What Does Psalm 107:2 Mean in the King James?
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;
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
Redemption here is being reclaimed from an enemy’s grip, and the reclaimed are free to say so.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s reclaiming reaches the reader where an adversary’s hold has narrowed life. The redeemed speak because deliverance is something real and tellable: the hand that held them does not have the final claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that an adversary’s grip gets the final word is undone: the LORD can reclaim, and the reclaimed can name what has happened.
THE ROOT
גְּאוּלֵי
ge’ulei
GROWS FROM
גָּאַל
ga’al
To reclaim or redeem; to recover as a kinsman who acts for what is his to protect.
The word translated “redeemed” comes from a root of reclaiming: the verse pictures people brought back from another’s hold. Its related words name both the redeemer and the act or right of redemption, so the release is also a change in who has a claim on them.
ALSO GROWS
go’el: Kinsman-redeemer
גֹּאֵל
The redeemer acts to recover someone or something from a claim that threatens them.
ge’ullah: Redemption; the right or act of reclaiming
גְּאֻלָּה
This branch shows redemption as a concrete act of recovery, not merely a feeling of relief.
צָר
tsar
GROWS FROM
צָרַר
tsarar
To bind, press, or make tight; to bring into distress.
The word for the enemy carries an echo of narrowness and distress. Beside “the hand” of that enemy, it gives the threat the shape of a constricting grip, and makes the reclaiming in the first root feel like release from that grip.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow; an adversary or foe
צַר
The same word can name both narrowness and the foe, linking the adversary’s hold with constriction.
metzar: A narrow place; straits or distress
מֵצַר
This branch makes the constriction explicit: the enemy’s hand is a place of distress from which the LORD reclaims.
THE PATTERN
Those released from a constraining grip become witnesses who speak their deliverance.
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.THE THREAD
But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.The same גאל (ga’al) root appears in “I have redeemed thee,” joined to the LORD calling the person by name and saying, “thou art mine.” Psalm 107:2’s public voice grows from that reclaiming: the enemy’s hand does not define the redeemed person’s belonging.
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