verse’s word “oppressed.”
lōḥăṣêhem: their oppressors; those pressing them
לֹחֲצֵיהֶם
The same root can name the people applying the pressure, as in Judges 2:18.
וַיִּכָּנְעוּ
wayyikkānʿû
GROWS FROM
כנע
to be humbled, subdued, or brought low
“brought into subjection” in this verse is wayyikkānʿû. This verb describes the state pressure brings about: being subdued or brought low. Here, “under their hand” makes clear that the lowering is imposed by the enemies’ power.
ALSO GROWS
hikhniʿa: to subdue or bring low
הִכְנִיעַ
This causative form shows the root can describe someone bringing another person low.
nikhnaʿ: humbled or subdued
נִכְנָע
The related form describes a humbled state, echoing what the verse says the enemies’ pressure produces.
THE PATTERN
Oppression presses people until they are brought under another’s power.
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them.But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?THE THREAD
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.Exodus uses the same root, לחץ, for “oppression” and “oppress.” That shared word shows the pressure in Psalm 106:42 as the constriction that precedes being brought under another’s hand.
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