What Does Psalm 35:23 Mean in the King James?
Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my Lord.
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 “cause” names an active dispute, a case placed before God for judgment.
THE MEANING
Your cause appears here as a case brought before God for adjudication. The paired calls to stir and wake keep the urgency visible, while “my God and my Lord” names the one being asked to hear it.
THE ROOT
רִיבִי
rîḇî
GROWS FROM
ר־י־ב
To contend, dispute, or bring a case.
The English “cause” can sound like a reason or abstract purpose; this word names a live contention, and its suffix makes it “my contention.” The grievance is framed as a case that can be heard and judged.
ALSO GROWS
yārîḇ: He contends.
יָרִיב
The same root presents contention as an active dispute, not just a feeling held inside.
mərîḇâ: Strife or dispute.
מְרִיבָה
This branch shows the conflict contained within “my cause”: a matter of contention brought forward.
מִשְׁפָּטִי
mishpāṭî
GROWS FROM
ש־פ־ט
To judge, decide a case, and establish what is right.
Beside “my cause,” judgment carries a judicial sense: the speaker presents a claim to be heard and decided. The appeal concerns more than being noticed; it asks for the dispute to be adjudicated.
ALSO GROWS
shōfēṭ: Judge.
שֹׁפֵט
The judge is the one who hears and decides the kind of case named by “my cause.”
mishpāṭîm: Judgments or ordinances.
מִשְׁפָּטִים
This plural branch shows judgment as decisions that establish what is right.
הָעִירָה
hāʿîrâ
GROWS FROM
ע־ו־ר
To rouse, awaken, or stir into action.
“Stir up” in this verse is hāʿîrâ. The command asks for a stirring into action, then repeats the call to awake with another verb. That doubling makes the speaker’s urgency audible rather than leaving the appeal as a bare request for a decision.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēr: Awake or alert.
עֵר
This form shares the root’s sense of waking into awareness.
hēʿîr: To rouse or awaken.
הֵעִיר
This causative form makes explicit the action requested by “stir up.”
THE PATTERN
A plea for judgment gives a contested claim to the one who can hear and adjudicate it.
Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation: O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?THE THREAD
Arise, O LORD, in thine anger, lift up thyself because of the rage of mine enemies: and awake for me to the judgment that thou hast commanded.Psalm 7:6 joins the same awakening root with מִשְׁפָּט (mishpāṭ, judgment), so both roots return together. The shared wording presents the speaker’s cause as a claim brought before God for adjudication.
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