What Does Psalm 20:3 Mean in the King James?
Remember all thy offerings, and accept thy burnt sacrifice; Selah.
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 Hebrew word for burnt sacrifice is עֹלָה (ʿōlāh, an ascent), so the verse pictures what is offered as something rising into remembrance.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks as a present petition: may what you offer be remembered, and may what rises from it be received. The burnt offering’s Hebrew name pictures it as an ascent, so the gift is not only something surrendered but something rising before God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that once you release something, it vanishes from God’s attention.
THE ROOT
עֹלָה
ʿōlāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To go up, ascend, or rise.
The word translated “burnt sacrifice” is named for ascent: what is offered rises. English preserves the act of sacrifice but can hide this movement upward.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: To go up or ascend.
עָלָה
This verb makes explicit the upward movement carried in the name of the burnt offering.
maʿălāh: An ascent, step, or degree.
מַעֲלָה
This branch keeps ascent concrete: the offering is pictured as rising, step by step, toward the altar.
יִזְכֹּר
yizkor
GROWS FROM
זכר
z-k-r
To remember, recall, or bring to mind.
“Remember” in this verse is yizkor. The same root names both remembering and a memorial. The petition asks that what is offered remain present in remembrance, rather than vanish from view.
ALSO GROWS
zikkaron: Remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
A memorial is remembrance given a form, showing how the root can make remembering more than a passing thought.
hizkir: To mention or cause to be remembered.
הִזְכִּיר
This branch shows remembrance being brought forward or made present, which deepens the petition for the offerings to be remembered.
יְדַשְּׁנֶה
yedasheneh
GROWS FROM
דשן
d-sh-n
To grow fat or make rich; the noun also refers to fatness and altar ashes.
The verb translated “accept” carries a concrete sacrificial texture: the root can speak of fatness and the substance left at the altar. Acceptance here is bound to the actual offering and its altar, not merely an abstract approval.
ALSO GROWS
deshen: Fatness, richness, or altar ashes.
דֶּשֶׁן
This noun ties the root to the substance of an offering and what remains after it is burned.
dishshen: Made fat or enriched.
דִּשֵּׁן
This verb form gives the verse’s language of acceptance a sense of receiving the offering as rich and substantial.
THE PATTERN
What is offered to God is pictured as rising into presence and being received.
And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.But I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, wellpleasing to God.THE THREAD
And he shall bring it to Aaron’s sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD:Leviticus names the offering’s memorial portion אַזְכָּרָה (ʾazkārāh, memorial), from the same זכר (z-k-r, remember) root as “Remember” in Psalm 20:3. The shared root brings the connection into the wording itself: the offering is both given and held in remembrance.
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