What Does Psalm 5:7 Mean in the King James?
But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.
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
You enter because faithful love overflows, and you bow in awe: welcome and reverence belong to the same approach.
THE MEANING
You come into God’s house on the strength of abundant faithful love, not on a claim of your own deserving. In that same nearness, your body bows and your inner life meets God with awe; welcome does not erase reverence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that nearness makes God casual or that reverence requires distance: faithful love draws you near, and awe remains.
THE ROOT
חַסְדְּךָ
ḥasdeḵā
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful love, loyal kindness, and steadfast care.
“mercy” in this verse is ḥasdeḵā. The verse’s “multitude” of faithful love is the ground of the speaker’s entry. This root carries relational loyalty, not merely a moment of leniency.
ALSO GROWS
ḥesed: Faithful love, loyal kindness.
חֶסֶד
This is the noun in the verse; it names the relational ground from which the speaker enters.
ḥāsîd: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
This related form describes someone marked by faithfulness, showing that the root speaks of a quality of relationship, not only an act of kindness.
titḥassad: You show yourself faithful.
תִּתְחַסָּד
Psalm 18:25 uses this form for meeting the faithful with faithfulness, revealing the relational consistency carried by the root.
בְּיִרְאָתֶךָ
bə-yirʾāteḵā
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear, revere, or stand in awe.
The same root holds reverence and fear together. Beside the verse’s bowing verb, awe is not an abstract idea: it is the inward weight expressed in a lowered posture.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾāh: Awe, reverence, or fear.
יִרְאָה
This noun is the root form behind “thy fear”; it gives the approach its note of reverence.
yārēʾ: One who fears or reveres.
יָרֵא
This related form shows the root describing a person’s stance toward what they encounter.
mōrāʾ: Dread, fear, or awe.
מוֹרָא
This branch keeps the trembling edge of the word audible; the verse’s awe is more than polite admiration.
אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶה
ʾeštaḥăweh
GROWS FROM
שחה
sh-ḥ-h
To bow down, lower oneself, or prostrate oneself.
The word rendered “worship” names a bodily act of bowing. Here reverence takes visible form as the speaker lowers himself toward the holy temple.
ALSO GROWS
shāḥāh: To bow down.
שָׁחָה
The basic verb makes the physical lowering beneath “worship” visible.
hishtaḥăwāh: To prostrate oneself or bow down.
הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה
This related form names the speaker’s action in the verse: he bows toward the temple.
THE PATTERN
Faithful welcome opens a way into God’s presence, where the response is grateful nearness and reverence.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.THE THREAD
But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.The word translated “feared” comes from the same Hebrew root as “thy fear” here, so the verses share a root as well as a theme. Psalm 130 adds the surprise: release and awe belong together, and reverence can rise from being met with mercy.
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