What Does Psalm 60:12 Mean in the King James?
Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.
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
“Enemies” carries the image of constriction: your capacity is enacted through God, and God is the one who tramples what hems you in.
THE MEANING
The line meets you in the pressure of opposition without making that pressure the measure of your strength. You act with capacity through God, while God is named as the one who treads down your adversaries. The strength is real, and its source and decisive action are held in God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that opposition proves you are helpless, or that victory depends on your force alone.
THE ROOT
צָרֵינוּ
tsareinu
GROWS FROM
צרר
ṣ-r-r
to bind, press in, or constrict
The word rendered “enemies” belongs to a word family carrying the sense of narrowness, pressure, and distress. English names only the opponent; Hebrew also evokes what hems you in. The verse answers that constriction by placing its trampling in God’s hands.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow or pressing; also an adversary.
צַר
The shared word family makes the adversary feel like a constricting force, not only a rival.
tsarah: Distress, trouble, or adversity.
צָרָה
The same family links opposition with the tightness of distress.
חַיִל
chayil
GROWS FROM
חיל
ḥ-y-l
strength, force, or capacity
חַיִל (chayil) can name valor, resources, force, or an army; it is more than a flash of courage. “Do valiantly” presents strength as capacity brought into action through God, while the next clause assigns the decisive trampling to God.
ALSO GROWS
eshet chayil: A capable or valorous woman.
אֵשֶׁת־חַיִל
The phrase shows chayil describing a person’s lived capability, not only battlefield bravery.
cheil: An army or organized force.
חֵיל
This branch shows that chayil can name collective strength as well as individual valor.
THE PATTERN
People act with God-sourced capacity while the decisive action against opposition belongs to God.
For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hands.I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm of David. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.Psalm 4:1 uses בַּצַּר (ba-tsar, in distress or the narrow place), from the same צר (tsar, narrowness; adversary) word family as “our enemies” here. It answers that narrowing with הִרְחַבְתָּ (hirchavta, you enlarged or widened me): God’s action opens space where pressure had closed it.
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