What Does Psalm 115:13 Mean in the King James?

He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

Psalm 115:13 · 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

The LORD’s blessing follows awe; human rank does not set its measure.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s blessing reaches those who stand in awe of him, whether they are counted small or great. Human rank does not make that blessing more or less available to the reader.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that the LORD’s favor belongs more readily to the prominent, or that being small makes someone less visible to him.

THE ROOT

יְבָרֵךְ

yevarekh

GROWS FROM

בָּרַךְ

barak

To bless; the root carries an association with bending the knee.

“bless” in this verse is yevarekh. The knee connection lets blessing carry a posture of honoring as well as an act of favor. Here the same blessing reaches the small and the great, so rank sets no scale for the LORD’s regard.

ALSO GROWS

berekh: Knee

בֶּרֶךְ

This branch reveals the root’s association with bending the knee, a posture that resonates with the awe named in the verse.

berakhah: Blessing

בְּרָכָה

This related form carries the same blessing at the heart of the promise to both small and great.

יִרְאֵי

yir'ei

GROWS FROM

ירא

yare

To fear or revere; toward the LORD, awe.

The word can hold awe as well as fear. The verse identifies the recipients by their relation to the LORD, while explicitly setting human rank aside.

ALSO GROWS

yare: To fear or stand in awe

יָרֵא

This root form names the awe that marks those who receive the blessing.

yir'ah: Fear or awe

יִרְאָה

This noun shows the same root holding reverence alongside fear, making the recipients’ defining posture clear.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s regard and blessing do not rise or fall with human rank.

The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.

Proverbs 22:2 · KJVThe verse places rich and poor together under the LORD’s making, with neither rank outside his regard.

How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.

Job 34:19 · KJVThe LORD gives neither princes nor the rich greater standing than the poor, because all are his work.

But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

Acts 10:35 · KJVThe same regard reaches across nations and is not restricted by a person’s place or origin.

THE THREAD

And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Genesis 12:3 · KJV

The same barak root appears in “bless” and “be blessed,” while Genesis widens the promise’s horizon to all the families of the earth. Psalm’s “small and great” and Genesis’ “all families” both open the reach of blessing beyond rank.

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