What Does Psalm 141:6 Mean in the King James?
When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.
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 root behind “sweet” also names the delight of shared dwelling, linking words received with delight to a life of shared wholeness.
THE MEANING
The verse places the violent fall of judges beside words that are heard as sweet. It speaks now wherever authority falls: its collapse does not consume every sound, and words can still reach you as something pleasant to receive. Here hearing is receptive listening, not just sound passing by.
THE ROOT
נָעֵמוּ
naʿemu
GROWS FROM
נעם
n-ʿ-m
To be pleasant or delightful.
“sweet” in this verse is naʿemu. The Hebrew word carries the sense “pleasant” or “delightful,” a wider savor than sweetness alone. The same root describes shared dwelling as pleasant, connecting the reception of words with the delight of life together.
ALSO GROWS
noʿam: Pleasantness, delight.
נֹעַם
This form shows that the verse’s sweetness belongs to a broader quality of delight.
naʿim: Pleasant, delightful.
נָעִים
This is the same root used for “pleasant” in Psalm 133:1, where people dwell together in unity.
וְשָׁמְעוּ
veshamʿu
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear or listen, often with the sense of heeding or responding.
“hear” in this verse is veshamʿu. The Hebrew root can carry more than the reception of sound; it can include attending to what is heard. After the judges fall, the verse turns to words that people can receive and answer.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear; hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This familiar form shows the active sense that hearing can carry in Hebrew.
shomeaʿ: One who hears or listens.
שֹׁמֵעַ
It brings the hearer into view as a receiver of the speaker’s words.
נִשְׁמְטוּ
nishmetu
GROWS FROM
שמט
sh-m-ṭ
To let drop or release; to slip or fall away.
“Overthrown” translates a form of shamat, a root that can mean letting something drop or slip away. The image remains violent, the judges are cast down among stones, while the root also evokes a hold being released.
ALSO GROWS
shamat: To let drop, release, or let fall.
שָׁמַט
This verb reveals the movement inside the judges’ overthrow: what was held up is let fall.
shemittah: Release or remission, especially of a debt.
שְׁמִטָּה
This related form carries the root’s sense of something being let go.
THE PATTERN
Words can be received as delight, carrying a sweetness that reaches beyond the moment of hearing.
More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?THE THREAD
A Song of degrees of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!“Sweet” in Psalm 141:6 and “pleasant” here come from the same Hebrew root, נעם (naʿam), meaning to be pleasant or delightful. The same root describes both words received with delight and people dwelling together in unity.
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