What Does Psalm 22:20 Mean in the King James?
Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
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 “darling” is the speaker’s one, irreplaceable self, the very life threatened by the sword and the dog’s grasp.
THE MEANING
This verse gives language to a life within reach of force: the living soul is threatened by the sword, and the one precious self is under the dog’s power. The plea asks for that life to be released from the grip that seeks to take it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a life in danger is already lost: the plea distinguishes the threatened self from the force holding it and asks for release.
THE ROOT
יְחִידָתִי
yechidati
GROWS FROM
יחד
To be one or joined; the related adjective describes what is singular or alone.
The word rendered “darling” carries the sense of “my only one”, the singular, precious self. Paired with “my soul,” it names the threatened life as both living and irreplaceable.
ALSO GROWS
yachid: Only, solitary, unique.
יָחִיד
This related form makes the singularity explicit: the plea concerns the one life exposed to danger.
yachad: Together, in unity.
יַחַד
The same consonants can express joining as one; here the related word centers the singular self at risk.
הַצִּילָה
hatsilah
GROWS FROM
נצל
To snatch away, pull free, or rescue.
“deliver” in this verse is hatsilah. The request is for the living self to be pulled out of the sword’s reach. The root holds rescue and removal together: deliverance is release from the force that has hold of what it threatens.
ALSO GROWS
hitsil: He delivered or rescued.
הִצִּיל
This form names the act of pulling someone out of danger, the action requested in the verse.
nitsal: Was delivered or escaped.
נִצַּל
This form shows the same root from the rescued person’s side: the threatened one is brought out of the hold.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance names a threatened life as something that can be pulled from the force that holds it.
Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;THE THREAD
Lord, how long wilt thou look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.Psalm 35:17 repeats the same Hebrew word, יְחִידָתִי (yechidati), rendered “my darling.” The repeated word reveals the object of rescue as the speaker’s one, precious self, now facing the lions.
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