What Does Psalm 109:3 Mean in the King James?
They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
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
Hostile speech can surround you and the opposition can be real, while the verse still names its cause as nothing.
THE MEANING
Hostile words close around you, and opposition follows, yet the verse names the fight as without cause. The intensity of what surrounds you does not establish your guilt; the attack can be real and still be groundless.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If people oppose you intensely, you must have caused it. This verse names opposition that is real and still without cause.
THE ROOT
סְבָבוּנִי
səvavuni
GROWS FROM
סבב
to turn around, go around, or surround
“compassed” in this verse is səvavuni. The same root carries both the motion of going around and the condition of being surrounded. Here, hatred takes the shape of an enclosure: the speaker is hemmed in by words before the verse names the fight.
ALSO GROWS
saviv: around; surrounding
סָבִיב
This form names the space around someone, echoing how the hostile words close in.
sovev: turning around; surrounding
סוֹבֵב
This form keeps the root’s circling motion visible: the words do not merely reach the speaker but encircle them.
דִּבְרֵי
divrei
GROWS FROM
דבר
word, matter, or thing; to speak
The consonants ד־ב־ר appear in words for both speech and matter. The verse’s hateful words are not presented as harmless noise: they form the surrounding reality of the speaker’s opposition.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word; matter or thing
דָּבָר
The shared root links the speech that surrounds the speaker with the matter they are facing.
dibber: he spoke
דִּבֵּר
This verbal form shows the same root at work as spoken speech, making the hostile words an enacted part of the attack.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names opposition that can be intense and real while remaining without cause.
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.THE THREAD
For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.Both verses use חִנָּם (ḥinnām), meaning “for nothing” or “without cause,” to name the groundlessness of an attack. Psalm 35:7 repeats the word, making the absence of cause unmistakable.
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