What Does Psalm 119:37 Mean in the King James?
Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
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
Here, “vanity” is not merely pride but what is empty or false: the prayer links releasing that gaze with being made alive in God’s trodden way.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to the reader whose eyes can linger on what has no substance while life is being called into God’s way. It joins two movements: sight passes from emptiness, and life is renewed within a path walked step by step. The way is not detached from life; it is where the prayer asks life to rise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that looking is neutral: what occupies the eyes can draw attention from the path where life is found.
THE ROOT
שָׁוְא
shav
GROWS FROM
שוא
shav
Emptiness, falsehood, or futility.
The word translated “vanity” can name what is hollow or unreal, not only self-admiration. The prayer asks for the eyes to pass over a sight that offers appearance without substance.
ALSO GROWS
shav: Emptiness, futility, or falsehood.
שָׁוְא
Here it names the insubstantial thing being looked at, giving “vanity” a sense beyond pride.
lashav: In vain; futilely.
לַשָּׁוְא
The same word appears in the phrase “in vain” in Exodus 20:7, carrying the sense of what is empty or false.
חַיֵּנִי
ḥayyēnî
GROWS FROM
חיה
chayah
To live, keep alive, or make alive.
“Quicken” here means make alive, not simply make faster. The request for life follows the turning of the gaze, joining what the eyes release with where life is restored.
ALSO GROWS
ḥay: Alive; living.
חַי
The prayer’s request belongs to the same word family as being alive.
ḥayyim: Life; living.
חַיִּים
This branch shows that the request is for life itself, not just a change in pace or mood.
בִּדְרָכֶךָ
bidrāḵeḵā
GROWS FROM
דרך
darak
To tread or step.
“thy way” in this verse is bidrāḵeḵā. The word for “way” comes from the verb “to tread.” The prayer asks for life within a path lived step by step, not only a route held as an idea.
ALSO GROWS
derek: Way; path; road.
דֶּרֶךְ
This is the path in which the speaker asks to be made alive.
midrakh: A trodden place; a track.
מִדְרָךְ
Its sense of ground marked by steps brings out the movement contained in “thy way.”
THE PATTERN
The direction of sight shapes the direction and vitality of the whole person.
I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me.The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.THE THREAD
My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.Both verses use חַיֵּנִי (ḥayyēnî, “make me live”), from חיה (chayah, “live” or “keep alive”). One names eyes beholding emptiness; the other names a soul cleaving to dust, and both ask for life in the midst of that condition.
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