What Does Psalm 27:14 Mean in the King James?
Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
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 repeated wait is not dead time: Hebrew ties waiting to hope and gathering, while the heart is being made strong within it.
THE MEANING
Your waiting is an expectant turning toward the LORD, not an empty interval. The verse places your own firmness beside the LORD’s work of strengthening your heart, then repeats the wait, holding expectation open. The heart is strengthened inside the very posture the verse names.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that waiting means abandonment or that you must generate all your strength yourself: the verse pairs your courage with the LORD strengthening your heart.
THE ROOT
קַוֵּה
qavveh
GROWS FROM
קוה
wait for, look toward with expectation; also gather
“wait” in this verse is qavveh. The same root connects waiting with hope and gathering. The repeated command is an expectant turning toward the LORD, not time left empty.
ALSO GROWS
tiqvah: hope, expectation
תִּקְוָה
Hope grows from the same root as waiting, joining what English can separate into two postures.
yikkavu: be gathered together
יִקָּווּ
The same root describes waters gathering in Genesis 1:9; here, waiting gathers expectation toward the LORD.
וְיַאֲמֵץ
veya’ametz
GROWS FROM
אמץ
be firm, make strong
“strengthen” in this verse is veya’ametz. The strengthening promised for the heart comes from אמץ (amats, make firm). The same root can describe courage, so the promise joins inward firmness with the strength to endure.
ALSO GROWS
ve’ematz: and be strong, courageous
וֶאֱמָץ
Deuteronomy 31:6 uses this form for courage, linking the root’s strength to the heart’s strengthening here.
ye’ametz: he will make firm, strengthen
יְאַמֵּץ
This is the verb at the heart of the verse’s promise: the LORD makes the heart strong.
חֲזַק
chazaq
GROWS FROM
חזק
be strong, become firm, hold fast
“be of good courage” in this verse is chazaq. The Hebrew imperative says ‘be strong.’ Beside it, the LORD strengthens the heart: the verse holds human firmness and strength received together.
ALSO GROWS
chazaq: strong, firm
חָזָק
The adjective shares the root of the command, showing courage as strength and firmness.
hecheziq: hold fast, take hold
הֶחֱזִיק
This branch gives strength the texture of holding firm, rather than merely feeling brave.
THE PATTERN
Waiting on the LORD is expectant endurance that holds steady through what is not yet seen.
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.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.But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.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.Isaiah uses the same root קוה (qavah, wait with expectation) and joins it to renewed strength. It opens Psalm 27:14’s repeated waiting as expectation held through the not-yet, with strength coming from the LORD.
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