What Does Psalm 66:14 Mean in the King James?

Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.

Psalm 66:14 · 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

Trouble is a narrow place, and this verse locates the vow in the constriction from which it is spoken.

THE MEANING

Your lips have uttered words from within a constricted place, and your mouth has given those words form. The verse keeps that speech tied to the pressure where it arose, so the vow remains present as something you have said.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It loosens the belief that words spoken under pressure become disposable once the pressure passes; the verse still holds them as the speaker’s own utterance.

THE ROOT

בַּצַּר־לִי

ba-tsar li

GROWS FROM

צָרַר

tsarar

To bind, press in, or make narrow.

The KJV’s “trouble” can sound like a general hardship, while the Hebrew gives it the shape of constriction. The lips speak from inside that narrowness, and the vow remains attached to the place from which it arose.

ALSO GROWS

tsar: A narrow or constricted place; by extension, distress.

צַר

This is the word-shape behind “trouble” here: the speaker is pressed into a narrow place.

tsarah: Distress or adversity.

צָרָה

This related form shows how constriction can be experienced as adversity pressing on a person.

THE PATTERN

A vow spoken in distress remains present as speech carried toward fulfillment.

I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,

Psalm 66:13 · KJVThe words spoken in trouble remain present as the speaker names their fulfillment.

But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

Jonah 2:9 · KJVThe vow remains in the speaker’s words as it is carried toward its fulfillment.

Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:

Matthew 5:33 · KJVThe verse names the movement from an oath spoken to its performance.

THE THREAD

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Psalm 118:5 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨צַר⁩ (tsar), the language of a narrow place, for distress. Psalm 118:5 makes the movement clear: the call rises from constriction and meets an answer that brings the speaker into a large place.

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