What Does Psalm 131:1 Mean in the King James?
A Song of degrees of David. LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.
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
Humility here is the refusal to inflate the self or claim mastery over what remains wondrous and beyond reach.
THE MEANING
The heart is not swollen upward, and the eyes do not claim a higher vantage. What is great and wondrous can remain beyond your grasp without that limit becoming a failure in you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that you must master everything beyond your reach to be wise or worthy.
THE ROOT
נִפְלָאוֹת
nifla’ot
GROWS FROM
פָּלָא
p-l-ʾ
To be extraordinary or wondrous, beyond ordinary reach.
“things too high” in this verse is nifla’ot. The Hebrew names these things as wonders, not merely as difficult subjects. The boundary in the verse is where personal grasp ends and wonder remains.
ALSO GROWS
pele: A wonder or marvel
פֶּלֶא
It shows that what exceeds your reach can be encountered as wonder rather than as a problem you must conquer.
nifla: Wondrous or marvelous
נִפְלָא
This adjective shares the root of the verse’s “wonders,” linking the beyond-reach to what is marvelous.
גָבַהּ
gavah
GROWS FROM
גבה
g-b-h
To be high or rise.
“haughty” in this verse is gavah. The heart is described with the language of height: the inner self is not rising above its measure. Paired with the raised eyes, this names both inward inflation and an outward claim to higher perspective.
ALSO GROWS
gavoah: High or lofty
גָּבֹהַּ
The shared root shows that haughtiness carries the image of elevation.
higbiah: To raise or lift up
הִגְבִּיהַּ
This causative form makes the motion visible: the self can be lifted upward, while this verse describes a heart that is not.
רָמוּ
ramu
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
To rise, be high, or be exalted.
English makes “haughty” and “lofty” sound like repetitions, but the Hebrew uses two different roots for height: one for the heart and another for the eyes. Together they describe a whole posture that does not elevate itself inwardly or claim an exalted view.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High or exalted
רָם
It carries the same upward quality used of the eyes in the verse.
herim: Lifted or raised
הֵרִים
This form makes the upward motion concrete and echoes the verse’s image of eyes that are not lifted.
THE PATTERN
Human understanding has limits, and what lies beyond them can remain in God’s keeping or in wonder.
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!THE THREAD
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.“Wonderful” translates a form of the same root, פלא (p-l-ʾ), found in Psalm 131’s “wonders.” The paired verses let wonder and human limit stand together: what cannot be attained is still named as marvelous.
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