What Does Psalm 129:7 Mean in the King James?
Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
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 grass looks like a harvest, but it is cut short before it can fill even one hand.
THE MEANING
Something can look alive and ready to yield, yet wither before it produces anything. The mower’s hand and the gatherer’s bosom remain empty because the grass does not last to harvest. The verse exposes the gap between visible growth and enduring fruit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Visible growth does not guarantee that anything will come of it.
THE ROOT
קוֹצֵר
qotser
GROWS FROM
קצר
qatsar
To reap or cut; also to be short.
English makes “mower” sound like a job label, but Hebrew connects the reaper to a root that also carries the sense of shortness. The grass is not merely left ungathered: its life is cut short before it can yield.
ALSO GROWS
qatsir: Harvest, or the time of reaping.
קָצִיר
The harvest is named from the same root as the reaper, joining the act of cutting to what is gathered.
qotser ruach: Shortness of breath; rendered “anguish of spirit” in Exodus 6:9.
קֹצֶר רוּחַ
The same root can describe being shortened or constrained, echoing the grass that withers before it can fill a hand.
THE PATTERN
What appears to grow without the depth to endure can wither before it yields.
The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.THE THREAD
And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.The mower is the qotser, from qatsar, a root that also names shortness. Exodus uses qotser ruach, “shortness of breath”, where the KJV says “anguish of spirit,” letting harvest and constricted breath echo through the same root.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us