What Does Psalm 34:5 Mean in the King James?
They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed.
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
In נהר (nāhār, to radiate or stream), brightness is movement: the face turned toward him becomes a current of light.
THE MEANING
As you look toward him, your face becomes radiant, and shame does not define what is seen. The change is held in the turning of your gaze and the brightness that appears on your face.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that being seen by God ends in disgrace is undone: this face turns toward him and remains unashamed.
THE ROOT
וְנָהָרוּ
wenāhārû
GROWS FROM
נהר
To radiate or stream; the related noun names a river or flowing stream.
“lightened” in this verse is wenāhārû. The word holds radiance and streaming together, so the face’s brightness is moving, not static. Isaiah uses the same root for becoming radiant, while Jeremiah uses it for flowing toward the LORD’s goodness: light and movement share one image.
ALSO GROWS
nāhār: River, stream
נָהָר
This noun from the same root gives the brightness in the verse the sense of a current, not a fixed glow.
wenāhart: You shall radiate or flow (Isaiah 60:5)
וְנָהַרְתְּ
The same verb joins seeing with radiance, echoing the face that brightens as it looks toward him.
wenāharu: They shall flow (Jeremiah 31:12)
וְנָהֲרוּ
Here the root describes people streaming toward the LORD’s goodness, carrying the verse’s sense of movement into another passage.
THE PATTERN
A face turned toward God’s presence takes on the radiance of what it beholds.
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.THE THREAD
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.Isaiah uses this same root when it says “thou shalt ... flow together,” a phrase that also carries radiance in Hebrew. The connection shows that the unashamed face here is not merely free of disgrace; it is alive with outward-moving brightness.
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