What Does Psalm 118:12 Mean in the King James?

They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

Psalm 118:12 · 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 name invoked here is the LORD’s nature, and it is that nature that cuts the swarm off.

THE MEANING

The threat crowds around you like a swarm, and its blaze is like a fire among thorns that is quickly quenched. The verse places the cutting off of that surrounding force in the LORD’s name, his nature, not a label.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that being surrounded means the threat has already won.

THE ROOT

אֲמִילַם

ʾămîlām

GROWS FROM

מוּל

m-w-l

To cut off; to circumcise.

The word translated “destroy” comes from a root of cutting off. The verse’s force is direct: the encircling attackers are severed, and the LORD’s nature is named as the ground of that act.

ALSO GROWS

mûl: To circumcise; to cut off.

מוּל

This verbal form carries the root’s cutting action into the verse’s declaration against the surrounding threat.

milah: Circumcision; the act of cutting away.

מִילָה

This noun preserves the same removal sense, giving “destroy” the added shade of something being cut away.

סַבּוּנִי

sabbuni

GROWS FROM

סבב

s-b-b

To turn or go around; to encircle.

“compassed” in this verse is sabbuni. The root pictures a circular closing-in: the bees surround the speaker from every side. The verse answers that ring with the cutting-off action of ⁨מוּל⁩ (m-w-l, “to cut off”).

ALSO GROWS

saviv: Around; surrounding.

סָבִיב

This branch carries the same sense of being enclosed on every side.

svivot: Surroundings; the area around.

סְבִיבוֹת

It makes explicit that the pressure in the verse comes from all around the speaker.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s name carries the nature through which surrounding danger is answered.

The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

Proverbs 18:10 · KJVHere the LORD’s name is a place of refuge, showing that the name carries protective character.

And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Exodus 34:6 · KJVThe name is expressed through the qualities proclaimed with it: it carries the nature of the one named.

Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

Acts 4:10 · KJVThe name is shown in action, as the means through which a man stands whole.

THE THREAD

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.

Psalm 20:7 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨שֵׁם⁩ (shem, “name” understood as nature). Psalm 20 sets that nature against reliance on military strength; Psalm 118 names it as the force that cuts through the encircling threat.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us