What Does Psalm 44:13 Mean in the King James?
Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
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 verse makes humiliation a geography God is said to have set: neighbors dwell close, while scorn closes in from every side.
THE MEANING
This verse gives you language for the moment you are made a public reproach: those who dwell near you scorn you, while ridicule seems to circle around you. Its accusation remains stark, “Thou makest us” places even this humiliation before God, without explaining it away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Public contempt proves that the contempt tells the truth about you.
THE ROOT
שְׁכֵנֵינוּ
shekhenenu
GROWS FROM
שכן
dwell, settle, abide
“neighbours” in this verse is shekhenenu. The Hebrew word for neighbor grows from the word for dwelling. The reproach comes from people who live near, making the humiliation intimate and visible rather than distant or abstract.
ALSO GROWS
shakhan: dwell, settle
שָׁכַן
This verb is the seed beneath neighbor: the mockers are people who dwell nearby.
mishkan: dwelling place, tabernacle
מִשְׁכָּן
The same root names a place of dwelling, showing that proximity is built into the word for neighbor.
סְבִיבוֹתֵינוּ
sevivotenu
GROWS FROM
סבב
turn, go around, encircle
“round about” in this verse is sevivotenu. The verse does more than list insults; it maps their reach. Nearby dwellers and those all around form a circle of public exposure.
ALSO GROWS
saviv: around, surrounding
סָבִיב
This form makes the surrounding pressure explicit: the derision is positioned all around the people.
sibēv: turn about, surround
סִבֵּב
The verb carries the motion of circling, giving the verse’s public scorn an enclosing shape.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names public contempt as a condition people endure, not a verdict that defines their nature.
Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.THE THREAD
Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonour: mine adversaries are all before thee.The Hebrew word for “reproach,” חֶרְפָּה (cherpah), appears in both verses. Psalm 69 adds that this public shame is known before God, even while the adversaries remain in view.
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