What Does Psalm 6:3 Mean in the King James?

My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?

Psalm 6:3 · KJV

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 “vexed” carries alarm and haste, so “How long?” is the cry of a soul already thrown into urgency.

THE MEANING

Your living soul can be thrown into alarm, and “How long?” gives that distress its address: the LORD. The verse leaves the waiting unresolved and lets the cry be spoken as it is.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that asking “How long?” means your trust has failed dissolves here: the question itself is spoken to the LORD.

THE ROOT

נִבְהֲלָה

nivhalah

GROWS FROM

בָּהַל

bahal

To be alarmed or dismayed; also to hurry or act hastily.

“vexed” in this verse is nivhalah. The Hebrew word carries both inner alarm and the impulse to hurry. The question “How long?” rises from a soul under pressure, not from a calm distance from its distress.

ALSO GROWS

behalah: Panic or sudden alarm.

בְּהָלָה

This noun makes the alarm in the verse feel like an upheaval, not mild discomfort.

nivhal: Alarmed, dismayed, or hasty.

נִבְהָל

This related form shows how being thrown into alarm can also press a person toward haste.

THE PATTERN

Distress does not have to be resolved before it can be addressed to God.

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

Psalm 13:1 · KJVThe unanswered “How long?” remains a direct address to the LORD.

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

Habakkuk 1:2 · KJVThe speaker names what feels unbearable while still crying out to God.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Revelation 6:10 · KJVEven a cry for justice keeps its question turned toward the Lord.

THE THREAD

Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 · KJV

The Hebrew root behind “sore vexed” also appears in “rash,” linking alarm with speech that hurries ahead. That shared root lets the “How long?” register as the voice of a soul under pressure.

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