What Does Psalm 132:10 Mean in the King James?

For thy servant David’s sake turn not away the face of thine anointed.

Psalm 132:10 · 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

David’s name carries the sense of “beloved,” so the prayer asks that the anointed one’s face remain in view on the ground of a beloved servant’s bond.

THE MEANING

The plea holds the anointed one’s vulnerability in view: even someone marked with oil can have his face turned away. David is named as servant, and his name carries belovedness, so the appeal draws on a bond of service and love rather than title alone.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This verse undoes the belief that being marked for a role makes rejection impossible: the anointed one’s face is still the subject of a plea not to be turned away.

THE ROOT

תָּשֵׁב

tashev

GROWS FROM

שׁוּב

sh-w-b

Turn, return.

The verb carries the root of turning or returning, so the plea concerns the direction of the anointed one’s face and presence. English “turn away” can sound like a fixed rejection; the Hebrew keeps the movement visible.

ALSO GROWS

shuv: Turn, return.

שׁוּב

This is the root’s basic movement, beneath the plea not to turn the face away.

teshuvah: Return, turning back.

תְּשׁוּבָה

This branch shows the same root describing a movement back toward relationship.

heshiv: Bring back, restore.

הֵשִׁיב

The causative branch gives the turning a restoring direction, echoing the prayer that the face remain present.

מְשִׁיחֶךָ

meshichekha

GROWS FROM

מָשַׁח

m-sh-ḥ

Smear or apply oil.

“Anointed” retains the physical act of oil being applied: the one named here is marked by an act, not only given a title. The plea keeps that marked person’s face and vulnerability in view.

ALSO GROWS

mashiach: Anointed one.

מָשִׁיחַ

This branch names the person marked by the application of oil.

mishchah: Anointing oil, ointment.

מִשְׁחָה

This branch keeps the concrete substance behind the title present.

דָּוִד

Dawid

GROWS FROM

דּוֹד

d-w-d

Beloved.

David is named as servant, while his name carries belovedness; the verse holds service and affection together. “For David’s sake” therefore keeps a bond in view as the prayer speaks of the anointed one’s face.

ALSO GROWS

dod: Beloved; also a term for a close male relative.

דּוֹד

This branch carries the belovedness associated with David’s name.

dodi: My beloved.

דּוֹדִי

This familiar form makes the relational sense of the name explicit.

THE PATTERN

Scripture pictures restoration as God’s face turned toward a person, where shining presence replaces distance.

Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Psalm 80:3 · KJVThe verse joins turning back with God’s shining face as the movement into deliverance.

The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

Numbers 6:25 · KJVGod’s face shining toward a person is bound to gracious regard.

For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:6 · KJVThe face of Jesus becomes where God’s light and presence are made visible.

THE THREAD

Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Psalm 80:3 · KJV

Both verses turn on ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv, “turn, return”): Psalm 132 asks that the anointed one’s face not be turned away, while Psalm 80 asks for the people to be turned back. Together they show restoration as a return into the light of a face still present.

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