What Does Psalm 38:14 Mean in the King James?
Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
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 silence closes both ends of the exchange: the ear does not hear, and the mouth sends no reproof back.
THE MEANING
You are pictured as not hearing, with no reproof in your mouth. The exchange stops on both sides: nothing is received, and nothing returns as correction. This silence stands amid conflict without being called agreement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that silence under accusation is the same as admitting guilt. Here, the absence of an answer does not make the accusation true.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמַע
yishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
shamaʿ
Hear, listen, heed.
“heareth” in this verse is yishmaʿ. The root שמע (shamaʿ, hear or listen) places the silence at the ear, not only at the mouth. Paired with the absence of reproof, it shows an exchange stopped at both reception and response.
ALSO GROWS
shemaʿ: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
It shows hearing as active reception; the verse depicts that reception as absent.
shemuʿah: Report, tidings.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is something received by hearing; here, the ear remains closed to the exchange.
תּוֹכָחוֹת
tokhaḥot
GROWS FROM
יכח
yakach
Prove, decide, correct, reprove.
“reproofs” in this verse is tokhaḥot. The family of יכח (yakach, correct or reprove) includes correction and the act of showing what is wrong. With this word absent from the mouth, the verse depicts not just quiet but the withholding of a corrective answer.
ALSO GROWS
tokheḥah: Reproof, correction.
תּוֹכֵחָה
This singular form shares the root of the verse’s plural “reproofs.”
mokhiaḥ: One who reproves or corrects.
מוֹכִיחַ
This branch makes reproof an act directed toward another, clarifying what is absent from the speaker’s mouth.
THE PATTERN
A hostile exchange can stop without returning injury as counter-rebuke.
Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:THE THREAD
The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise.Proverbs 15:31 joins the same roots found here: שמע (shamaʿ, hear) and יכח (yakach, reprove or correct). Its ear receives the reproof that Psalm 38:14 leaves unheard, revealing the silence as an exchange halted at both its listening and speaking ends.
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