What Does Psalm 55:22 Mean in the King James?
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
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 translated “burden” can mean “what is given,” and the verse pairs its transfer with the LORD’s sustaining care.
THE MEANING
The weight you carry can be placed on the LORD, who sustains you. “Righteous” carries the sense of alignment, and the promise is that you are not left in a lasting collapse, even when you feel shaken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that your stability depends on carrying every weight alone is undone: the LORD is the one who sustains you.
THE ROOT
יְהָבְךָ
yehāḇəḵā
GROWS FROM
יהב
y-h-b
Give; what is given or allotted.
The rare noun translated “burden” is related to the Semitic verb “give” and can carry the sense of what is allotted. The verse’s movement is not merely throwing off weight: what you carry is entrusted to the LORD, who sustains you.
ALSO GROWS
yehab: That which is given; a burden or allotted portion.
יְהָב
The word can name a weight as something given or assigned, making its transfer the center of the verse.
yehav: Give.
יְהַב
This cognate verbal sense supports hearing yehab as “what is given” and entrusted to God.
הַשְׁלֵךְ
hashlekh
GROWS FROM
שלך
sh-l-k
Throw or cast.
This is shalak (שלך), “throw” or “cast,” a different root from shalach (שלח), “send” or “release.” The image here is a decisive transfer of the weight onto the LORD, immediately answered by God’s sustaining.
ALSO GROWS
hishlikhani: Cast me down (Psalm 102:10).
הִשְׁלִיכָנִי
The same root can describe being thrown down, sharpening the force of choosing where the burden is cast.
tashlikheni: Cast me off (Psalm 71:9).
תַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי
The root can describe rejection; here the burden is cast upon the LORD, who does not cast the righteous away.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
Rightness, justice, alignment.
“righteous” in this verse is tsaddiq. The root carries the sense of being set right or in alignment, not a claim of flawlessness. The verse says the LORD does not leave this aligned life in a lasting totter; it does not say you never feel shaken.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This noun reveals the sense beneath “righteous”: a life set in right relation.
tsedaqah: Righteousness, justice, right action.
צְדָקָה
The same root extends alignment into action, connecting the person described with the way they move through life.
THE PATTERN
The load is entrusted to God, whose care bears the person instead of demanding self-sufficiency.
Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.THE THREAD
Surely he shall not be moved for ever: the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance.Psalm 112:6 repeats the same Hebrew pair at the heart of the promise: “righteous” (צַדִּיק, tsaddiq) and “moved” (מוֹט, mot, to totter). The shared roots show that Psalm 55 speaks of being sustained through upheaval, not of a life untouched by it.
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