What Does Psalm 25:20 Mean in the King James?
O keep my soul, and deliver me: let me not be ashamed; for I put my trust in thee.
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 for “put my trust” means “take refuge,” so the plea for protection rises from shelter already entered.
THE MEANING
You ask to be guarded, brought out, and spared shame because you have taken refuge in God. Protection is requested while danger remains, and the prayer holds that need inside the trust it names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that trust means danger is already over: the speaker takes refuge and still asks to be delivered.
THE ROOT
חָסִיתִי
ḥāsîtî
GROWS FROM
חסה
To seek refuge or take shelter.
“put my trust” in this verse is ḥāsîtî. The word rendered “trust” pictures refuge: reliance is a place you enter beneath protection. The verse’s plea for keeping and deliverance grows from that image of shelter.
ALSO GROWS
ḥōseh: One who takes refuge.
חֹסֶה
The person taking refuge is described by the same root as the speaker’s trust.
maḥseh: Shelter, refuge.
מַחְסֶה
This branch names the shelter implicit in the speaker’s act of trusting.
שָׁמְרֵנִי
shāmrenî
GROWS FROM
שמר
To keep watch, guard, or preserve.
“keep” in this verse is shāmrenî. The request to be “kept” carries the sense of being watched over and guarded. English can make it sound like simple preservation; the root gives it the closeness of a watchful guard.
ALSO GROWS
shōmēr: One who watches or guards.
שֹׁמֵר
The keeper is the active guardian implied by the plea to be kept.
mishmeret: A guard, charge, or watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch makes keeping a sustained watch, not a momentary act.
וְהַצִּילֵנִי
wehatsîlēnî
GROWS FROM
נצל
To snatch away, rescue, or deliver.
“deliver me” in this verse is wehatsîlēnî. Deliverance here carries the force of being pulled out of danger. The verse places that rescue alongside refuge: shelter is sought even as the speaker asks to be brought out.
ALSO GROWS
nāṣal: To rescue or snatch away.
נָצַל
This verb names the act of deliverance the speaker asks for.
niṣṣāl: Rescued or delivered.
נִצָּל
This form describes the person brought out of danger, the hoped-for result of the plea.
THE PATTERN
Taking refuge is a present relation of protection that can coexist with a plea for rescue.
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.The words rendered “trusteth” and “make my refuge” both come from חָסָה, the root behind “put my trust” here. The repeated root lets trust be seen as shelter sought while danger is still present.
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