What Does Psalm 66:13 Mean in the King James?
I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
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 verb for paying a vow comes from the root of wholeness: the promise reaches its whole shape when fulfilled.
THE MEANING
You enter God’s house carrying burnt offerings, and you fulfill your vows to God. The verse holds a rising offering beside a completed promise: what you bring into God’s presence and what you carry through to completion belong to the same act of approach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A vow is only a sincere intention; this verse names fulfillment as the completion of what was promised.
THE ROOT
אֲשַׁלֵּם
ʾashallēm
GROWS FROM
שׁלם
sh-l-m
Be whole or complete; bring to completion, make good, or repay.
The verb translated “pay” is a form of שׁלם, the root that also gives שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “wholeness”). A vow reaches its finished shape in the act of fulfilling it, alongside an offering named for its rising.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
This branch makes the language of wholeness audible in the root behind “I will pay.”
shalēm: Complete, whole
שָׁלֵם
The vow is not left as an intention; the verb points toward bringing it to completion.
shillēm: Repay, pay back
שִׁלֵּם
This is the same verbal pattern as the verse’s “I will pay,” showing the concrete action carried by the root.
עֹלוֹת
ʿolot
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
Rise, ascend, go up.
The word for burnt offerings is עֹלוֹת, from the root עלה, “rise” or “go up.” The verse pairs an offering that rises with a vow brought to completion.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: Rise, go up, ascend
עָלָה
This verb carries the upward movement present in the word for the offerings.
ʿaliyah: Ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
This noun preserves the same upward movement, illuminating the offering as something associated with rising.
THE PATTERN
A vow reaches its full shape when intention is carried into the promised action.
When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as there was a readiness to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which ye have.THE THREAD
I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.Psalm 66:13 uses אֲשַׁלֵּם (ʾashallēm, “I will pay”), from שׁלם (sh-l-m), the root also heard in שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “wholeness”). Psalm 116:14 repeats the same verb and the phrase “my vows,” making the root connection audible again.
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