What Does Psalm 111:6 Mean in the King James?

He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.

Psalm 111:6 · 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.

THE KEY

God puts the power of his works before his people, then gives them an inheritance that no nation’s present possession can place beyond his reach.

THE MEANING

God makes the power of his works known to you, and the inheritance of the nations remains within the reach of his giving. What appears secured by present possession does not define the limits of what he can give.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that whoever holds an inheritance now has the final say over who can receive it.

THE ROOT

הִגִּיד

higgid

GROWS FROM

נגד

n-g-d

To be in front or conspicuous; in a causative form, to declare or make known.

“shewed” in this verse is higgid. The word for showing belongs to a root whose branches also mean “in front of” and “leader.” The works’ power is brought before the people, made visible as the ground of what they receive.

ALSO GROWS

neged: In front of, opposite

נֶגֶד

The root’s sense of placing something before someone gives “showed” the force of making the works present to view.

nagid: Leader, prince

נָגִיד

A leader is one who stands before others, echoing the root’s movement from being in front to making something known.

נַחֲלָה

nahalah

GROWS FROM

נחל

n-ḥ-l

To inherit or take possession; in causative forms, to assign an inheritance.

“heritage” in this verse is nahalah. This inheritance is a concrete possession given into someone’s keeping. The root holds both receiving what is allotted and assigning that possession, matching the verse’s movement from God’s works to what he gives his people.

ALSO GROWS

nachal: To inherit, take possession

נָחַל

The verb shows inheritance as an act of receiving and possessing, not merely an abstract promise.

hinchil: To cause to inherit, allot as a possession

הִנְחִיל

This causative form makes the giver visible in the root: the inheritance is received because someone assigns it.

THE PATTERN

God’s revealed power grounds the giving of an inheritance beyond the recipients’ present possession.

To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day.

Deuteronomy 4:38 · KJVThe gift is an inheritance from nations described as greater and mightier, joining God’s power to a possession the recipients could not secure by their own strength.

And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat.

Joshua 24:13 · KJVThe land, cities, and their yield arrive as a gift beyond the recipients’ own making, echoing the inheritance God gives in the Psalm.

In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

Ephesians 1:11 · KJVThe verse joins receiving an inheritance to God’s active working, carrying the works-to-inheritance pattern into the New Testament.

THE THREAD

I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

Psalm 77:11 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨מַעֲשֶׂה⁩ (maʿaseh, work or deed), from ⁨עָשָׂה⁩ (ʿasah, do or make), for the LORD’s works. Psalm 111:6 shows their power as inheritance is given; Psalm 77:11 holds those same deeds in remembrance, tying the gift to what God does.

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