What Does Psalm 25:21 Mean in the King James?
Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I wait on 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
A whole, straight life is the shape of waiting on God, and that way itself guards you.
THE MEANING
Your integrity and uprightness are part of how you are preserved as you wait on God. Your waiting is not empty delay; it is a present orientation within that guardedness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that waiting means you are left unguarded dissolves here: you are preserved while you wait on God.
THE ROOT
תֹּם
tom
GROWS FROM
תמם
t-m-m
To be complete, whole, or brought to completion.
The word translated “integrity” carries the sense of wholeness: something intact, not divided against itself. Here, that wholeness stands beside uprightness as part of what guards you while you wait.
ALSO GROWS
tamim: Whole, complete, blameless.
תָּמִים
This related form makes the connection between integrity and wholeness visible: integrity is an undivided way of being.
tamam: To be complete or come to completion.
תָּמַם
The verb shows the root’s movement toward completeness, giving “integrity” a sense of being made whole.
יִצְּרוּנִי
yitstseruni
GROWS FROM
נצר
n-ṣ-r
To guard, watch over, or preserve.
The verb translated “preserve” comes from a root of guarding and watching. The verse pictures your wholeness and uprightness as guardians around you while you wait.
ALSO GROWS
nāṣar: To guard, keep, or watch over.
נָצַר
This is the root verb’s core sense, showing that preservation involves attentive keeping.
nōṣēr: A keeper or guardian.
נֹצֵר
This form names one who guards, bringing out the watchful quality held inside “preserve.”
קִוִּיתִיךָ
qivvîtîkā
GROWS FROM
קוה
q-w-h
To wait for, hope in, or look eagerly toward.
The Hebrew says, “I wait for you,” using a root that also carries the sense of hope and expectation. Waiting here is an orientation toward God, held together with the guarding of the previous words.
ALSO GROWS
qōvē YHWH: Those who wait for the LORD.
קוֹיֵ יְהוָה
This related form appears in Isaiah’s promise to those who wait for the LORD, echoing the verse’s expectancy.
tiqvah: Hope or expectation.
תִּקְוָה
This noun from the same root family shows how waiting and hope share a common Hebrew seed.
THE PATTERN
Wholeness and a straight course are held secure through trustful waiting.
A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known.Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.“Waited” comes from the same root, קוה (q-w-h), as “wait” in Psalm 25:21. Here, waiting is met by the LORD’s turning toward the one who waits, opening the verse’s guarded expectancy into a relationship of response.
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