What Does Psalm 16:9 Mean in the King James?
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
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 word rendered “glory” means weight, so the rejoicing reaches your inner weight while your flesh settles securely.
THE MEANING
Your heart is glad, your inner weight rejoices, and your flesh finds a place to dwell securely. Hope reaches the body: it is not only a thought you hold, but a safety your whole self can inhabit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that hope is only an inward feeling, beyond the reach of the body.
THE ROOT
כְּבוֹדִי
kevodi
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty; by extension, to be honored.
The word for “glory” carries the sense of weight: what is substantial, what has presence. Here, that weight rejoices alongside the heart, so joy reaches more than a passing feeling.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty.
כָּבֵד
This branch makes the sense of “glory” tangible: it is what carries weight within you.
kibbēd: To honor, to treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
Honor and weight grow from the same root, showing how inner substance and what is valued belong together.
יִשְׁכֹּן
yishkon
GROWS FROM
שכן
sh-k-n
To settle or dwell.
The flesh does not merely pause; it dwells. This root lets rest become a settled place the body inhabits.
ALSO GROWS
mishkan: Dwelling place.
מִשְׁכָּן
The same root names a place of dwelling, revealing rest as something the body can inhabit.
shakhen: Neighbor, resident.
שָׁכֵן
A resident is one who dwells somewhere; the branch reinforces the sense of the flesh finding a place to settle.
לָבֶטַח
labetach
GROWS FROM
בטח
b-ṭ-ḥ
To trust or be secure.
The phrase rendered “in hope” carries the sense of being secure. Hope here has the texture of safety: the body dwells with confidence.
ALSO GROWS
batach: To trust, to feel secure.
בָּטַח
This verb connects the body’s safety with trust, rather than with wishful waiting.
mivtach: Security, refuge.
מִבְטָח
This noun shows how the root can describe security as a place of refuge.
THE PATTERN
Trust reaches the embodied self, turning rest into a place of safety.
I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:THE THREAD
Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.Both verses use שכן (shakan), meaning “dwell”: here the flesh dwells securely, and there you dwell in the land. Rest is not an escape from embodied life; it is finding a place to inhabit.
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