What Does Psalm 45:10 Mean in the King James?
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house;
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 ear is not merely opened; it is turned, and that turning loosens the old household’s claim.
THE MEANING
The verse addresses you as a daughter at a threshold: your ear turns toward a new bond while your former household loses its claim. The cost is named plainly, your own people and your father’s house are to be forgotten.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that entering a new belonging leaves every prior allegiance untouched; here, the transition explicitly includes severance.
THE ROOT
וְהַטִּי
ve-hatti
GROWS FROM
נטה
נטה (nāṭāh): to stretch out, turn aside, or incline.
English “incline” can sound like a slight posture change, but this root carries the movement of stretching and turning. The ear is directed toward a new bond before the verse names the old household’s claim.
ALSO GROWS
nāṭāh: To stretch out, turn aside, or incline.
נָטָה
This is the base verb behind וְהַטִּי; the ear’s movement is a turn toward something, not merely a passive opening.
neṭiyyāh: Inclination, deviation, or a turn.
נְטִיָּה
This related noun names the directional bend itself, making the command about where attention is pointed.
וְשִׁכְחִי
ve-shikhchi
GROWS FROM
שכח
שכח (shākhakh): to forget, cease to keep in mind, or neglect.
“forget” in this verse is ve-shikhchi. The command does not have to mean that memories vanish; it means the former people and household no longer govern the new bond. The verse places this loss of claim beside the turning of the ear.
ALSO GROWS
shākhakh: To forget or neglect.
שָׁכַח
This is the base verb of the command, naming the change in the former household’s place in the reader’s allegiance.
shikhḥāh: Forgetfulness.
שִׁכְחָה
This noun shows the same root describing a state in which something is no longer kept in active remembrance.
nishkāḥ: Forgotten.
נִשְׁכָּח
This form turns the action around: what is forgotten no longer holds the center of attention.
שִׁמְעִי
shimʿi
GROWS FROM
שמע
שמע (shāmaʿ): to hear, listen, or heed; where response is implied, to hear and respond.
“hearken” in this verse is shimʿi. The verse unfolds hearing into seeing, turning the ear, and changing allegiance. Listening here becomes an orientation that reaches beyond sound.
ALSO GROWS
shemiʿah: Hearing or listening.
שְׁמִיעָה
This noun carries the root’s basic act of receiving what is heard into the verse’s opening call.
shemuʿah: A report or news; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names the content that arrives through hearing, showing how the root joins listening with what is received.
THE PATTERN
A new belonging can call for leaving an old household and reordering kinship around a new allegiance.
Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:And Ruth said, Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee: for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God:For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.THE THREAD
Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.Both verses use נטה: here the ear is turned toward a new bond; there the heart is turned toward God’s testimonies. The shared verb reveals attention as a direction the inner life can take, joining hearing with allegiance.
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