What Does Psalm 147:2 Mean in the King James?
The LORD doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.
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
Jerusalem’s wholeness is built by gathering the very people who have been driven away.
THE MEANING
The LORD is building wholeness now by gathering those who have been pushed aside. Their return belongs to what makes the city whole.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that being cast out places someone beyond belonging or restoration.
THE ROOT
נִדְחֵי
nidḥê
GROWS FROM
נדח
to thrust away or drive out
“outcasts” in this verse is nidḥê. This word names people who have been thrust away from their place among others. The verse answers that condition by gathering them in, so being driven out is not the final shape of the story.
ALSO GROWS
hiddiaḥ: to drive away or banish
הִדִּיחַ
It makes explicit the force behind being an outcast: someone has been pushed away.
niddāḥ: one driven away, an outcast
נִדָּח
It is the same word family as the outcasts gathered in this verse.
בּוֹנֵה
boneh
GROWS FROM
בנה
to build or establish
“builds up” in this verse is boneh. The word family links building with בֵּן (ben, son), the one who belongs to a built family. Jerusalem is יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (Yerushalayim), a name carrying שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness); here, building that wholeness includes gathering people back in.
ALSO GROWS
ben: son
בֵּן
Its link with the building word family lets the verse’s image of building reach beyond structures to a people and their belonging.
binyan: building or structure
בִּנְיָן
It carries the concrete sense of construction within the same word family.
יְכַנֵּס
yekhannes
GROWS FROM
כנס
to gather or bring in
“gathereth together” in this verse is yekhannes. The verb holds the movement from outside to inside: the outcasts are brought into the gathering. The verse joins that return to the building of Jerusalem’s wholeness.
ALSO GROWS
kanas: to gather or bring in
כָּנַס
It is the basic action expressed by “gathereth together.”
keneset: assembly
כְּנֶסֶת
It shows how gathering can form a people together.
THE PATTERN
Restoration takes shape as the scattered and excluded are gathered into a shared wholeness.
The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him.And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!THE THREAD
Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame.The “outcasts,” נִדְחֵי (nidḥê), and “her that was driven out,” הַנִּדָּחָה (hanniddāḥāh), share the Hebrew root נדח, meaning to drive away. The shared root reveals the direct answer in both verses: the one thrust away is the one gathered back.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us