What Does Psalm 62:5 Mean in the King James?
My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him.
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
Here, waiting is the soul’s quieting, while expectation stays alive because it comes from God.
THE MEANING
Your living soul waits in quiet toward God alone, and its expectation comes from him. Stillness and forward-looking hope occupy the same posture; silence does not declare the future empty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that silence means surrendering hope is undone here: the soul becomes quiet while expectation remains alive.
THE ROOT
דּוֹמִּי
dommi
GROWS FROM
דמם
d-m-m
Be silent, cease, or grow still.
Under “wait” is a shade of becoming silent, ceasing, growing still. That quiet does not mean resignation, because the next clause keeps expectation alive and directed toward God.
ALSO GROWS
dumiyyah: silence, stillness
דּוֹמִיָּה
This noun shows how waiting can include quiet, not only the passage of time.
dom: be still, rest
דּוֹם
The same root appears in Psalm 37:7’s command to rest in the LORD, connecting waiting with stillness before God.
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
Refresh oneself or take respite.
נֶפֶשׁ (nephesh) means “living soul,” the self as a living being; its related verb נָפַשׁ (naphash) means “be refreshed” or “take respite.” The quiet here is experienced by the living self itself, not by an abstract inner part detached from life.
ALSO GROWS
nephesh: living soul, self
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the living self that the verse addresses and calls to quiet.
naphash: be refreshed, take respite
נָפַשׁ
The related verb links the living self with respite, giving the soul’s quiet a restorative shade.
תִּקְוָתִי
tiqvati
GROWS FROM
קוה
q-w-h
Wait for, look toward, hope.
תִּקְוָה (tiqvah) means “hope” or “expectation,” from קָוָה (qavah), “wait for” or “look toward.” The verse places this forward-looking posture in God, so the soul can grow still while its hope remains alive.
ALSO GROWS
tiqvah: hope, expectation
תִּקְוָה
This is the expectation the verse says comes from God.
qavah: wait for, look toward, hope
קָוָה
The verb reveals the waiting within expectation: hope looks toward what is yet to come.
THE PATTERN
Quiet waiting holds hope open when fulfillment is not yet visible.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.THE THREAD
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.In Psalm 37:7, “Rest” is דּוֹם (dom, “be still”), from דמם (d-m-m, “be silent, cease”), the same root carried by “wait” here. The shared seed reveals waiting as inner quiet before the LORD, with patience leaving expectation open.
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