What Does Psalm 68:34 Mean in the King James?
Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.
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 rendered “ascribe” means “give,” making recognition an act of placing strength with God.
THE MEANING
God is the source of the strength named here; his majesty is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. The verse holds that strength as a covering over the people and a presence in the heights above them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that the strength sustaining you has to originate in you.
THE ROOT
עֹז
ʿōz
GROWS FROM
עָזַז
ʿāzaz
To be strong, mighty, or prevail.
The strength named here belongs to a family of words for active might and force. The verse recognizes where power resides, then pictures it over the people and in the clouds above them.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāzaz: To be strong or prevail.
עָזַז
The verb shares the root consonants and shows strength as active might.
ʿāzûz: Mighty, powerful.
עָזוּז
This related form preserves the root consonants and carries their sense of force into a description of might.
תְּנוּ
tenû
GROWS FROM
נָתַן
nātan
To give, set, or place.
The command translated “ascribe” grows from the Hebrew verb for giving or placing. The verse presents recognition as assigning strength to God, the one whose majesty is over the people and whose strength fills the clouds.
ALSO GROWS
nātûn: Given, set in place.
נָתוּן
This form carries the same give-and-place root into the state of something assigned.
nĕtînâ: Giving, donation.
נְתִינָה
The same root consonants appear in this noun for the act of giving.
THE PATTERN
Strength is named as God’s gift and presence, sustaining people under his care.
The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace.He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.THE THREAD
The LORD is their strength, and he is the saving strength of his anointed.Psalm 28 uses the same Hebrew noun עֹז (ʿōz, strength) when it calls the LORD the people’s strength. Psalm 68 carries that strength over Israel and into the clouds, joining care for the people with reach across the heavens.
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