What Does Psalm 119:166 Mean in the King James?
LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.
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 deliverance you await and the instruction you enact belong to one present-tense life.
THE MEANING
You look toward the LORD’s deliverance while already doing what has been commanded. Hope does not suspend the present; expectation and action stand together here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hope means waiting passively: the verse holds expectation and action together.
THE ROOT
יְשׁוּעָתֶךָ
yeshuʿatekha
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁע
yashaʿ
To deliver, bringing someone into safety and room to live.
“salvation” in this verse is yeshuʿatekha. The word holds deliverance as movement out of constriction into room. Here, the deliverance you await stands alongside commandments already done, so the hoped-for opening and present action appear together.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuʿah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
This is the noun in the verse, naming what you hope for as being brought out.
moshiaʿ: Deliverer.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This related form names the one who brings about the deliverance you await.
hoshiʿah: Deliver! Save!
הוֹשִׁיעָה
This form makes the root’s deliverance an appeal for release.
שִׂבַּרְתִּי
sibbarti
GROWS FROM
שׂבר
To wait for or look toward with expectation.
“hoped” in this verse is sibbarti. This verb describes expectation directed toward what is coming. The same root appears when all eyes wait for God’s provision; here, expectation accompanies commandments already done.
ALSO GROWS
sibbarti: I have hoped or looked for.
שִׂבַּרְתִּי
This is the verse’s first-person expression of expectation toward the LORD’s deliverance.
yesabberu: They wait expectantly; they look toward.
יְשַׂבֵּרוּ
In Psalm 145:15, all eyes look toward God for provision, echoing the expectant posture in this verse.
THE PATTERN
Hope in deliverance can coexist with present trust expressed through action.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.THE THREAD
I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.This line repeats the Hebrew word for “salvation” (יְשׁוּעָה, yeshuʿah), naming the same deliverance hoped for here. It pairs longing for deliverance with delight in instruction, echoing this verse’s pairing of hope and doing the commandments.
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