What Does Psalm 59:16 Mean in the King James?
But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.
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 “trouble” is literally a narrow place, and the verse answers that constriction with a high refuge, faithful love, and a song in the morning.
THE MEANING
Even now, your day can feel narrow, but God is your high place and refuge within it. His faithful love holds the morning open for song while the trouble is still real.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A constricted day means God has abandoned you and left you nowhere to turn.
THE ROOT
צַר
tsar
GROWS FROM
צרר
To bind, confine, or press into a narrow space.
The phrase “day of my trouble” carries the image of a day made narrow around you. The verse sets that constriction beside God as refuge: the narrowness is real, but it is not the whole space you inhabit.
ALSO GROWS
tsarah: Distress, trouble, affliction.
צָרָה
It names the distress that arises when life presses in, echoing the “trouble” of this verse.
tsorer: One who binds, oppresses, or acts as an adversary.
צֹרֵר
This branch shows the constricting force behind distress: what binds or presses someone into a narrow place.
מִשְׂגָּב
misgav
GROWS FROM
שגב
To be high, elevated, or inaccessible.
The word rendered “defence” pictures a place raised beyond the reach of danger. Against the narrowness of trouble, the verse places height and shelter: refuge opens space around the one who is pressed in.
ALSO GROWS
sagav: To be high, lofty, or inaccessible.
שָׂגַב
It gives the basic image behind the refuge: a height where the threat cannot easily reach.
nisgav: Lofty, exalted, set high.
נִשְׂגָּב
This related form carries the same elevation that makes a stronghold a place of safety.
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful, loyal love expressed through steadfast care.
The morning song is not only about power; it is also about chesed, love that remains faithful. The English word “mercy” can sound like a moment of lenience, while this root holds the deeper sense of enduring loyalty that can be sung of again in the morning.
ALSO GROWS
chasad: To act loyally or show faithful kindness.
חָסַד
This related verb gives chesed its active quality: faithful love is care enacted.
chasid: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The related word for a devoted person reflects the same quality of loyalty carried by chesed.
THE PATTERN
God’s refuge and faithful love keep distress from becoming the final horizon, opening the way from a narrow day toward life and song.
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;THE THREAD
I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.The “distress” here and the “trouble” in Psalm 59:16 both carry the Hebrew image of narrowness. Psalm 118 makes the movement explicit: the LORD answers from the narrow place and sets the speaker in a spacious one.
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