What Does Psalm 2:12 Mean in the King James?
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.
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 translated “trust” pictures taking refuge, making shelter in the Son the answer to the danger of being lost from the way.
THE MEANING
“Kiss the Son” places you before an act of homage, with a warning that his anger can flare and you can be lost from the way. The verse names flourishing for all who take refuge in him, portraying trust as shelter rather than mere agreement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that trust is only a private opinion with no bearing on where your life is headed: here, trust means taking refuge in him.
THE ROOT
חוֹסֵי
ḥōsê
GROWS FROM
חסה
ḥ-s-h
To take refuge, seek shelter.
The Hebrew word translated “trust” means taking refuge. English can make trust sound like an opinion held at a distance; this root pictures a person sheltering in him.
ALSO GROWS
maḥăseh: Refuge, shelter.
מַחֲסֶה
This noun makes the shelter implicit in “put their trust” explicit.
ḥōseh: One who takes refuge.
חוֹסֶה
This is the same root describing the people who find flourishing in the verse.
תֹאבְדוּ
toʾvedu
GROWS FROM
אבד
ʾ-b-d
To perish, be lost.
The warning is to perish “from the way.” This root also means to be lost, so the danger includes losing the path, not only being destroyed.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāvad: To perish, be lost.
אָבַד
This is the verb’s root form and carries both senses in the warning.
ʾavēdāh: A lost thing, loss.
אֲבֵדָה
This related noun echoes the verse’s image of being lost from the way.
THE PATTERN
Taking refuge is the posture that carries a person through danger without losing the way.
The LORD redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate.To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.“Trusteth” and “make my refuge” draw on the same Hebrew root, חָסָה (ḥāsâ), to take refuge. The wings and their shadow reveal what “put their trust” holds inside: shelter that remains while calamity passes.
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