What Does Psalm 143:5 Mean in the King James?
I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands.
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
Two Hebrew verbs make meditation more than private thought: remembering God’s works becomes something sounded, spoken, and stayed with.
THE MEANING
Your attention reaches beyond the present moment and rests on what God’s hands have done. Remembering, meditating, and musing hold those works before you as living thought and speech now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The present distress is not the whole of reality; remembering what has been done widens what you can see.
THE ROOT
הָגִיתִי
hāgîtî
GROWS FROM
הגה
To murmur, utter, or ponder.
The English “meditate” can sound silent and purely mental, but הָגָה (hāgâ, “murmur, utter, ponder”) can carry a voiced sense. Here, the remembered works are not merely retrieved; they are given sustained attention and voice.
ALSO GROWS
higgāyôn: Meditation, musing.
הִגָּיוֹן
This related noun names meditation through the same root that can mean murmuring, joining inward reflection with voiced thought.
hăgîg: Meditation, thought.
הֲגִיג
This related word also names meditative thought, showing that the root holds both the inward work of attention and its expression.
אֲשׂוֹחֵחַ
ʾăśôḥēaḥ
GROWS FROM
שׂיח
To speak, muse, meditate, or complain.
The verb behind “muse” also carries senses of speaking and complaint. Meditation here has room for honest speech, including lament, while attention rests on the work of God’s hands.
ALSO GROWS
sîaḥ: Meditation, speech, or complaint.
שִׂיחַ
This noun keeps musing close to expression: sustained thought can also be spoken or voiced as complaint.
sîḥâ: Conversation or discourse.
שִׂיחָה
The related word for conversation shows how this root can make reflection something expressed between speakers.
זָכַרְתִּי
zākartî
GROWS FROM
זכר
To remember, call to mind, or commemorate.
“remember” in this verse is zākartî. The root can describe calling something to mind and keeping it in remembrance. The days of old do not remain a distant archive here; they become the material for present attention and meditation.
ALSO GROWS
zikkārôn: Remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial keeps what happened present, like the remembered works held before the reader in this verse.
zēker: Remembrance, mention, or renown.
זֵכֶר
This related word connects remembering with making mention, echoing the verse’s movement from memory into voiced musing.
THE PATTERN
A remembered act remains present when it is kept before the mind and spoken of again.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.THE THREAD
I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings.The Hebrew verb הָגָה (hāgâ, “murmur or meditate”) appears again behind “meditate,” and שׂיח (siach, “speak or muse”) appears behind “talk.” The verse names the same movement: remembered work becomes something turned over in thought and voiced.
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