What Does Psalm 119:107 Mean in the King James?
I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.
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
“Quicken” is a plea for life to be renewed, so this verse asks for life from within severe affliction, not only after it ends.
THE MEANING
The verse names the pressure plainly: the speaker is afflicted very much and asks the LORD for life according to his word. Distress is present, and renewal remains possible in the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that severe affliction proves life cannot be renewed.
THE ROOT
חַיֵּנִי
ḥayyēnî
GROWS FROM
חיה
To live, be alive, or cause to live.
“quicken” in this verse is ḥayyēnî. The verb asks for life to be given again, not merely for the suffering to feel less intense. Its root also forms words for life and living beings, so the plea reaches toward life itself while affliction remains.
ALSO GROWS
ḥay: Living, alive.
חַי
The same root names being alive; “quicken” asks for life itself to be renewed.
ḥayyim: Life.
חַיִּים
This branch makes clear that the request concerns renewed life, not simply relief from pressure.
ḥayyah: A living creature.
חַיָּה
The root also names living beings, giving “quicken” the sense of restoring active life.
כִּדְבָרֶךָ
kidvarekha
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; its noun forms include word, matter, or thing.
The request for renewed life is tethered to what God speaks. Because the same word family can name a matter or thing, “word” carries more than the sound of speech: it can name what is spoken and what concerns the speaker.
ALSO GROWS
dibber: He spoke; to speak.
דִּבֵּר
This verb shows that the word in the verse belongs to a root of speaking and utterance.
dibbur: Speech, utterance.
דִּבּוּר
The request rests on speech as something expressed, not on a vague or unspoken hope.
davar: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
The word family joins speech with a matter or thing, giving the prayer a concrete point of reference.
THE PATTERN
Renewed life is asked for within affliction, with God’s word as its measure.
This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.THE THREAD
My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.Here the speaker clings to dust and makes the same request: life according to God’s word. The repeated verb and phrase show the plea returning under another image of distress.
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