What Does Psalm 118:6 Mean in the King James?
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
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 repeats לִי (li, “for/to me”): the LORD is for you, and human power is measured within that relationship.
THE MEANING
The LORD is for you now; the verse does not deny that people can act, but refuses to make their power the highest authority over your life. The repeated “for/to me” holds the question of what can be done to you inside the reality of God’s presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that another person’s threat has ultimate authority over your life.
THE ROOT
אִירָא
ʾîrāʾ
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear or stand in awe.
The root ירא (y-r-ʾ, “to fear or stand in awe”) can describe fear in the face of danger and awe directed toward God. Here, human threat is real, but it does not hold the place of ultimate authority.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾāh: Fear, reverence, or awe.
יִרְאָה
The same root holds both the fear the verse names and the awe associated with God.
nōrāʾ: Awe-inspiring or fearsome.
נוֹרָא
This related form shows how the root can describe what evokes awe, making the contrast between human threat and divine presence resonate within the word-family.
אָדָם
ʾādām
GROWS FROM
אדם
ʾ-d-m
Human or humankind, with a word-family connection to ground.
“man” in this verse is ʾādām. אָדָם (adam, “human”) shares its consonants with אֲדָמָה (adamah, “ground”), carrying the image of the ground-being. The question does not pretend people have no power; it places human power within creaturely limits.
ALSO GROWS
ʾădāmāh: Ground or soil.
אֲדָמָה
The shared word-family links the human being to the ground, keeping human power finite rather than ultimate.
ʾādōm: Red.
אָדֹם
This related form preserves another branch of the same consonants; the verse’s adam remains a human being, not an unlimited power.
THE PATTERN
God’s presence reorders fear by placing human opposition beneath divine help.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?THE THREAD
In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.Both verses use ירא (yare, “fear”) and ask what human power can do, though Psalm 56:4 calls it “flesh.” The shared root connects trust in God with fear losing its claim to define the limits of your life.
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