What Does Psalm 40:11 Mean in the King James?
Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve 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 compassion you ask not to be withheld shares its root with the womb, while faithful love and truth do the work of keeping you.
THE MEANING
Your present need is met by compassion that shelters rather than standing at a distance. Faithful love and truth keep watch over you continually. The verse holds tenderness and preservation together, so you do not have to be untouched by need in order to be held.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that tenderness is too weak to protect: here, compassion is joined to the active keeping that preserves you.
THE ROOT
רַחֲמֶיךָ
rachamekha
GROWS FROM
רחם
r-ḥ-m
Compassion; the related noun for womb shares these root letters.
“tender mercies” in this verse is rachamekha. The word carries the sheltering image of the womb, giving compassion the sense of life-holding care. Your plea is for that care to remain present, not to be withheld.
ALSO GROWS
rechem: Womb
רֶחֶם
This shared root gives compassion the image of shelter that holds life.
rachum: Compassionate
רַחוּם
The same root describes a nature marked by the care this verse asks to receive.
יִצְּרוּנִי
yitzreni
GROWS FROM
נצר
n-ṣ-r
To watch, guard, keep, or preserve.
“preserve” in this verse is yitzreni. Preservation here is active watchfulness that continues over time. Exodus 34:7 uses a form of this same root for keeping faithful love, joining the act of guarding with loyal care.
ALSO GROWS
netzōr: Guard or keep
נְצֹר
This form in Psalm 34:14 shows the root as a concrete act of careful guarding.
notser: One who keeps or guards
נֹצֵר
Exodus 34:7 uses this form for keeping faithful love, echoing the link between love and preservation here.
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful love: loyal care that continues and takes form in action.
“lovingkindness” in this verse is chesed. This word carries loyalty across time and into action. Joined to truth and watchful keeping, it names a bond whose care continues.
ALSO GROWS
chasid: A person marked by faithful devotion
חָסִיד
The root moves from loyal care to a person whose character expresses it.
chasadim: Acts of faithful love
חֲסָדִים
This plural form makes the root’s enduring care visible in what is done.
THE PATTERN
The vulnerable are kept through compassion joined to faithful love and truth.
He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
He shall send from heaven, and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me up. Selah. God shall send forth his mercy and his truth.The same pair appears: faithful love and truth are what God sends forth. Psalm 40 asks that they not be held back; Psalm 57 pictures them moving toward you, care in motion.
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