What Does Psalm 25:2 Mean in the King James?
O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.
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 verse names trust while public shame and an enemy’s victory are still feared.
THE MEANING
Your trust can name God as its ground while the threat is still in view. The verse gives voice to the fear of being exposed or overpowered, without treating either fear as the final measure of what is happening.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an enemy’s apparent upper hand proves God has abandoned you or that shame is your settled end.
THE ROOT
בָטַחְתִּי
bāṭaḥtî
GROWS FROM
בטח
to trust, rely on, or feel secure
“trust” in this verse is bāṭaḥtî. בָטַחְתִּי means “I have trusted”: reliance placed in another, not merely an opinion held in the mind. The same root can name both the act of trusting and the security in which a person rests, so this plea comes from dependence even while danger remains.
ALSO GROWS
mivtaḥ: security, refuge, confidence
מִבְטָח
This noun shows the root’s movement from trusting to the place of security where trust rests.
biṭḥû: trust, rely (plural command)
בִּטְחוּ
The plural form shows the same root naming shared reliance, not just one person’s private confidence.
אֵבוֹשָׁה
ʾēvōshāh
GROWS FROM
בוש
to become ashamed, be disappointed, or be brought to shame
“ashamed” in this verse is ʾēvōshāh. The speaker fears more than an inward feeling: the word can describe being exposed as defeated. Set beside trust, the root makes the danger plain, the plea is that reliance on God will not end in public humiliation.
ALSO GROWS
yēvōsh: he will be ashamed
יֵבֹשׁ
This form carries the same root into an anticipated outcome, the very outcome the speaker asks not to meet.
ûvōshû: and they were ashamed
וּבֹשׁוּ
The plural form shows the root can describe people brought to shame, echoing the public exposure feared in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Trust in God does not end in shame, even while danger or exposure remains in view.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.They cried unto thee, and were delivered: they trusted in thee, and were not confounded.For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.It repeats the Hebrew trust verb בָּטַח and the בוש word-family for shame, carrying the same pairing into a plea for deliverance. The shared roots show trust as the place where the fear of being put to shame is brought.
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