What Does Psalm 32:5 Mean in the King James?
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. 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 word for “forgavest” means “you lifted” or “you carried,” so confession is where the hidden weight of crookedness is lifted away.
THE MEANING
You name your missing before God and stop covering it; God lifts away the crookedness you have been carrying. The verse holds disclosure and forgiveness together: what becomes visible is met with release, not concealment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that once a wrong is named, it must remain attached to you is undone: the verse places confession beside the lifting away of crookedness.
THE ROOT
נָשָׂאתָ
nāśāʾtā
GROWS FROM
נשא
lift, carry, bear
The Hebrew verb nāśāʾ (נָשָׂא, lift, carry, bear) gives “forgavest” the image of lifting or carrying away what has been named. Forgiveness here is not a denial of the crookedness; it is its burden being taken up and released.
ALSO GROWS
nāśāʾ: lift, carry, bear
נָשָׂא
This is the root verb itself, showing the physical image underneath the verse’s word for forgiveness.
niśśāʾ: be lifted, be carried
נִשָּׂא
This form shows the other side of the root’s movement: what weighs on you can be borne away.
כִּסִּיתִי
kissîtî
GROWS FROM
כסה
cover
The Hebrew for “hid” is built from kāsâ (כָּסָה, cover): the speaker says the crookedness is no longer kept beneath a covering. The verse’s movement is from uncovering what is present to having its weight lifted.
ALSO GROWS
kāsâ: cover
כָּסָה
This is the root verb behind “hid,” making concealment an act of placing a cover over what is there.
mikhseh: covering
מִכְסֶה
This related noun makes the image tangible: the speaker is no longer placing a covering over the wrong.
חַטָּאתִי
ḥaṭṭāʾtî
GROWS FROM
חטא
miss, miss the mark
“sin” in this verse is ḥaṭṭāʾtî. The root ḥāṭāʾ (חָטָא, miss) carries the sense of missing or going astray. The verse does not leave the missing unnamed: it brings it into speech, then describes its burden being lifted.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: miss, go wrong
חָטָא
The verb shows the movement or action behind the “sin” named in the verse.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: missing, sin
חַטָּאת
This noun shares the root consonants and names the missing that the speaker brings into the open.
THE PATTERN
What is covered remains bound to the self, while what is confessed can be released and removed.
He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.THE THREAD
Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.Psalm 25:18 uses the same Hebrew verb נָשָׂא (nāśāʾ, lift, carry, bear) as this verse’s “forgavest.” There it is paired directly with “all my sins,” revealing forgiveness as the lifting away of what the speaker has named.
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