What Does Psalm 135:8 Mean in the King James?
Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast.
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
By naming the firstborn of both humans and beasts, the verse identifies the first yield of Egypt’s households and herds as the target of one undivided blow.
THE MEANING
You encounter divine action here as lethal judgment: the firstborn are struck, human and animal. The line names no protected category among the lives it describes, and leaves the deaths exposed without explanation or softening.
THE ROOT
לְמַכֵּה
le-makkeh
GROWS FROM
נכה
To strike or hit.
“smote” in this verse is le-makkeh. The verb names a blow, not an abstract change. Its word family includes a word for a blow or plague, keeping the verse’s violence direct and physical.
ALSO GROWS
nakah: To strike or smite.
נָכָה
It is the verb’s basic action, making the force of “smote” explicit.
makkah: A blow, wound, or plague.
מַכָּה
The noun carries the same root into the result of striking.
בְּכוֹרֵי
bekhorei
GROWS FROM
בכר
To be first or bring forth first.
The root binds firstborn status to the first yield. The phrase “both of man and beast” extends that ordering across human families and animal herds.
ALSO GROWS
bekhorah: Birthright or firstborn status.
בְּכוֹרָה
It shows that “firstborn” carries a place of primacy as well as birth order.
bikkurim: Firstfruits.
בִּכּוּרִים
It connects the firstborn with the first yield brought forth.
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
מ־צ־ר
m-ts-r
Narrowness or constriction; Mitzrayim carries the image of the two narrows.
The name carries an image of constriction as well as naming Egypt. Here that name is attached to actual deaths across human and animal life; the image does not make the violence symbolic.
ALSO GROWS
metzar: A narrow place, strait, or distress.
מֵצַר
It brings the sense of confinement inside the name’s image of constriction.
Mitzrayim: Egypt; read here as the two narrows.
מִצְרַיִם
It lets the verse’s place name carry the added image of constriction.
THE PATTERN
The firstborn judgment is remembered as reaching across households and herds, while Passover marks a boundary between death and preservation.
And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.And smote all the firstborn in Egypt; the chief of their strength in the tabernacles of Ham:Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.THE THREAD
To him that smote Egypt in their firstborn: for his mercy endureth for ever:The Hebrew verb for “smote” belongs to the same strike-root as the verb in Psalm 135:8, tying the lines through the action itself. The refrain names enduring faithful love beside the firstborn’s death, leaving that troubling conjunction visible.
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