What Does Psalm 38:15 Mean in the King James?

For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.

Psalm 38:15 · KJV

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 joins hope with answer: this is expectation directed toward the LORD as the one who responds.

THE MEANING

Your hope is directed toward the LORD, carrying an expectation that he hears and answers. The verse speaks to you as someone whose appeal is received by the God you call your own.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that hope is only an inward wish with no one to receive it.

THE ROOT

תַּעֲנֶה

taʿaneh

GROWS FROM

ענה

to answer, respond

“hear” in this verse is taʿaneh. The Hebrew verb carries the sense of answering or responding, so hearing is pictured as more than receiving sound: it holds the possibility of a reply. The verse’s confidence rests in the LORD as the one who responds.

ALSO GROWS

ʿoneh: one who answers

עֹנֶה

This form names the answering one, making response a characteristic and not only a single event.

maʿaneh: answer, response

מַעֲנֶה

This noun makes the anticipated reply concrete: the appeal meets an answer.

הוֹחַלְתִּי

hoḥalti

GROWS FROM

יחל

to wait, hope, expect

The same Hebrew verb holds hoping and waiting together. Here, hope is not a free-floating wish; it is a waiting oriented toward the LORD, with expectation of response.

ALSO GROWS

meyachel: one who waits or hopes

מְיַחֵל

The same root describes a person whose hope takes the form of waiting.

hamyachalim: those who wait or hope

הַמְיַחֲלִים

The plural form shows this waiting hope as a shared posture directed toward the LORD.

THE PATTERN

Hope in God takes the form of a cry held open to God’s hearing and response.

The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

Psalm 34:17 · KJVThe cry meets the LORD’s hearing and deliverance, expressing the same expectation of response.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:

Matthew 7:7 · KJVThe repeated appeal is met with an answer: giving, finding, and opening.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

1 John 5:14 · KJVConfidence in God is directly joined to the assurance that he hears.

THE THREAD

I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.

Psalm 130:5 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨הוֹחַלְתִּי⁩ (hoḥalti), from ⁨יחל⁩ (yachal), the root of waiting and hoping. Psalm 130 makes the shape of that hope visible: it is waiting held toward the LORD and his word.

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