What Does Psalm 65:3 Mean in the King James?
Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.
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 names both the force of what overwhelms you and a covering that reaches all the way over it.
THE MEANING
Your wrongdoing can feel stronger than your ability to contain it. The verse holds that overwhelm beside God’s covering of your transgressions. The covering meets the breach without pretending it was never there.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being overwhelmed by your transgressions means you are beyond God’s reach.
THE ROOT
תְּכַפְּרֵם
tekapperem
GROWS FROM
כפר
Cover over; make a covering.
“purge them away” in this verse is tekapperem. The English phrase gives the result as removal, while the Hebrew verb also carries the image of covering. That same root appears in words for a covering and a ransom, so the verse holds out a covering that meets what has overwhelmed you.
ALSO GROWS
kopher: A covering price; ransom.
כֹּפֶר
The shared root links covering with a price that answers a claim, giving the verse’s covering the force of release.
kapporet: The cover of the ark; traditionally called the mercy seat.
כַּפֹּרֶת
This is a covering made from the same root, making the verse’s response to transgression an image of covering rather than mere disappearance.
פְּשָׁעֵינוּ
pesha'einu
GROWS FROM
פשע
Rebel; break away.
The verse’s word for transgressions belongs to a root of rebellion and breaking away. It names a rupture in relation, not merely a small mistake.
ALSO GROWS
pashaʿ: To rebel; to break away.
פָּשַׁע
The verb makes clear that the transgressions in the verse carry the sense of revolt.
posheaʿ: One who rebels.
פֹּשֵׁעַ
This related form describes the one acting in rebellion, connecting the rupture named in the verse with a person rather than an abstract tally.
גָּבְרוּ
gāveru
GROWS FROM
גבר
Be strong or mighty; prevail.
“prevail” in this verse is gāveru. The verse pictures iniquities as gaining might over the speaker. The same root also names might itself, so the language makes the overwhelm feel like a force with strength, not a vague sense of guilt.
ALSO GROWS
gibbor: A mighty one; a warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This branch makes the strength within prevail concrete: it is the might of one who can overpower.
gevurah: Might; strength.
גְּבוּרָה
This noun names the very force the verse says has prevailed, sharpening the contrast with the covering that follows.
THE PATTERN
Transgression can be covered without being denied.
A Psalm of David, Maschil. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.THE THREAD
Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.In Hebrew, the verb translated “pitch” and the noun translated “pitch” come from כפר (kaphar, cover). The same root that seals the ark inside and out appears here in the covering of transgressions, opening an image of containment and protection.
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