What Does Psalm 62:8 Mean in the King James?
Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
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 heart is not asked to stay composed before God; trust is the confidence to pour the whole inner life into the refuge that can hold it.
THE MEANING
Trust is available in every moment, including the ones when the heart is too full to keep everything contained. The inner life can be poured out before God, who is refuge for us. Safety here does not depend on presenting a composed heart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that trust means keeping distress contained or approaching God only after becoming composed. The refuge is where the heart may be poured out.
THE ROOT
שִׁפְכוּ
shifkhu
GROWS FROM
שׁפך
to pour out, spill, or shed
“pour out” in this verse is shifkhu. This same verb describes pouring out the heart here and pouring out רוּחַ (ruach, breath) in Joel 2:28. The image is of what is within flowing outward, not of a polished explanation.
ALSO GROWS
shifkhu: pour out
שִׁפְכוּ
This is the command in the verse: the heart itself is what flows out before God.
eshpokh: I will pour out
אֶשְׁפּוֹךְ
Joel 2:28 uses this form for pouring out רוּחִי (ruachi, my breath), extending the same image of an inward reality flowing outward.
shefichat dam: shedding blood
שְׁפִיכַת דָּם
The same root can describe blood being poured out; across these uses, what is held within passes into open flow.
בִּטְחוּ
bitḥu
GROWS FROM
בטח
to feel secure, rely on, or be confident
Trust here is security placed in someone, not an idea held at a distance. The verse moves directly from that reliance to pouring out the heart: confidence makes openness possible.
ALSO GROWS
bataḥ: trust, rely on
בָּטַח
This is the verb behind the verse’s command to trust in God.
mivtaḥ: security, confidence
מִבְטָח
This related noun names the sense of safety carried by reliance, which prepares the verse’s image of an unguarded heart.
מַחֲסֶה
machaseh
GROWS FROM
חסה
to seek shelter or take refuge
The refuge is not separate from the heart’s reality. Its root names taking shelter, while the verse pictures that shelter as the place where the heart can come fully into view.
ALSO GROWS
chasah: take refuge, seek shelter
חָסָה
The verb names the act held inside the verse’s image of God as refuge.
machaseh: shelter, refuge
מַחֲסֶה
This noun names the shelter itself: the one trusted is also the place of safety.
THE PATTERN
Trust takes shape as bringing the full weight of the inner life into God’s care.
Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.THE THREAD
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.Both verses use שָׁפַךְ (shaphakh, to pour out), though one names the heart and the other the soul. The shared verb lets the image travel across different inward words: what is within becomes an outflow.
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