What Does Psalm 132:5 Mean in the King James?
Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.
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
A place for the LORD is more than a location: “habitation” is מִשְׁכְּנוֹת (mishkenot, dwellings), places where God settles among people.
THE MEANING
The verse makes your search for the LORD’s dwelling a search for where divine presence can settle among you. Its “until I find” leaves that longing open and active now.
THE ROOT
מִשְׁכְּנוֹת
mishkenot
GROWS FROM
שכן
To dwell, settle, or reside.
The KJV’s “an habitation” carries a Hebrew plural: מִשְׁכְּנוֹת (mishkenot, dwellings), from שָׁכַן (shakan, to dwell or settle). The same root names שָׁכֵן (shakhen, a neighbor, one who dwells nearby), so the longing is for God’s settled nearness, not merely a vacant address.
ALSO GROWS
mishkan: A dwelling place or tabernacle.
מִשְׁכָּן
It shares the seed of “habitation,” showing that the sought place is a dwelling where presence settles.
shakhen: A neighbor; one who lives nearby.
שָׁכֵן
This branch links dwelling with nearness: the sought habitation is where the LORD is present among people.
מָקוֹם
maqom
GROWS FROM
קום
To rise or stand.
מָקוֹם (maqom, place) is formed from קוּם (qum, to rise or stand): a place is where something can stand. תְּקוּמָה (tequmah, rising or restoration) keeps that root active, giving the sought place an echo of standing established.
ALSO GROWS
qum: To rise or stand.
קוּם
This is the verb beneath maqom, linking the place sought for the LORD with a place to stand.
tequmah: Rising; restoration.
תְּקוּמָה
It carries the same root into the idea of being raised or established, extending the verse’s image of a place that can hold presence.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s dwelling is expressed as divine presence among people.
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.THE THREAD
And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.Psalm 132 names “habitation” as מִשְׁכְּנוֹת (mishkenot, dwellings), while Exodus says וְשָׁכַנְתִּי (veshakhanti, “I will dwell”); both draw on שָׁכַן (shakan, to dwell or settle). The shared root makes the place in the psalm a setting for God to settle among the people.
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