What Does Psalm 123:4 Mean in the King James?
Our soul is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.
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 Hebrew says the living soul is sated with scorn, showing that what fills a person can wound as much as it can satisfy.
THE MEANING
Your living self can be saturated by the ridicule of people who feel secure and the disdain of the proud. The verse names that fullness plainly; their contempt is not harmless.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that contempt from comfortable or self-important people is too small to wound: the verse says it can fill the living self.
THE ROOT
שָׂבְעָה
sāḇʿāh
GROWS FROM
שׂבע
ś-b-ʿ
to be sated; to have one’s fill
“filled” in this verse is sāḇʿāh. The verb means to be sated or have one’s fill, and the verse intensifies it with “exceedingly.” The living soul is not merely brushed by mockery; scorn occupies it to fullness, a word that can also describe satisfaction.
ALSO GROWS
sāvēaʿ: sated, satisfied, having one’s fill
שָׂבֵעַ
This adjective names the reached state of fullness that the verse’s verb applies to the soul.
sōvaʿ: satiety, fullness
שֹׂבַע
This noun makes fullness itself visible; here that fullness is occupied by scorn.
THE PATTERN
Contempt rises from those who rank themselves above others and presses hardest on people with less standing.
He that despiseth his neighbour sinneth: but he that hath mercy on the poor, happy is he.And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others:But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?THE THREAD
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.Psalm 107:9 uses the same Hebrew root שׂבע (ś-b-ʿ, to be sated) with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, living soul): here the soul is sated with scorn, while there the longing soul is satisfied and the hungry soul is filled with goodness. The shared language shows fullness reaching the living self in both verses, while its source and substance differ.
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