What Does Psalm 119:116 Mean in the King James?
Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.
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 plea reveals that life and hope both depend on being held steady by what God has spoken.
THE MEANING
Your life is sustained by what God has spoken, while your hope remains vulnerable to disappointment. The verse holds dependence and expectation together without concealing the risk of being let down.
THE ROOT
סָמְכֵנִי
sāmĕḵēnî
GROWS FROM
סמך
To support, lean upon, or sustain.
“Uphold” in this verse is sāmĕḵēnî. This root describes support someone can lean on, not reassurance alone. Here, that sustaining support is what lets life continue.
ALSO GROWS
samak: To support or uphold.
סָמַךְ
This is the same root as the verse’s plea: the speaker asks to be held steady.
somekh: One who supports or sustains.
סוֹמֵךְ
The related form places the emphasis on the one providing support, opening the plea toward God as the source of the speaker’s steadiness.
וְאֶחְיֶה
ve’echyeh
GROWS FROM
חיה
To live, be alive, or preserve life.
“Live” in this verse is ve’echyeh. The speaker’s life is tied directly to being upheld. The root’s branches name both being alive and life itself, keeping the verse’s plea grounded in continued living.
ALSO GROWS
chai: Living or alive.
חַי
It echoes the speaker’s request to remain alive through the support being asked for.
chayyim: Life.
חַיִּים
It shows that the plea concerns life itself, not simply comfort or reassurance.
תְּבִישֵׁנִי
tevisheni
GROWS FROM
בוש
To be ashamed or disappointed.
“Ashamed” in this verse is tevisheni. This root can describe disappointment as well as shame. So the request reaches beyond embarrassment: the speaker asks not to be left with hope that has failed.
ALSO GROWS
bosh: To be ashamed or disappointed.
בּוֹשׁ
Its sense of disappointment illuminates the fear that the speaker’s hope may not be fulfilled.
busha: Shame or disgrace.
בּוּשָׁה
It shows the exposed vulnerability carried by asking that hope not end in humiliation.
THE PATTERN
God’s support meets human vulnerability and keeps a fall from becoming final.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.THE THREAD
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.Psalm 37:24 uses the same root, סמך (samak, “to uphold”), and shows the support as the LORD’s hand beneath someone who falls. It opens this plea further: being upheld is sustaining support that meets vulnerability and keeps it from becoming final.
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