What Does Psalm 119:115 Mean in the King James?

Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

Psalm 119:115 · 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.

THE KEY

The speaker guards what gives life by drawing a boundary around what can pull him from it.

THE MEANING

This verse names a choice that is alive now: your closeness to harmful influences can shape what you are able to keep. Here, turning them away and guarding God’s commandments are one movement, the boundary protects what is entrusted to you.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that faithfulness requires keeping every influence close; here, guarding what is good includes refusing the nearness of evildoers.

THE ROOT

אֶצְּרָה

ʾeṣṣərâ

GROWS FROM

נצר

n-ṣ-r

Guard, watch over, preserve.

The verse’s “keep” carries the sense of guarding something entrusted to you, not merely complying with a rule. This root family also gives ⁨נֵצֶר⁩ (nēṣer), “shoot” or “branch”: keeping has the feel of preserving living growth.

ALSO GROWS

nōṣēr: One who guards or preserves.

נֹצֵר

Psalm 31:23 uses this form for the LORD, who “preserveth the faithful,” showing the same root at work as active protection.

nēṣer: A shoot or branch.

נֵצֶר

Isaiah 11:1 uses this word for the branch growing from Jesse’s roots; it brings a living image to the verse’s idea of what is preserved.

THE PATTERN

Guarding what gives life joins care for the inner life with a boundary around corrupting influence.

Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

Psalm 1:1 · KJVThe boundary around corrupting company echoes the speaker’s refusal to keep evildoers near.

Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

Proverbs 4:23 · KJVThe heart itself is something guarded because life flows from it.

Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

John 14:23 · KJVKeeping the words is presented as a living closeness, where what is guarded shapes what dwells within.

THE THREAD

Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

Psalm 119:2 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “keep” here comes from the same root, ⁨נצר⁩ (natsar), as “I will keep” in verse 115. This verse joins guarding God’s testimonies with seeking him wholeheartedly, revealing the attentive life protected by the speaker’s boundary.

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