What Does Psalm 116:4 Mean in the King James?
Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
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
Calling on the LORD’s name is appealing to the nature that can release your whole living self from danger.
THE MEANING
You call on the LORD’s nature and ask for your living soul, the whole self, to be brought out. The verb translated “deliver” carries the sense of escape, so the plea is for the life caught in danger to slip free.
THE ROOT
מַלְּטָה
malləṭāh
GROWS FROM
מלט
To slip away, escape, or bring out of danger.
“deliver” in this verse is malləṭāh. The Hebrew verb carries the shape of escape: the plea is for the living self to get free of what holds it. The same root can describe someone escaping and someone being delivered, joining rescue with release.
ALSO GROWS
himmālēṭ: Escape; slip away to safety.
הִמָּלֵט
Genesis 19:17 uses this form with “life,” giving the sense of escape for the living self.
mallēṭ: Deliver or rescue.
מַלֵּט
This related form shows the other side of the same movement: bringing someone out so they can escape danger.
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נפש
The living self, with its life and appetite.
“my soul” in this verse is nafshi. נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) names the living soul, the person in the fullness of embodied life. Here the plea is for that whole living self to be released, not for an abstract fragment of the person.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living soul, person, or self.
נֶפֶשׁ
It is the same word at the center of the plea: what is endangered is the living person.
naphash: Be refreshed or rest.
נָפַשׁ
This related form shows the living self receiving restoration, widening the plea beyond mere survival.
אֶקְרָא
ʾeqraʾ
GROWS FROM
קרא
Call, summon, or proclaim.
“called” in this verse is ʾeqraʾ. The call is addressed to the LORD’s name, שֵׁם (shem), understood as the LORD’s nature. The words describe an appeal to that nature, not a formula of sounds.
ALSO GROWS
qeri’ah: A calling, reading aloud, or proclamation.
קְרִיאָה
This branch carries the sense of making an appeal audible and present.
miqra: A convocation or public reading.
מִקְרָא
The call’s root also reaches toward gathering and making something heard, so the plea is an address that draws near.
THE PATTERN
Calling on the LORD’s name is an appeal to the nature that brings the endangered person out.
This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.THE THREAD
And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.Psalm 116:4 uses מלט (malat, escape or deliver) with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, living soul); Genesis 19:17 brings those same words together in “Escape for thy life.” The link makes the plea concrete: deliverance is the endangered living self getting free.
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