What Does Psalm 68:2 Mean in the King James?

As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Psalm 68:2 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew repeats one verb for smoke being driven off and for God driving the wicked away, making their disappearance the verse’s central image.

THE MEANING

Before God’s presence, opposition is driven off like smoke, and the wicked perish like wax before fire. The verse holds both images without softening them: one is scattered; the other melts away.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The wicked can remain intact and untouched in God’s presence.

THE ROOT

הִנְדֹּף

hinnodoph

GROWS FROM

נדף

nadaph

To drive away, scatter, or blow away.

The verse uses this root first for smoke being driven off, then for God driving the wicked away. The same Hebrew verb links the two actions more tightly than the English wording shows.

ALSO GROWS

niddaph: Driven away or scattered.

נִדָּף

This form names what is scattered, echoing the smoke’s disappearance.

tindoph: You drive away.

תִּנְדֹּף

This is the repeated verb in the verse, now naming God’s action toward the wicked.

הִמֵּס

himmes

GROWS FROM

נמס

namas

To melt or dissolve.

“melteth” in this verse is himmes. The root carries the sense of melting away, not merely becoming soft. The wax loses its form before fire, an image that sharpens the verse’s description of the wicked perishing.

ALSO GROWS

namas: Melted or dissolved.

נָמַס

This form shows the root’s basic movement: a solid thing loses its form.

yimmas: Will melt or dissolve.

יִמַּס

The same root can describe melting as it happens, matching the verse’s image of wax before fire.

יֹאבְדוּ

yovdu

GROWS FROM

אבד

avad

To perish, be lost, or disappear.

“perish” in this verse is yovdu. This root holds together perishing and being lost. It deepens the smoke image: the wicked do not simply withdraw from the scene; they disappear.

ALSO GROWS

avad: To perish or be lost.

אָבַד

This is the root’s basic sense, stated directly in the verse’s final image.

avedah: A lost thing or lost property.

אֲבֵדָה

This related word makes visible the root’s connection between loss and disappearance.

THE PATTERN

In the presence of God, what rises against him is consumed or scattered.

And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

Exodus 15:7 · KJVThose who rise against God are overthrown and consumed, as the wicked perish before his presence here.

By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

Job 4:9 · KJVGod’s force brings the perishing and consuming named in this psalm.

For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:29 · KJVThe fire image names the consuming force before which opposition cannot endure.

THE THREAD

But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

Psalm 37:20 · KJV

Both verses use the ⁨אבד⁩ root for the wicked perishing. Psalm 37 adds the image of enemies vanishing into smoke, returning to the same disappearance pictured in Psalm 68.

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