What Does Psalm 29:2 Mean in the King James?

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.

Psalm 29:2 · KJV

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 LORD’s glory is the weight of his nature, and worship is the bow that recognizes it.

THE MEANING

The LORD’s name holds his nature, and that nature carries weight. Worship is a bowing response, and the beauty is the splendor of what is set apart. The verse places you now before the LORD, whose worth is recognized rather than produced.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the idea that worship is only spoken praise: here, worship is also the bowing posture that answers the weight of the LORD’s nature.

THE ROOT

כָּבוֹד

kavod

GROWS FROM

כבד

To be heavy or weighty; by extension, to be honored.

⁨שֵׁם⁩ (shem, name as nature) points to the LORD’s disclosed character, while ⁨כָּבוֹד⁩ (kavod, weight or glory) says that character carries substance. The verse’s giving is recognition of that weight.

ALSO GROWS

heavy: Having weight or substance.

Shows the concrete sense carried beneath the English word “glory.”

honor: To recognize or treat as weighty.

Links giving the LORD glory with recognizing the substance of his nature.

הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ

hishtachavu

GROWS FROM

שחה

To bow down or bend low.

The verb names the bodily act of bowing low, so “worship” here includes a posture as well as reverence. The weight of the LORD’s nature meets a lowered body.

ALSO GROWS

bow down: Lower oneself in homage.

Makes the verse’s response to the LORD’s weight a bodily action.

prostrate: Bend or lie low before another.

Shows the depth of the posture contained in the word translated “worship.”

בְּהַדְרַת

b'hadrat

GROWS FROM

הדר

Splendor, majesty, or adornment.

The phrase joins hadrat, splendor or adornment, to ⁨קֹדֶשׁ⁩ (qodesh, set-apartness): beauty is the splendor belonging to what is set apart. The worshipper bows within that set-apart splendor.

ALSO GROWS

splendor: Majesty or impressive beauty.

Reveals that the verse’s beauty carries a sense of majesty.

adornment: That which gives something distinction or beauty.

Shows the phrase as a setting marked by the splendor of what is set apart.

THE PATTERN

Scripture ties honor to weight: to honor is to treat someone or something as weighty.

Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Exodus 20:12 · KJVThe Hebrew root behind “honour” is ⁨כבד⁩, the same root that gives “glory” its sense of weight in Psalm 29:2.

Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

1 Samuel 2:30 · KJVThe repeated “honour” comes from the same root as “glory,” making the connection between honor and weight explicit.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

2 Corinthians 4:17 · KJVThis verse places “weight” beside “glory,” making explicit the substance carried by kavod.

THE THREAD

Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

Psalm 96:8 · KJV

The same root ⁨כבד⁩ (k-b-d, weight or heaviness) anchors “glory” in both verses. Psalm 96:8 links that weight to coming into the LORD’s courts, while Psalm 29:2 shows the response as bowing in the splendor of what is set apart.

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