What Does Psalm 59:6 Mean in the King James?
They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
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 danger is a cycle, not a single attack: at evening it returns, roars, and circles the city.
THE MEANING
When danger keeps coming back at day’s end, it is felt as both sound and enclosure: noise in the air, movement all around the city. The threat is repeating and surrounding, not momentary.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a threat has passed because the day has ended is undone here: evening is when it returns.
THE ROOT
וִיסוֹבְבוּ
visovevu
GROWS FROM
סבב
sabab
To turn around, circle, or surround.
“go round about” in this verse is visovevu. This verb places the threat on a circuit around the city; it does not describe a force merely passing by. The same root describes being “compassed” in Psalm 22:16, where dogs and a hostile assembly surround the speaker.
ALSO GROWS
saviv: Around, all around.
סָבִיב
The word makes the enclosing space explicit, echoing the threat’s movement around the city.
sibbev: Turned about, encircled.
סִבֵּב
This active form keeps the sense of a force moving around its target.
יָשׁוּבוּ
yashuvu
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
shuv
To turn back, return, or bring back.
“return” in this verse is yashuvu. The verb marks the danger as recurring: it comes back at evening. This root can also carry the sense of restoration, so the motion of returning may restore what has strayed or bring the threat back into view.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
The noun names a return or turning back, sharpening the verse’s sense of recurrence.
yeshovev: Restore, bring back.
יְשׁוֹבֵב
Psalm 23:3 uses this verb family for restoring the soul; here the returning motion brings danger back.
יֶהֱמוּ
yehemu
GROWS FROM
הָמָה
hamah
To murmur, roar, or make a tumult.
“make a noise” in this verse is yehemu. The verb can describe sound that swells into a roar or commotion. The dog’s noise is therefore not incidental; it makes the threat audible as it circles.
ALSO GROWS
hamon: Tumult, din, or crowd.
הָמוֹן
This noun gathers noise and a surging crowd into one word, fitting the verse’s image of a threatening presence.
hamiyah: A hum or murmur.
הֲמִיָּה
This softer sound-word shares the root’s movement from low murmur to louder roar.
THE PATTERN
A threat that circles its target becomes a surrounding presence, whether the target is a person or a city.
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.THE THREAD
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.“Go round about” here and “compassed” there come from the same Hebrew root for circling and surrounding. The image shifts from a city encircled by dogs to a person enclosed by dogs and an assembly.
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