What Does Psalm 32:2 Mean in the King James?
Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
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
Flourishing appears where crookedness is no longer reckoned to a person and their inner breath carries no deceit.
THE MEANING
Flourishing belongs to the person whose crookedness the LORD does not reckon to them and whose breath is without guile. The verse joins an uncharged account with an inward life free of concealment, speaking to the reader now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the only protection from being defined by crookedness is to conceal it; the verse places non-reckoning alongside an inner life without guile.
THE ROOT
יַחְשֹׁב
yachshov
GROWS FROM
חשב
ḥ-š-b
Think, devise, reckon.
The verb behind imputeth can mean to think, devise, or reckon. English’s formal accounting sense sits within a wider word family of thought and planning, revealing that crookedness is not held in the reckoning against this person.
ALSO GROWS
maḥashavah: Thought, plan.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This branch shows that chashav includes what is held in thought, not only a tally on a ledger.
ḥeshbon: Account, calculation, reckoning.
חֶשְׁבּוֹן
This branch makes the account sense in imputeth visible: crookedness is not charged to the person.
בְּרוּחוֹ
beruḥo
GROWS FROM
רוח
r-w-ḥ
Blow, breathe; wind and breath.
Ruach is one Hebrew word for wind, breath, and spirit. Here the verse locates the absence of guile in the person’s inner breath, making that inward life something immediate and embodied.
ALSO GROWS
ruaḥ: Wind, breath, spirit.
רוּחַ
One word spans the English renderings wind, breath, and spirit; the verse’s spirit carries the same breath-root.
rāvaḥ: Breathe freely, find relief.
רָוַח
This related form shares the consonant-shape and opens a sense of relief and room to breathe alongside the verse’s inner freedom from guile.
אַשְׁרֵי
ashrei
GROWS FROM
אשר
ʾ-š-r
Happiness, flourishing; the word family also carries the sense of advancing or going straight.
“Blessed” in this verse is ashrei. Ashrei names flourishing. Its word family includes happiness and advancing, so the verse presents flourishing as a living condition alongside an uncharged account and a breath without guile.
ALSO GROWS
osher: Happiness, good fortune.
אֹשֶׁר
This branch names flourishing as a state, the condition announced at the start of the verse.
ashar: Advance, go straight; call fortunate.
אָשַׁר
This verbal branch connects flourishing with forward movement and being recognized as fortunate.
THE PATTERN
Flourishing joins an inward life of truth with a record of crookedness no longer held against the person.
Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.The same Hebrew word אַשְׁרֵי (ashrei, flourishing) opens both verses, framing them together. Verse 1 names transgression forgiven and sin covered; verse 2 shows the other side: the LORD does not reckon crookedness to the person, and their breath contains no guile.
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