What Does Psalm 57:11 Mean in the King James?
Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: let thy glory be above all the earth.
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 verse’s “glory” is weight: neither heaven nor earth contains God; both lie beneath God’s weight.
THE MEANING
The highest thing you can imagine does not place a ceiling over God, and the ground you stand on does not confine God’s weight. Heaven and earth remain beneath God’s presence and worth, however vast or final they seem.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that what seems largest in your world, power, danger, or circumstance, has the highest authority.
THE ROOT
כְּבוֹדֶךָ
kevodekha
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy, to carry weight.
The KJV’s “glory” can suggest radiance, while כְּבוֹדֶךָ (kevodekha, your glory or weight) carries the sense of weight and substance. The verse places God’s weight above the heavens and all the earth, beyond every created scale.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy.
כָּבֵד
This branch keeps “glory” anchored in weight rather than mere brightness.
kibbed: To honor, to give weight to.
כִּבֵּד
To honor is to treat someone as weighty; here, God’s worth stands above all creation.
רוּמָה
rumah
GROWS FROM
רום
r-w-m
To rise, be high, or lift up.
“Exalted” comes from רום (r-w-m, to rise or be high), a root that also describes highness and lifting. The verse’s two “above” clauses let that height span both heavens and earth, placing all that exists beneath God’s eminence.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, lofty.
רָם
This branch names the height that the verse declares belongs to God.
herim: Raised, lifted up.
הֵרִים
This branch carries the act of lifting, echoing the verse’s call for God to be exalted.
THE PATTERN
The created order, from its highest reaches to its inhabited ground, lies beneath God’s weight and bears witness to it.
The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.Psalm 19 calls the heavens witnesses to כָּבוֹד (kavod, glory and weight), the same word at the heart of this verse. The heavens stand beneath God’s weight and announce it.
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