What Does Psalm 135:10 Mean in the King James?
Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings;
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 Hebrew for “mighty” shares a root with “bone” and “substance,” giving royal strength a bodily solidity even as the verse names the kings’ deaths.
THE MEANING
This line speaks of the LORD striking nations and killing kings whom it calls mighty. It holds human power at the scale of whole peoples and rulers, then names its limit without softening the violence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A nation’s scale or a king’s strength can make power seem immune to judgment. The verse names both as vulnerable to the LORD’s force.
THE ROOT
עֲצוּמִים
ʿaṣûmîm
GROWS FROM
עצם
ʿ-ṣ-m
To be strong, mighty, or numerous; the same root family also carries the sense of bone or substance.
The Hebrew word for “mighty” shares a root with עֶצֶם (ʿeṣem, bone; substance) and עֹצֶם (ʿōṣem, strength). The verse gives the kings’ power a concrete solidity, then says that even this force ends in death.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeṣem: Bone; substance; self.
עֶצֶם
The word for bone carries a sense of what is substantial, linking the kings’ might to something bodily and solid.
ʿōṣem: Strength; might.
עֹצֶם
This branch names strength directly, grounding the verse’s description in force rather than royal status alone.
הִכָּה
hikkāh
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
To strike or hit; in this verb, to smite or strike down.
“smote” in this verse is hikkāh. The root carries the direct force of striking. Its noun branch מַכָּה (makkāh, a blow or plague) keeps that physical impact in view as the verse moves from nations struck to kings killed.
ALSO GROWS
makkāh: Blow; wound; plague.
מַכָּה
This noun preserves the impact of the root, echoing the forceful action the verse describes.
makkēh: One who strikes; a striker.
מַכֵּה
This form names the agent of a blow, making the root’s action explicit.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts the LORD’s authority reaching political powers that appear too large or too strong to withstand it.
Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.That bringeth the princes to nothing; he maketh the judges of the earth as vanity.And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.THE THREAD
To him which smote great kings: for his mercy endureth for ever:The word translated “smote” here and in Psalm 136:17 comes from נכה (n-k-h, to strike). Psalm 136 sets that blow beside חֶסֶד (chesed, faithful love), said to endure for ever; both claims sit together while the violence remains in view.
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