What Does Psalm 24:3 Mean in the King James?
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?
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 ties “stand” to “place,” making God’s holy place more than a destination: it is where a person is able to stand.
THE MEANING
The question reaches you at the threshold of God’s presence: rising toward it and standing within it are two distinct movements. The next verse describes the one who can stand there through clean hands and a pure heart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It unsettles the assumption that being near a sacred place is the same as being able to stand in God’s presence.
THE ROOT
עָלָה
ʿālāh
GROWS FROM
עלה
Go up, rise, ascend.
“ascend” in this verse is ʿālāh. The same root names an offering that goes up and an upward journey. Here, ascent is movement toward the LORD’s presence, while the paired verb asks who can then stand there.
ALSO GROWS
ʿolah: Burnt offering; literally, that which goes up.
עֹלָה
This branch gives ascent the image of something rising toward the LORD.
ʿaliyah: Ascent, upward journey.
עֲלִיָּה
It preserves the movement in “ascend” as an upward passage.
יָקוּם
yaqum
GROWS FROM
קום
Rise, arise, stand.
English separates the person who stands from the place they stand in, but Hebrew forms both words from qum, “rise, stand.” The question links the person’s capacity to stand with the very word for place.
ALSO GROWS
yaqum: He shall stand or arise.
יָקוּם
This is the verb in the verse, asking who can stand in the LORD’s place.
maqom: Place; a standing place.
מָקוֹם
The related noun for “place” echoes the verse’s verb “stand.”
קָדְשׁוֹ
qodsho
GROWS FROM
קדשׁ
Set apart, make distinct.
“holy” in this verse is qodsho. The place is described as set apart, so the question concerns entry into a distinct presence as much as arrival at a location. The next verse’s clean hands and pure heart describe the person who can stand there.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart.
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the distinct character of the LORD’s place.
qodesh: Set-apartness; a holy place or thing.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shares the root that describes the LORD’s place in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Approach to God’s presence is joined to inner purity and outward integrity.
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.THE THREAD
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.The Hebrew verb translated “mount up” comes from the same עלה root as “ascend” here. Isaiah gives this ascent a source: strength renewed through waiting on the LORD.
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