What Does Psalm 6:10 Mean in the King James?
Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
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 pivotal word is “return”: the force moving against the speaker is pictured as turned back, its direction reversed.
THE MEANING
The verse gives the reader a stark present-tense cry: let the forces set against me lose their footing, recoil, and be exposed in shame. Its urgency is in the suddenness, their direction changes in a moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that opposition pressing in is immovable or destined to win; the verse imagines its momentum turning back and its confidence breaking.
THE ROOT
יָשֻׁבוּ
yāshūvū
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
Turn back; return.
The verse’s “return” carries the sense of a changed direction: the force that comes against the speaker is pictured going back. The root also forms words for turning away and turning back, so the verse’s reversal is built into the movement itself.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn back; return.
שׁוּב
This is the root verb behind יָשֻׁבוּ, naming the retreat at the center of the verse.
meshuvah: Turning away; backsliding.
מְשׁוּבָה
This word shares the root’s consonants and shows that turning can describe a departure from one’s course, echoing the verse’s image of direction changing.
teshuvah: Return; turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This familiar derivative preserves the root’s movement of return, making the verse’s sudden reversal audible in the word itself.
וְיִבָּהֲלוּ
veyibbāhalū
GROWS FROM
בָּהַל
Become alarmed, panic, or be thrown into confusion.
“sore vexed” in this verse is veyibbāhalū. The verse describes the opponents as more than inwardly troubled: the root carries the force of sudden alarm. Its family connects that agitation with panic and being hurried or dismayed.
ALSO GROWS
bahalah: Panic; sudden terror.
בָּהָלָה
The shared root gives the verse’s “sore vexed” an additional shade of alarm breaking over the opponents.
nivhal: Alarmed; dismayed; hurried.
נִבְהָל
This derivative shows the root’s link between fear and unsettled movement, matching the verse’s picture of opponents losing their composure.
THE PATTERN
Hostile force can be reversed: the one advancing against the speaker loses ground and is driven back.
Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground.THE THREAD
When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.Psalm 56:9 uses the same Hebrew root שׁוּב (shuv, turn back) for the enemies’ retreat. Here that same reversal is paired with sudden shame, showing the change of direction and the collapse of confidence together.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us