What Does Psalm 11:6 Mean in the King James?

Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

Psalm 11:6 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The judgment does not merely fall on the wicked; it becomes the measured portion filling their own cup.

THE MEANING

The verse places you before an uncompromising picture of judgment: the wicked receive a storm that overwhelms them, and their cup is the portion set before them. Fire, brimstone, and violent wind make the ruin concrete; nothing in the image makes it mild or accidental.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie this undoes is that violence leaves its perpetrators untouched, or that they can choose what finally fills their cup.

THE ROOT

מְנָת

menat

GROWS FROM

מנה

manah

to count, appoint, or allot

The English “portion” sounds like a share, but its root also carries the sense of counting and assigning. The cup is not merely what they happen to drink; it is the measured share set before them.

ALSO GROWS

manah: to count, number, or appoint

מָנָה

The act of counting or appointing gives “portion” the sense of a share specifically allotted.

menah: a portion or share

מְנָה

This noun names the allotted share itself, echoing the verse’s image of judgment as what fills their cup.

יַמְטֵר

yamtir

GROWS FROM

מטר

matar

to rain or send down rain

The Hebrew verb for raining here also appears when brimstone and fire rain down in Genesis 19:24. The verse turns the familiar downward movement of rain into an image of judgment descending from above.

ALSO GROWS

matar: rain

מָטָר

The noun names the rain that this root can send down, making the verse’s downpour image concrete.

himtir: to cause to rain or shower down

הִמְטִיר

This causative form shares the root of the verse’s verb and is used for the fire and brimstone raining down in Genesis 19:24.

THE PATTERN

Scripture pictures judgment as a poured-out portion that falls from above and becomes the cup the guilty must drink.

Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

Genesis 19:24 · KJVThe same rain root joins the Psalm’s image of fire and brimstone descending in judgment.

But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all.

Luke 17:29 · KJVFire and brimstone again descend as an overwhelming judgment that leaves no ambiguity about its force.

The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Revelation 14:10 · KJVThe poured-out judgment, cup, fire, and brimstone gather the Psalm’s images into one picture.

THE THREAD

Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;

Genesis 19:24 · KJV

The Hebrew verb for “rain” here is the same verb in Genesis 19:24, where brimstone and fire fall from heaven. That shared root opens the Psalm’s storm into the same image of judgment poured down, while its cup shows the portion received.

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