What Does Psalm 108:5 Mean in the King James?
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;
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 heavens are not God’s ceiling, and the earth cannot weigh all that God is.
THE MEANING
God’s exaltation reaches beyond the heavens, and God’s weight stands above the whole earth. No part of what you can see or measure sets the limit of God’s worth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that what you can see sets the limit of God’s presence or worth.
THE ROOT
כָּבוֹד
kavod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy; to carry weight.
The word rendered “glory” carries the sense of weight: God’s kavod is more than brilliance or reputation; it is what has greatest substance. The verse places that weight above the whole earth, whose scale cannot measure it.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty.
כָּבֵד
This related form makes the verse’s “glory” a matter of weight and substance.
kibbed: To honor, treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
To honor is to give weight; here God’s weight is placed above the whole earth.
רוּמָה
rumah
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
To rise, be high, or lift up.
“Be thou exalted” carries the image of God being raised high. The next phrase gives that height a scale, the heavens, while “glory” adds the language of weight above the earth.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, lofty.
רָם
This related form echoes the height named in “above the heavens.”
romem: To exalt, lift high.
רוֹמֵם
This form shares the raising-up image in the verse’s opening appeal.
THE PATTERN
God’s honor and weight exceed every created scale, from the earth to the heavens.
The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:THE THREAD
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.Isaiah’s “he shall be exalted” comes from רום (rum, to rise or be high), the same root behind “Be thou exalted” here. The shared word links the Psalm’s upward image with Isaiah’s description of the servant being raised high.
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