What Does Psalm 149:6 Mean in the King James?
Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a twoedged sword in their hand;
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 verse puts rising exaltation in the throat and a blade named for “mouths” in the hand, making praise and cutting force sound through the same image.
THE MEANING
Here, exaltation is voiced while a double-edged sword is held; praise and armed force stand together without the violence being explained away. The Hebrew describes the blade as a “sword of mouths,” so voice and cutting edge echo in one line while the sword remains a weapon in the scene.
THE ROOT
פִּיפִיּוֹת
pîpiyyōt
GROWS FROM
פֶּה
Mouth; the form in this phrase means “mouths.”
“twoedged” in this verse is pîpiyyōt. The blade’s two edges are expressed through the image of mouths. That places a mouth-shaped edge beside the praise voiced in the throat, joining voice and force without turning the sword into something other than a weapon.
ALSO GROWS
peh: mouth
פֶּה
This is the body-word beneath the blade’s “mouths” image.
pi: mouth of
פִּי
This form carries the same mouth-word into a phrase, preserving the link between the blade’s name and voiced praise.
רֹמְמוֹת
romemot
GROWS FROM
רום
To rise, be high, or lift up.
“high praises” in this verse is romemot. The praise here carries the sense of exaltations, what is lifted high. The word’s upward movement stands beside the sword in the hand, so the verse holds elevation and force in one embodied scene.
ALSO GROWS
ram: high, exalted
רָם
It shows the root’s basic sense of height within the word for praise.
marom: height, high place
מָרוֹם
It extends the same root into a place of elevation, illuminating the upward sense in “high praises.”
herim: he raised, lifted up
הֵרִים
This verb makes the root’s lifting motion explicit: praise raises what it exalts.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly places a mouth’s utterance beside the piercing force of a sword.
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.THE THREAD
And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;Both verses use חֶרֶב (ḥerev, sword) and place it beside the mouth. Psalm 149 holds the blade in the hand while naming it through “mouths”; Isaiah turns the mouth itself into a sharp sword.
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