What Does Psalm 119:55 Mean in the King James?
I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.
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 word rendered “kept” also means to watch over, so remembrance and instruction become a watch that continues through the night.
THE MEANING
You remember the LORD’s שֵׁם (shem, name as nature) in the night, and you keep his instruction there. Darkness does not erase what you hold in remembrance; the instruction remains guarded through the unseen hours.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that night necessarily means absence or forgetting: the LORD’s name can remain present, and his instruction can still be kept, in the dark.
THE ROOT
וָאֶשְׁמְרָה
va’eshmerah
GROWS FROM
שמר
Guard, watch over, preserve.
“kept” in this verse is va’eshmerah. The verb belongs to a family of guarding and watching, so keeping the instruction carries the image of standing watch over it. In this verse, that watch continues through the night alongside remembrance of the LORD’s name.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper, guard, or watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch makes the active watchfulness within “kept” visible.
mishmar: Watch, guard, or watch post.
מִשְׁמָר
This branch connects keeping with a watch maintained through the night.
זָכַרְתִּי
zakharti
GROWS FROM
זכר
Remember, call to mind, mention.
This root also forms words for remembrance and for making something remembered. The LORD’s name is brought into the present and held there through the night.
ALSO GROWS
zikkaron: Remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial keeps what matters present, echoing the verse’s nighttime remembrance.
hizkir: Mention, or cause to remember.
הִזְכִּיר
This branch shows remembrance as an active bringing of the name to mind.
THE PATTERN
The night can hold active remembrance of the LORD, carrying his presence and instruction through darkness.
When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches.With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;THE THREAD
Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.“Night watches” is built from the same שׁמר (shamar, guard or watch) root as “kept” in this verse. The shared root makes keeping the LORD’s instruction a form of sustained attention through the night.
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