What Does Psalm 40:17 Mean in the King James?
But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.
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 one who names your need also names the One who makes an escape from what holds you.
THE MEANING
When you are poor and needy, your condition is fully named, and you are still within the LORD’s attention. Help and deliverance stand beside the need: the One you address is your aid and your way out.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
My need means I have been forgotten.
THE ROOT
מְפַלְטִי
mefalti
GROWS FROM
פלט
p-l-ṭ
To escape, slip away, or bring someone to safety.
The word translated deliverer carries the sense of escape: God is named as the one who brings you out. Need is not erased or disguised; the verse places a way out beside it.
ALSO GROWS
palit: A survivor or one who has escaped.
פָּלִיט
The branch makes deliverance concrete: someone passes through danger and comes out alive.
peletah: Escape or those who have escaped.
פְּלֵיטָה
It reveals the movement held in deliverer: release from what confines.
יַחֲשָׁב
yaḥăšāv
GROWS FROM
חשב
ḥ-š-b
To think, reckon, or devise.
“thinketh upon” in this verse is yaḥăšāv. The LORD’s regard is more than a passing thought. This root also carries the sense of reckoning and considering, so the verse places you within active attention even while you remain in need.
ALSO GROWS
maḥăšāvāh: A thought, plan, or intention.
מַחֲשָׁבָה
This branch shows that thinking can carry intention, giving depth to the LORD’s attention toward you.
ḥeshbon: An account or calculation.
חֶשְׁבּוֹן
The root’s reckoning sense adds weight to being thought upon: you are not overlooked in the count.
עָנִי
ʿānî
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿ-n-h
To be brought low, afflicted, or humbled.
The word translated poor can name a person brought low by affliction, not only someone without possessions. The verse speaks that low condition plainly, then places the LORD’s regard and help within the same breath of the sentence.
ALSO GROWS
ʿŏnî: Affliction or misery.
עֳנִי
The related noun shows the hardship surrounding the lowly person named in the verse.
ʿănāvāh: Humility or lowliness.
עֲנָוָה
This branch carries the root’s lowered position into an inner posture, deepening the sense of being brought low.
THE PATTERN
The LORD regards the lowly within their need and lifts them toward a way forward.
For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
But I am poor and needy: make haste unto me, O God: thou art my help and my deliverer; O LORD, make no tarrying.The same Hebrew words for poor, needy, help, and deliverer recur here, turning the plea into a refrain. The need remains openly named, while help and escape remain just as close.
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