What Does Psalm 131:3 Mean in the King James?

Let Israel hope in the LORD from henceforth and for ever.

Psalm 131:3 · KJV

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

Hope here is a shared practice of waiting on the LORD that begins now and reaches beyond what can yet be seen.

THE MEANING

This verse gives the reader a present stance: Israel waits for the LORD with expectation, starting now and continuing into the age beyond sight. Hope holds its shape as waiting through time; it does not promise that circumstances change at once.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that hope can begin only after there is evidence of change: the verse places it in the present, while the outcome remains with the LORD.

THE ROOT

יַחֵל

yaḥēl

GROWS FROM

יחל

to wait, hope, or expect

The verb translated hope also carries the sense of waiting, so this is expectation sustained while the answer is not yet seen. English can make hope sound like a feeling; the Hebrew keeps its duration and patient attention in view.

ALSO GROWS

tōḥelet: hope, expectation

תּוֹחֶלֶת

The noun makes clear that hope is an expectation one can hold over time.

məyaḥălîm: those who wait or hope

מְיַחֲלִים

This plural form, used for people who wait on the LORD, echoes the verse’s shared posture for Israel.

יִשְׂרָאֵל

Yisra’el

GROWS FROM

שרה

to strive or contend

In Genesis 32, Israel’s name is explained through striving with God and people. Here, the people named through struggle are also called to hope, so waiting on the LORD can hold struggle within it rather than requiring ease first.

ALSO GROWS

śārîtā: you have striven

שָׂרִיתָ

This is the verb used in the naming scene that links Israel’s name with striving.

śārâ: she or it strove

שָׂרָה

This form shows the root as an action of contending, a quality carried into the name Israel.

THE PATTERN

Hope in the LORD is a present, continuing expectation that can be shared even while the outcome is unseen.

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

Psalm 130:5 · KJVThe same root for hope describes waiting on the LORD and expecting through his word.

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Lamentations 3:24 · KJVHope rests in the LORD himself, giving expectation a present ground even before circumstances resolve.

Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.

Romans 15:13 · KJVHope appears as something that can grow in the present through trust in God.

THE THREAD

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

Psalm 130:5 · KJV

The same Hebrew root appears in both verses as hope that is also waiting. Psalm 130:5 gives that waiting a single soul’s voice; Psalm 131:3 extends the posture to all Israel, beginning now and carrying onward.

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