What Does Psalm 18:11 Mean in the King James?
He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
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 darkness that seems to hide God is the shelter the verse says surrounds him.
THE MEANING
God’s presence is real and concealed at once: darkness, water, and cloud surround him as his hiding place and pavilion. The verse lets the veil remain; nearness here does not depend on the reader seeing through it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that hiddenness means absence: here, darkness is named as the place where God is concealed.
THE ROOT
סִתְרוֹ
sitrô
GROWS FROM
סתר
s-t-r
To hide, conceal, or keep out of sight.
סִתְרוֹ (sitrô, “his hiding place”) comes from סתר (s-t-r), “to hide or conceal.” English “secret place” can sound like a private location, but the root names concealment itself; the pavilion around God makes that hiddenness an enclosing space of dark water and cloud.
ALSO GROWS
seter: A hidden place or concealment.
סֵתֶר
Psalm 91:1 uses this same word for the place where a person dwells, linking hiddenness with shelter.
nistār: Something kept out of sight.
נִסְתָּר
This branch makes the verse’s tension plain: God is present, yet remains unseen within the darkness.
THE PATTERN
Divine presence can be real while remaining wrapped in what human sight cannot penetrate.
And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.THE THREAD
He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.Psalm 18:11 names God’s סִתְרוֹ (sitrô, “hiding place”); Psalm 91:1 uses the related סֵתֶר (seter, “secret place”) for where a person dwells. The hiddenness that surrounds God is also described as shelter in which the reader abides.
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