What Does Psalm 31:17 Mean in the King James?
Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.
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 same Hebrew shame-word is repeated in opposite directions: the caller asks to escape disgrace while the wicked are asked to meet it in Sheol.
THE MEANING
The reader appeals directly to the LORD and asks not to be disgraced, because the appeal has already been made. The verse places this plea beside a stark request: the wicked are to be shamed and become silent in Sheol. It holds the caller’s feared disgrace and the wicked’s graveward silence together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that feared disgrace is already a settled verdict is interrupted: the verse brings that outcome before the LORD as a plea, while asking that shame fall on the wicked.
THE ROOT
אֵבוֹשָׁה
evoshah
GROWS FROM
בוש
bosh
To be ashamed, confounded, or disappointed.
“ashamed” in this verse is evoshah. English can make shame sound like an inward emotion; this root also describes being confounded or disappointed. Repeated in the verse, it turns the plea into a request about opposite outcomes: the caller not disgraced, the wicked disgraced.
ALSO GROWS
yevoshu: They be ashamed or confounded.
יֵבֹשׁוּ
This is the same verb root in the second plea, which puts the caller’s requested outcome beside the wicked’s.
hovish: Put to shame; disappoint.
הוֹבִישׁ
This causative form shows the root can describe shame as an outcome someone undergoes, not only a private feeling.
קְרָאתִיךָ
qeratikha
GROWS FROM
קרא
qara
To call, summon, or proclaim.
The verse’s “called upon thee” is a direct address to the LORD. This root also names proclaiming and reading aloud, giving the appeal the shape of a call made toward someone.
ALSO GROWS
qore: One who calls or reads aloud.
קֹרֵא
This form keeps the act of calling concrete: a voice addresses someone.
miqra: A reading, proclamation, or assembly.
מִקְרָא
The call-word can also name a public proclamation, widening prayer from an inward thought to an addressed utterance.
יִדְּמוּ
yiddemu
GROWS FROM
דמם
damam
To be silent, still, or cease.
“silent” in this verse is yiddemu. The root holds silence and stillness together. Beside Sheol, the verse gives the wicked’s silence the stark force of a voice brought to an end.
ALSO GROWS
dom: Be silent; be still.
דֹּם
This imperative form shows the root’s range from silence to stillness.
demamah: Silence; stillness.
דְּמָמָה
This noun carries the quiet sense of the root, while the verse places silence in the grave.
THE PATTERN
Trust directed toward the LORD is paired with freedom from shame, while opposition is pictured as ending in shame.
O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonour that magnify themselves against me.For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.THE THREAD
O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.The same Hebrew verb for “be ashamed” appears in both verses: here the speaker names trust before asking not to be disgraced. Psalm 31:17 repeats that verb in both halves, setting the caller’s plea beside the wicked’s requested shame and silence.
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