What Does Psalm 63:10 Mean in the King James?

They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.

Psalm 63:10 · 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 verse makes the dead an allotted share: the sword’s victims become the foxes’ portion.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks with brutal clarity: those who seek the speaker’s life fall by the sword, and their bodies become the foxes’ share. Death leaves no veil over the body’s fate; it is exposed to scavengers.

THE ROOT

לְמָנָה

lemanah

GROWS FROM

מנה

⁨מנה⁩ (m-n-h): to count, assign, or allot.

The word ⁨מְנָה⁩ (menah, portion) comes from ⁨מנה⁩ (m-n-h, count or allot): the image is an assigned share, not merely animals near a battlefield. The fallen are given over as prey, and the root’s sense of allotment sharpens the verse’s stark final image.

ALSO GROWS

mānâ: To count, number, appoint, or assign.

מָנָה

This verbal form reveals the root’s sense of setting out or assigning a share, which the verse renders as the fallen becoming prey.

menah: A portion or assigned share.

מְנָה

This noun shares the root’s consonants and names the fate in the verse: the fallen become the foxes’ allotted food.

THE PATTERN

Violent death leaves the body exposed to the creatures that consume it.

The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth.

Psalm 79:2 · KJVAs in Psalm 63, the dead are described as food for animals, with the body’s exposure left explicit.

And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away.

Jeremiah 7:33 · KJVThe verse shows death ending in a body consumed by creatures, echoing the foxes’ share.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

Revelation 19:17 · KJVThe image of death as a feast for creatures makes the body’s exposure part of the verse’s judgment.

THE THREAD

So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Psalm 90:12 · KJV

Psalm 90:12 uses ⁨לִמְנוֹת⁩ (limnot, to number), from ⁨מנה⁩ (m-n-h, count or assign), the same root as ⁨מְנָה⁩ (menah, portion) here. There, days are counted; here, the fallen become an allotted share. The shared root brings counting and mortality together.

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