What Does Psalm 115:14 Mean in the King James?

The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

Psalm 115:14 · 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 Hebrew verb translated “increase” means “add,” and the repeated “upon you” carries that addition onward to your children.

THE MEANING

The LORD adds to you, and the addition reaches your children too. The repeated “you” places the increase upon you, then names your children as part of its reach. What grows here extends beyond one generation.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that increase is only personal: the verse names your children within the reach of what is added to you.

THE ROOT

יֹסֵף

yōsēp

GROWS FROM

יסף

y-s-f

To add, increase, or continue.

English “increase” can suggest a quantity going up; ⁨יָסַף⁩ (yāsaph) means “to add,” and the same root gives Joseph his name, “may he add.” The verse repeats “upon you,” then carries that addition to your children, making increase something that extends through a household.

ALSO GROWS

Yosef: “He adds” or “May he add.”

יוֹסֵף

In Genesis 30:24, this same root becomes Joseph’s name, linking the act of adding with the arrival of another child.

tosefet: Addition or supplement.

תּוֹסֶפֶת

This noun keeps the root’s sense of something being added, echoing the verse’s picture of increase as addition reaching beyond you.

THE PATTERN

What the LORD adds in one life can extend through households, generations, and further fruit.

And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

Genesis 30:24 · KJVJoseph’s name comes from the same root for “add,” joining increase with the arrival of another child.

(The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!)

Deuteronomy 1:11 · KJVThe verse uses the same root for adding, describing increase that reaches a whole people.

Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;)

2 Corinthians 9:10 · KJVHere, increase continues into fruit beyond the immediate recipient, as seed grows into a harvest.

THE THREAD

And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.

Genesis 30:24 · KJV

Joseph’s name comes from the same ⁨יסף⁩ (y-s-f) root rendered “increase” here: the verse says the LORD adds. In Genesis, that word is held in a child’s name; here it reaches you and your children.

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