What Does Psalm 30:10 Mean in the King James?
Hear, O LORD, and have mercy upon me: LORD, be thou my helper.
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 prayer moves from being heard, to being met with favor, to receiving active help.
THE MEANING
Your need is spoken plainly to God: hear me, meet me with favor, and stand as my help. The verse holds distress in the open and addresses God as one who can respond.
THE ROOT
שְׁמַע
shemaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
Hear, listen, heed.
The request is for more than sound to reach God: שְׁמַע (shemaʿ, hear and respond) carries the sense of attending to what is heard. The prayer’s next words unfold that response as favor and help.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: Report or news; something heard and conveyed.
שְׁמוּעָה
The same root links hearing with what becomes known through a report.
shomeaʿ: One who hears.
שֹׁמֵעַ
This form names the listener, bringing the prayer’s appeal to a personal hearer.
וְחָנֵּנִי
veḥonnēnî
GROWS FROM
חנן
Show favor; act graciously toward someone.
“Have mercy upon me” in this verse is veḥonnēnî. The plea asks for favor, an openhanded response to need. The root connects the act of showing favor with the quality of being gracious.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēn: Favor or graciousness.
חֵן
The noun names what the prayer asks to receive.
ḥannun: Gracious or favorable.
חַנּוּן
This form describes the character of one who shows favor.
עֹזֵר
ʿōzēr
GROWS FROM
עזר
Help, support, come to someone’s aid.
“Helper” in this verse is ʿōzēr. The prayer ends by asking God to be עֹזֵר (ʿōzēr, one who helps): not only a hearer, but an active source of aid. The request moves from attention and favor into support.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēzer: Help or helper.
עֵזֶר
This noun names the aid sought in the verse.
ʿezrah: Help or assistance.
עֶזְרָה
The related form makes the root’s emphasis on practical aid clear.
THE PATTERN
A cry directed to God is met with hearing that moves toward response.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: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.The same root, שׁמע (shamaʿ, hear and respond), appears in “heard my cry.” Psalm 30:10 makes that movement a direct plea: hear, show favor, and become help.
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