What Does Psalm 119:152 Mean in the King James?
Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.
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 a witness you can stand on: what is founded through them holds through the ages.
THE MEANING
You recognize the testimonies as witness to something already laid firm, reaching through the ages. Your knowing meets a foundation that does not depend on your holding it in memory.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the fear that truth survives only while you can remember or defend it: the foundation is already laid, and your recognition rests on it.
THE ROOT
יְסַדְתָּם
yesadtam
GROWS FROM
יסד
To lay a foundation; to establish.
“founded” in this verse is yesadtam. The same root names both the act of laying something down and the foundation that results. The testimonies are not merely claims that endure; they are presented as something firmly set in place.
ALSO GROWS
yasad: To lay a foundation or establish.
יָסַד
This is the verb behind “founded,” showing the testimonies as deliberately set in place.
yesod: Foundation; basis.
יְסוֹד
This noun makes the structural image explicit: what is founded becomes a footing that can be stood upon.
עֵדֹתֶיךָ
edotekha
GROWS FROM
עוד
To bear witness; to testify.
The testimonies belong to the witness-family: they carry something into view and affirm it. Joined to the root for laying a foundation, that witness becomes something you can stand on.
ALSO GROWS
ʿed: Witness.
עֵד
The testimonies are acts of witness, not detached statements.
heʿid: To testify; bear witness.
הֵעִיד
This verb shows the testimony as an active bearing of witness that supports what is known.
יָדַעְתִּי
yadaʿti
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive.
“known” in this verse is yadaʿti. This knowing is more than holding information: it is recognition shaped by encounter with the testimony. The verse links what you know to what has been firmly established.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge; understanding.
דַּעַת
This noun carries the same root into the understanding formed by knowing.
hodiʿa: To make known; inform.
הוֹדִיעַ
This causative form shows the root’s movement from knowing to bringing something into another’s awareness.
THE PATTERN
What God establishes as witness becomes a foundation that remains through the ages.
For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.THE THREAD
For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.Both verses use יסד (yasad, to lay a foundation): Psalm 24 says the earth is founded upon the seas, and this verse says the testimonies are founded for the ages. The same root places cosmic footing and what you know on one stable ground.
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