What Does Psalm 50:22 Mean in the King James?
Now consider this, ye that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
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
“Consider this” calls you to discern the danger while the warning still stands between forgetting God and being torn apart.
THE MEANING
You are addressed where forgetting God makes danger easy to miss: being torn apart can leave no one to pull you free. “Consider this” brings that danger into view while the warning is still being spoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God can be forgotten without consequence while rescue remains assured.
THE ROOT
בִּינוּ
binu
GROWS FROM
ב־י־ן
b-y-n
Discern, understand, distinguish.
“consider” in this verse is binu. The command בִּינוּ means to understand or discern. Its word family includes בֵּין (bein), “between,” and בִּינָה (binah), “understanding”: the verse calls for seeing the distinction between forgetting God and the danger that follows.
ALSO GROWS
bein: between
בֵּין
Its shared root links discernment with noticing distinctions.
binah: understanding, discernment
בִּינָה
This branch shows that “consider” calls for comprehension, not mere recollection.
אֶטְרֹף
etroph
GROWS FROM
ט־ר־ף
ṭ-r-p
Tear apart or seize as prey.
“tear you in pieces” in this verse is etroph. The verb draws on the language of a predator tearing its prey. Its branches make the threat starkly physical: the verse names an attack that rips apart, not a vague or gentle consequence.
ALSO GROWS
teref: prey, food seized
טֶרֶף
It carries the predator-and-prey image behind “tear you in pieces.”
terephah: an animal torn by a predator
טְרֵפָה
This branch underscores the violence of the tearing described here.
מַצִּיל
matzil
GROWS FROM
נ־צ־ל
n-ts-l
Snatch away, rescue, deliver.
The word for “deliver” names an active rescuer, one who snatches someone out of danger. Paired with “tear,” it makes the warning a question of whether anyone can pull you free once the attack comes.
ALSO GROWS
hitzil: he rescued, snatched away
הִצִּיל
This verb form shows deliverance as an act of pulling someone out of danger.
nitsal: he escaped, was rescued
נִצַּל
This form describes the person who gets free from the danger.
THE PATTERN
Scripture portrays forgetting God as a rupture that leaves people exposed to destruction rather than rescue.
And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;THE THREAD
Lest he tear my soul like a lion, rending it in pieces, while there is none to deliver.Psalm 7:2 uses the same roots as this verse: טָרַף (ṭaraph), “tear,” and נָצַל (natsal), “rescue, snatch away.” The shared language makes Psalm 50’s warning echo as a plea from inside the danger: the tearing is underway, and no rescuer is there.
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