What Does Psalm 119:62 Mean in the King James?
At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.
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
Midnight does not have to lift for gratitude to rise; God’s judgments already carry the alignment that makes them worthy of thanks.
THE MEANING
At midnight, you rise to acknowledge God’s judgments as just. The darkness remains, but it does not erase the character of what is right. Here righteousness carries the sense of alignment, and gratitude is the act of recognizing it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Gratitude must wait until the darkness passes or circumstances improve.
THE ROOT
צִדְקֶךָ
tsidqecha
GROWS FROM
צדק
To be just or in the right; alignment with what is right.
The word rendered “righteous” belongs to the same root as words for a just person and for justice itself. Righteousness here is not a distant label: it is alignment expressed in the decisions the verse calls God’s judgments.
ALSO GROWS
tsadaq: To be just, be in the right.
צָדַק
This verb shares the root and makes the sense of alignment active: being in the right.
tsaddiq: A just or righteous person.
צַדִּיק
This adjective names a person by the same quality the verse attributes to God’s judgments.
tsedaqah: Justice, righteousness; just action.
צְדָקָה
This noun shows the same root extending from a quality into its expression.
לְהוֹדוֹת
lehodot
GROWS FROM
ידה
To acknowledge, praise, or give thanks.
The verb translated “give thanks” can also mean acknowledge or praise. Thanksgiving is an act of naming what is true about the one addressed, and the verse places that acknowledgment in the middle of the night.
ALSO GROWS
yadah: To acknowledge, praise, or give thanks.
יָדָה
This is the verb at the root of “I will give thanks,” making gratitude an act of recognition.
todah: Thanksgiving, thanks; also confession or acknowledgment.
תּוֹדָה
This noun is a recognized form from the same weak-י root; it names the act of thanksgiving voiced by the verb.
modeh: One who gives thanks or acknowledges.
מוֹדֶה
This participial form describes the one doing what “I will give thanks” expresses.
מִשְׁפְּטֵי
mishpetei
GROWS FROM
שפט
To judge, decide, or govern.
The English “judgments” can sound like separate verdicts, while this root also names the act of judging and governing. The verse presents God’s decisions as inseparable from the righteousness, the alignment, that makes them a reason for thanks.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: To judge or govern.
שָׁפַט
The verb shows the action within the judgments named in the verse.
shofet: A judge, one who decides or governs.
שֹׁפֵט
This person-noun shares the root and connects the judgments to the one who makes them.
mishpat: Judgment, decision, or ordinance.
מִשְׁפָּט
This is the singular form of the word appearing in the verse’s plural “judgments.”
THE PATTERN
Praise can rise within darkness or pressure because it rests on God’s character, not on circumstances already changing.
But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;THE THREAD
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.Isaiah 26:9 uses the same roots: שפט (shaphat, to judge or govern) for “judgments,” and צדק (tsadaq, to be just or aligned) for “righteousness.” It shows their connection in motion: the world learns alignment through God’s judgments, while this psalm names those judgments as a reason for thanks even at midnight.
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