What Does Psalm 120:2 Mean in the King James?
Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
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 plea treats lying speech as a threat to the whole living self, something the person needs to be pulled free from.
THE MEANING
You are asking the LORD to pull your living self free from speech meant to deceive. The verse names that deception as a real danger to the person, and holds open the possibility of rescue.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that deceptive words are harmless dissolves here: the verse names them as a danger to the living self and asks for rescue from them.
THE ROOT
הַצִּילָה
hatzilah
GROWS FROM
נצל
To snatch away or rescue from a grasp.
“Deliver” in this verse is hatzilah. The verb carries the sense of being pulled out of danger. The plea is for the living self to be freed from false speech, not merely for the words to be corrected.
ALSO GROWS
hitzil: He rescued or delivered.
הִצִּיל
This form shows the same root naming rescue as an act of pulling someone out of danger.
natsal: To snatch away or rescue.
נָצַל
The root’s basic image makes the plea for deliverance concrete: the person is taken out of the reach of what threatens them.
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נפש
The living self or person.
“Soul” in this verse is nafshi. Nefesh names the living person, not merely an abstract inner part. The rescue concerns the whole self exposed to deceitful speech.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living soul, self, or person.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the word in the verse: the plea concerns the living person who hears the lie.
naphash: To rest or be refreshed.
נָפַשׁ
This verb from the same consonants shows the root’s connection with the condition of a living self that can be restored.
שֶׁקֶר
sheqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
Falsehood or dealing falsely.
The word can name both a false thing and the act of dealing falsely. Lying speech is presented as something done to another person, not just inaccurate language.
ALSO GROWS
sheqer: Falsehood or a lie.
שֶׁקֶר
This noun names the falsehood the plea seeks deliverance from.
shaqar: To lie or deal falsely.
שָׁקַר
The verb brings out the active deception contained in the image of lying lips.
THE PATTERN
Deceptive speech can reach beyond a sentence and threaten the well-being of the person who hears it.
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health.And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell.THE THREAD
I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.Both verses use נצל (natsal), meaning to snatch away or rescue. Here the rescue is from lying speech; in Psalm 34:4, it is from fear, the same root names the living self being pulled free from different forms of distress.
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