What Does Psalm 5:5 Mean in the King James?
The foolish shall not stand in thy sight: thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
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 word rendered “foolish” shares a root with boasting and praise, exposing self-exaltation as a stance that cannot remain in God’s sight.
THE MEANING
God’s gaze leaves no lasting place for self-exalting folly. The second clause speaks without softening: God hates those who make wrongdoing their work.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that swagger secures a place before God is undone: the boastful cannot hold their stance in his sight.
THE ROOT
הוֹלְלִים
holelim
GROWS FROM
הלל
halal
To praise or boast; in related forms, to rave or act madly.
“foolish” in this verse is holelim. The Hebrew word reaches beyond lack of sense: its root also names praise and boasting, with related forms extending toward raving folly. That shared seed lets the verse expose self-exalting display as unstable before God’s gaze.
ALSO GROWS
hithalel: To boast or glory in oneself.
הִתְהַלֵּל
This branch makes the connection between foolishness and self-exalting display visible in the verse.
tehillah: Praise or a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
The shared root holds praise and boasting together, illuminating how self-display can take the form of misplaced praise.
יִתְיַצְּבוּ
yityatstsevu
GROWS FROM
יצב
yatsav
To take one’s stand or station oneself.
“stand” in this verse is yityatstsevu. The verb describes taking a position, not merely being upright. The same verb appears when rulers “set themselves” against the LORD in Psalm 2:2, making the stance before God a matter of chosen alignment.
ALSO GROWS
nitsav: Standing or stationed.
נִצָּב
This form emphasizes being set in a position, the very possibility the verse denies the boastful before God.
matstsav: A station or post.
מַצָּב
This branch carries the sense of a place where someone is positioned, sharpening the verse’s image of whether a stance can hold.
THE PATTERN
A self-exalting stance cannot endure before God.
Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.THE THREAD
The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,The Hebrew verb translated “stand” here is the same verb rendered “set themselves” in Psalm 2:2. There it names rulers taking their stand against the LORD; together, the verses show that a chosen posture cannot hold before God’s sight.
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