What Does Psalm 68:14 Mean in the King James?
When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon.
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 Hebrew pictures the kings being spread out and then snow falling on Zalmon, making their defeat visible in the changed landscape.
THE MEANING
The Almighty scatters kings, and snow falls over Zalmon: power is not fixed in place, and its dispersal changes the scene around it. The verse speaks now wherever authority seems gathered and immovable; the present field remains open to a change no ruler controls.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that concentrated power is immovable is undone: even kings can be scattered by the Almighty.
THE ROOT
בְּפָרֵשׂ
bəpāreś
GROWS FROM
פרשׂ
to spread out, stretch out, disperse
“scattered” in this verse is bəpāreś. This root holds scattering and spreading out together. The English stresses defeat, while the root’s physical image shows the kings’ power spread apart across the scene rather than simply toppled.
ALSO GROWS
pāras: To disperse or spread in multiple directions.
פָּרַשׂ
This is the verse’s action: the kings are spread apart, their gathered power no longer held together.
pērashtî: I stretched or spread out, used of hands extended toward God.
פֵּרַשְׂתִּי
Psalm 143:6 uses this form for hands stretched out; the shared root makes scattering and reaching outward part of one spatial image.
תַּשְׁלֵג
tashlēg
GROWS FROM
שלג
snow; to snow
The KJV shows Zalmon white as snow, and the Hebrew verb also carries the motion of snowfall. The image is an event that changes the mountain’s appearance as the kings are scattered.
ALSO GROWS
sheleg: Snow, the falling frozen weather.
שֶׁלֶג
This is the visible image named by the verse: snow changes the appearance of Zalmon.
tashlēg: It snows; the verb form used in the verse.
תַּשְׁלֵג
The verb makes the whiteness dynamic, setting snowfall alongside the Almighty’s scattering of the kings.
THE PATTERN
The Almighty’s action disperses concentrated power and changes the shape of the world it occupies.
To the chief Musician, A Psalm or Song of David. Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.THE THREAD
I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.The verb translated “scattered” here belongs to the same root used in Psalm 143:6 for hands stretched out toward God. One root carries both images: kings spread apart in this verse, hands extended in the other.
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