What Does Psalm 18:20 Mean in the King James?
The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.
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
What the KJV calls “recompense” is literally a return, so the verse pictures the LORD’s response coming back in the measure of alignment made visible through your hands.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s response is portrayed as a return that corresponds to your alignment. The cleanness of your hands gives that alignment a visible shape in what you do.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that alignment is only an inward status, separate from the actions your hands carry out.
THE ROOT
יָשִׁיב
yāshîv
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
To return or turn back.
The verb rendered “recompensed” is yashiv, “he returns,” from shuv. Reciprocity is built into the wording: the response comes back in correspondence with the alignment and action named.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To return, turn back.
שׁוּב
This is the root of the verb translated “recompensed”: what comes back is pictured as a return.
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
It keeps the root’s motion visible: a return is movement back toward a point.
צִדְקִי
tsidqî
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
To be straight or right; alignment.
The word translated “righteousness” is tsidqi, “my alignment,” from the צדק family of rightness and just dealing. Set beside clean hands, it describes alignment as something that takes visible form in action.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This branch keeps the verse’s righteousness rooted in straightness and just dealing.
tzedakah: Righteousness, just action.
צְדָקָה
It shows alignment as something expressed through what a person does.
tsaddiq: A righteous or aligned person.
צַדִּיק
The same root describes a person by the quality of alignment embodied in their life.
בֹּר
bōr
GROWS FROM
ברר
To purify or make clear.
The word for cleanness belongs to the ברר family of purification and clarity. The image is not only hands without stain, but action made clear of what would compromise its integrity.
ALSO GROWS
barar: To purify, cleanse, clarify.
בָּרַר
It opens “cleanness” into a process of clearing away what obscures integrity.
barur: Pure, clear.
בָּרוּר
This related form links clean hands with an unclouded quality that can be recognized.
THE PATTERN
What is returned corresponds to the alignment expressed through a person’s deeds.
Also unto thee, O Lord, belongeth mercy: for thou renderest to every man according to his work.Who will render to every man according to his deeds:Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.THE THREAD
With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.The “cleanness” in verse 20 and “pure” here belong to the ברר (barar) family of purification and clarity. This verse opens the image further: the quality named in a person is reflected in the response they meet.
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