What Does Psalm 36:11 Mean in the King James?
Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.
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 hand can do more than strike: its verb describes causing the speaker to wander, while the proud foot advances.
THE MEANING
A proud presence comes toward you, and a wicked hand threatens to drive you from your place. The verse names both the pressure that approaches and the force that can displace you, bringing the danger into view rather than leaving it as a vague unease.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that another’s power has the final say over where you stand: the hand’s ability to displace is a threat named in a plea, not a settled fate.
THE ROOT
תְּנִידֵנִי
tenideni
GROWS FROM
נוד
Move about, wander, or flee; in the causative form, cause to move.
The verb beneath “remove” describes causing the speaker to move, not simply finding the speaker already wandering. The plea resists being set adrift, making the hand’s threat a loss of place.
ALSO GROWS
nād: Wanderer; fugitive.
נָד
This form names the person set moving, showing what the hand’s action threatens to make of the speaker.
hēnîd: To cause to move or shake.
הֵנִיד
This causative form shares the root and clarifies that the danger is displacement imposed by another.
רֶגֶל
regel
GROWS FROM
רגל
Foot or step; by verbal extension, going about on foot.
The foot is not only a body part in this image: the same root carries the sense of going about. The proud presence has direction, with its foot coming toward the reader while the hand threatens to displace them.
ALSO GROWS
rāgal: To go about; to spy out.
רָגַל
The verbal form links the foot to movement and approach, giving the image of pride a forward motion.
meraggēl: A spy or scout.
מְרַגֵּל
This agent noun from the same root preserves the sense of someone moving about, reinforcing the foot’s active presence.
גַּאֲוָה
ga’avah
GROWS FROM
גאה
Rise, be high, or exalt oneself.
The root places pride in the motion of rising high. Paired with a foot coming against you, that elevation has direction: it becomes an approach that occupies space.
ALSO GROWS
gāʾāh: To rise, be high, or be exalted.
גָּאָה
This verb shares the root and shows the upward movement inside the word for pride.
gēʾeh: Proud or lofty.
גֵּאֶה
This adjective carries the same root’s sense of being raised or high into a description of character.
THE PATTERN
The danger of being driven from one’s place is named directly, while protection holds one’s footing and path.
When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.THE THREAD
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.Both verses use רֶגֶל (regel, foot) where displacement becomes tangible: Psalm 36 names the proud foot coming against you, while Psalm 121 speaks of your foot not being moved. The shared word brings protection down to the ground on which you stand.
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