What Does Psalm 119:49 Mean in the King James?

Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

Psalm 119:49 · KJV

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

Your hope is not self-made: God’s word is already the ground on which you wait.

THE MEANING

This verse gives you language for waiting: you appeal to the word spoken to you and ask that it remain before God. Your hope is not self-generated; it rests on what God has said. The waiting is real, yet the word gives it a direction and an object.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that waiting means you have been forgotten: the appeal rests on God’s word still being held in view, and hope is its continuing effect.

THE ROOT

יִחַלְתָּנִי

yichaltani

GROWS FROM

יחל

y-ḥ-l

To wait, tarry, or hope expectantly.

English “hope” can sound like a feeling; ⁨יחל⁩ (y-ḥ-l) carries waiting and expectation. The verse presents that expectancy as something God has caused through the word, so the waiting is tethered to what was spoken.

ALSO GROWS

yachel: Waits or hopes.

יַחֵל

This verbal form keeps hope joined to the act of waiting.

tohelet: Expectation or hope.

תּוֹחֶלֶת

This noun shows hope as an expectation held through time, not merely a passing feeling.

זְכֹר

zekhor

GROWS FROM

זכר

z-k-r

To remember, call to mind, or bring into mention.

“remember” in this verse is zekhor. The appeal asks for the word to be kept in active regard. This root also forms words for a memorial: what is remembered is held present, not left as a vanished moment.

ALSO GROWS

zeker: Remembrance or memorial.

זֵכֶר

It shows remembrance taking durable form, like the word held before God.

zikkaron: Memorial or remembrance.

זִכָּרוֹן

This branch emphasizes remembrance as something kept in view across time.

דָּבָר

davar

GROWS FROM

דבר

d-b-r

Speech, word, or matter.

⁨דָּבָר⁩ (davar) can name both a spoken word and a matter or affair. The verse’s hope rests on a word that is not abstract: it is the matter the servant waits upon.

ALSO GROWS

dibbēr: He spoke.

דִּבֵּר

The spoken form makes clear that the word being remembered has been uttered.

davar: Word, matter, or affair.

דָּבָר

This noun joins what is spoken with the matter entrusted to the servant’s expectation.

THE PATTERN

Hope takes shape as waiting tethered to a word that remains trustworthy before fulfillment.

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

Psalm 130:5 · KJVThe verse joins waiting to hope in the LORD’s word, just as the servant’s hope rests on a word received.

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Romans 15:4 · KJVScripture sustains hope through patience, giving the waiting an enduring word to hold.

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Hebrews 10:23 · KJVThe promise grounds steadfastness in the faithfulness of the one who spoke.

THE THREAD

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

Psalm 130:5 · KJV

Psalm 119:49 joins hope to a word God has spoken; Psalm 130:5 uses the same root, ⁨יחל⁩ (y-ḥ-l), for waiting and hoping. The word does not erase the interval, the speaker waits within it, with that word as the anchor.

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