What Does Psalm 107:29 Mean in the King James?
He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
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’s deepest turn is from storm to silence: the raging itself loses its voice.
THE MEANING
The storm around you is not beyond quieting; the waves that keep rising can fall silent. The verse holds the storm and its waves together, then shows their noise giving way to stillness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that upheaval must continue simply because it has begun.
THE ROOT
דְּמָמָה
demamah
GROWS FROM
דמם
D-M-M
To be silent, cease, or become still.
The word translated “calm” carries the sense of silence: the storm is made into quiet. Its root also appears in words for silence and quiet waiting, so the verse’s still sea shares a seed with the stillness of a waiting soul.
ALSO GROWS
damam: To be silent, cease, or become still.
דָּמַם
The verb behind the noun makes calm an act of quieting, not merely a smooth surface.
dumiyyah: Silence; quiet waiting.
דּוּמִיָּה
The same root appears in Psalm 62:1, where the KJV describes the soul as waiting upon God.
THE PATTERN
When turmoil rises, God brings its force to stillness.
Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David. Truly my soul waiteth upon God: from him cometh my salvation.The Hebrew word translated “waiteth” is דּוּמִיָּה (dumiyyah), from the same root as the “calm” in Psalm 107:29. The sea’s silence and the soul’s quiet waiting share one root.
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