What Does Psalm 143:1 Mean in the King James?
A Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness.
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 plea rests on who God is: steady enough to trust and aligned in the answer sought.
THE MEANING
The heading names David (דָּוִד, David, “beloved”), and the prayer moves from asking to be heard, to have an ear inclined, to receive an answer. The reader’s request rests in the LORD’s steady nature and alignment, with supplication as an appeal for favor. The prayer’s named voice speaks from the intimacy carried by the beloved name.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse undoes is that being heard depends on first proving your own righteousness; the plea is anchored in the LORD’s steadiness and alignment.
THE ROOT
בֶּאֱמוּנָתְךָ
be’emunatekha
GROWS FROM
אמן
To be firm, support, or establish; steadiness.
“faithfulness” in this verse is be’emunatekha. The plea places its request inside God’s emunah: steadiness that can be leaned upon. The root connects trust with firmness, so the answer rests on the reliable nature of the One addressed.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Steadiness; trust.
אֱמוּנָה
This is the noun named in the verse: the firmness the plea rests on.
amen: Truly; firm, sure.
אָמֵן
Amen carries the same affirmation of what is dependable, revealing the firmness inside the plea’s “faithfulness.”
ne’eman: Reliable; trustworthy.
נֶאֱמָן
It describes one shown dependable, turning the root’s firmness into a quality of character.
צִדְקָתֶךָ
tsidqatekha
GROWS FROM
צדק
To be right; to be in alignment.
“righteousness” in this verse is tsidqatekha. The plea locates the answer in God’s tzedek, alignment that makes things right. Paired with steadiness, alignment gives the answer its shape: it accords with the character of the One being addressed.
ALSO GROWS
tzedek: Rightness; justice.
צֶדֶק
It shows the ordered quality named in the plea for an answer.
tsedaqah: Righteousness; just action.
צְדָקָה
It carries alignment into action, illuminating the request for God to answer in this nature.
tsaddiq: One who is right or just.
צַדִּיק
This branch applies the root’s alignment to a person’s character.
דָּוִד
David
GROWS FROM
דוד
Beloved; dear one.
The heading’s name carries a nature, not only an attribution: David is the beloved. That meaning makes the prayer’s named voice one speaking from belovedness as it asks to be heard.
ALSO GROWS
dod: Beloved; dear one.
דּוֹד
This is the seed of the name David and carries belovedness into the heading.
dodi: My beloved.
דּוֹדִי
This form voices the same belovedness in direct relationship.
THE PATTERN
Scripture grounds divine action in God’s own steadiness and right alignment.
He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.THE THREAD
Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.The same Hebrew word, אֱמוּנָה (emunah, steadiness and trust), names the ground of this plea. Here it anchors an immediate request for an answer; there it becomes the quality voiced across generations.
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