What Does Psalm 119:14 Mean in the King James?
I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
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 testimonies are witnesses along the way, and their path is treasured with the same fullness as all wealth.
THE MEANING
The way marked by God’s testimonies is a present source of joy. Its witness is cherished with the same fullness as all riches.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a life shaped by God’s testimonies must be poorer in joy than a life measured by possessions.
THE ROOT
עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ
ʿēḏwōṯeḵā
GROWS FROM
עוּד
ʿûḏ
To bear witness or testify; the root also carries the sense of affirming or repeating.
The word translated testimonies belongs to the witness-bearing family: it names what bears witness. The joy rests in that witness as the way is walked.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēḏ: Witness
עֵד
It shows the testimony as something that bears witness along the path.
ʿēḏûṯ: Testimony or witness
עֵדוּת
This is the noun family behind the verse’s testimonies, linking the path to what attests and affirms.
דֶּרֶךְ
déreḵ
GROWS FROM
דָּרַךְ
dāraḵ
To tread, step, or walk upon.
The word for way grows from the act of treading: this is a path made real by walking it. The verse places joy within that lived path, where the testimonies are encountered along the way.
ALSO GROWS
déreḵ: Way, road, or path
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the word in the verse, revealing that the testimonies form a walked way.
midrāḵ: A trodden place or footprint
מִדְרָךְ
It carries the same image of a path left by steps, sharpening the sense of a way made tangible through walking.
THE PATTERN
God’s revealed way is treasured as fully as material wealth.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.THE THREAD
Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.This verse uses עֵדוּת (ʿēḏûṯ, testimony), the same witness-bearing word family as Psalm 119:14. Here the testimonies are both delight and counsel, showing how their witness accompanies and guides the way.
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