What Does Psalm 118:9 Mean in the King James?
It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
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 first “trust” means to take refuge, setting shelter in the LORD against confidence placed in human power.
THE MEANING
Your security rests in taking refuge in the LORD rather than in the rank of princes. Human standing can look like shelter, but the verse names the LORD as the better refuge now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that human rank is a safer foundation than the LORD.
THE ROOT
לַחֲסוֹת
laḥăsôt
GROWS FROM
חסה
ḥ-s-h
Seek refuge; take shelter.
The Hebrew verb here means to seek shelter, so this trust is more than an opinion about who is reliable: it is placing yourself under protection. English “trust” can hide that movement into refuge.
ALSO GROWS
maḥăseh: Refuge, shelter.
מַחֲסֶה
The noun names the shelter that the verb describes seeking.
ḥāsîtî: I have taken refuge.
חָסִיתִי
This first-person form shows the root as a lived act of finding shelter.
מִבְּטֹחַ
mibṭōaḥ
GROWS FROM
בטח
b-ṭ-ḥ
Be secure; trust or rely with confidence.
The verse contrasts seeking refuge with placing confidence in princes. The two ideas overlap, but the first pictures shelter, while this root emphasizes the assurance or security someone relies on.
ALSO GROWS
bāṭaḥ: Trust, rely, feel secure.
בָּטַח
This verb is the seed of the confidence named in the verse.
mivṭāḥ: Confidence, security.
מִבְטָח
This noun makes explicit the sense of security that someone places in another.
נְדִיבִים
nədîvîm
GROWS FROM
נדב
n-d-b
Give or offer freely; be willing and generous, with a related sense of nobility.
The word translated “princes” also carries a shade of nobility and willingness, from a root associated with free giving. Even generous or high-ranking people remain human supports, set here beside the LORD as refuge.
ALSO GROWS
nādîb: Noble, willing, generous person.
נָדִיב
This singular form reveals the qualities beneath the title translated “prince.”
nədāvāh: Freewill offering.
נְדָבָה
This related word shows the root’s sense of something offered voluntarily.
THE PATTERN
What appears powerful or secure cannot replace refuge in the LORD.
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;THE THREAD
I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.“Refuge” in this verse comes from the same root, חסה (ḥ-s-h), as “take refuge” in Psalm 118:9. One verse names the act of seeking shelter; the other names the LORD as that shelter.
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