What Does Psalm 20:8 Mean in the King James?

They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

Psalm 20:8 · KJV

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 reversal is not escape from falling but recovering a standing place after collapse.

THE MEANING

This verse names collapse plainly, then shows it giving way to a rise that reaches steady footing. Falling is real, but it does not have to be the reader’s final posture.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that once you are brought down, you can only remain down.

THE ROOT

קָמְנוּ

qamnu

GROWS FROM

קום

qum

Rise, stand, be established.

The Hebrew verb behind “we are risen” comes from ⁨קום⁩ (qum, “rise, stand, be established”). Its word-family connects rising with having a place and being established, so the verse describes a recovery of footing, not just upward motion.

ALSO GROWS

maqom: A place or position.

מָקוֹם

This related word carries the sense of a place to stand, illuminating the risen people as regaining their footing.

heqim: To raise or establish something.

הֵקִים

This causative form shows how the root can describe not only rising but being set into a stable position.

THE PATTERN

A fall can be real without becoming the final posture; rising restores standing.

Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

Micah 7:8 · KJVThe speaker names both falling and darkness, yet neither becomes the last word.

Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;

2 Corinthians 4:9 · KJVBeing cast down remains distinct from being destroyed, just as the fall in Psalm 20:8 does not define the final posture.

The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

Psalm 145:14 · KJVThe verse places falling and being raised within one movement toward restored standing.

THE THREAD

For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.

Proverbs 24:16 · KJV

The Hebrew verb behind “riseth up” shares the root ⁨קום⁩ (qum, “rise, stand”) with “we are risen” here. Proverbs makes the connection vivid through repeated falls: the rise is not proof that no fall happened, but the return to standing afterward.

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