What Does Psalm 39:7 Mean in the King James?
And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
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
Two different Hebrew roots meet here, turning waiting and hope into one expectation directed toward the LORD.
THE MEANING
Your question asks what remains worth waiting for, and the answer is the LORD himself. Hope is present even before an outcome appears: your expectation is turned toward God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that hope depends on knowing what will happen; here, hope rests in the LORD, not in a predicted result.
THE ROOT
תּוֹחַלְתִּי
tōḥaltî
GROWS FROM
יחל
y-ḥ-l
to wait, hope, or expect
This word for hope comes from a root that also means to wait and expect. The answer to the verse’s question is therefore not merely a feeling about the future; it is expectation already turned toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
yāḥal: to wait, hope, or expect
יָחַל
The verb shows that hope carries the posture of waiting within it.
tōḥelet: hope or expectation
תּוֹחֶלֶת
This related noun gives expectation a name, echoing the verse’s claim that hope is directed toward the LORD.
קִוִּיתִי
qiwwîtî
GROWS FROM
קוה
q-w-h
to wait for, look for, or expect
“wait” in this verse is qiwwîtî. The question uses קוה, a root of waiting and expectation; the answer uses יחל, another root in that same field. The verse holds them together as two distinct words for expectation, both aimed toward the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qāvāh: to wait for, look for, or hope
קָוָה
The verb gives the question its sense of expectation directed toward what is awaited.
tiqvāh: hope or expectation
תִּקְוָה
This related noun shows the same root’s reach from waiting toward the hope that sustains it.
THE PATTERN
Expectation remains alive by being placed in God, even when its fulfillment is unseen.
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.THE THREAD
I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope.This verse uses קוה (qāvāh, “wait or expect”) for waiting on the LORD and יחל (yāḥal, “hope or expect”) for hoping in his word, the same two roots that meet in Psalm 39:7. It makes the shared movement visible: expectation faces the LORD and rests on what he has spoken.
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