What Does Psalm 65:2 Mean in the King James?

O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

Psalm 65:2 · 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

God is named as the Hearer of prayer, and all flesh is moving toward that hearing.

THE MEANING

God receives prayer, and all embodied life comes toward him. You are included in that “all flesh”: your living self belongs within the verse’s movement toward the Hearer.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the belief that God hears only the spiritually exceptional; its scope is all flesh.

THE ROOT

שֹׁמֵעַ

shomea

GROWS FROM

שמע

sh-m-ʿ

Hear, listen, heed, respond.

“hearest” in this verse is shomea. The Hebrew participle means “the one hearing prayer,” making hearing a defining quality of the addressee rather than a passing action. The same root appears in ⁨שְׁמַע⁩ (shema, hear and respond), so prayer is received by an active hearer, while “all flesh” names the full scope of those who come.

ALSO GROWS

shema: Hear; hear and respond.

שְׁמַע

This form shows that hearing in this root can carry a response, echoing the verse’s portrait of God as the Hearer.

shemuah: A report; news that is heard.

שְׁמוּעָה

The same root names both hearing and what is heard, linking prayer to an exchange in which a voice is received.

THE PATTERN

The one who hears prayer is the destination toward which the whole human family moves.

All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.

Psalm 86:9 · KJVThe verse extends the movement toward God to every nation he has made.

And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD.

Isaiah 66:23 · KJVLike Psalm 65:2, it names all flesh as coming before the LORD.

Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.

Revelation 15:4 · KJVThe same pattern reaches across the nations: they come before God as his ways are made known.

THE THREAD

The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

Psalm 34:17 · KJV

The word translated “hearest” here and “heareth” in Psalm 34:17 share ⁨שמע⁩ (shama, hear and respond). Psalm 34:17 shows that hearing meeting a cry with deliverance: “Hearer of prayer” names an active response.

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