What Does Psalm 3:8 Mean in the King James?
Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
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 turns “salvation” from an abstract status into deliverance itself, rooted in the LORD and resting alongside blessing shared by the people.
THE MEANING
Deliverance belongs to the LORD; it is being brought out, not a status you manufacture alone. The LORD’s blessing rests upon a people as a shared gift.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that rescue depends on your own strength dissolves here: deliverance belongs to the LORD, and blessing rests on the people.
THE ROOT
יְשׁוּעָה
yeshuah
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-sh-ʿ
Deliver, rescue; bring out of danger.
“Salvation” in this verse is yeshuah. The word names deliverance, not merely an abstract spiritual status. Its source belongs to the LORD, so rescue is received rather than self-produced.
ALSO GROWS
yasha: To deliver, rescue.
יָשַׁע
The verb shows the active movement held inside “salvation”: someone is brought out of danger.
moshia: Deliverer; one who rescues.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This branch names the one who brings another out, making the verse’s source of deliverance personal.
בִּרְכָתֶךָ
birkatekha
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
Bless; a related branch carries the sense “knee.”
The word-family holds a bodily image alongside the act of blessing: a bent knee. Here the blessing is described as resting upon the people, a gift received across a community.
ALSO GROWS
barakh: To bless.
בָּרַךְ
This is the verb carried in “your blessing,” naming what the LORD gives to the people.
berekh: Knee.
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared consonants bring the bodily image of bending into view, while the verse presents blessing as something resting upon the people.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance is located in God and revealed to people.
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.THE THREAD
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.Jonah’s line uses the same Hebrew root ישע (yasha, “deliver, rescue”) behind “salvation” in Psalm 3:8. It sharpens the first clause: deliverance belongs to the LORD because the LORD is its source.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us