What Does Psalm 7:3 Mean in the King James?
O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands;
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 verse makes integrity examinable: crookedness would leave a trace in the hands.
THE MEANING
Your claim of innocence stands open to what your actions reveal. The word translated “iniquity” carries the sense of crooked dealing, so the question reaches beyond self-image to the shape your conduct takes. Here, the hands make that question concrete.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a sincere self-image proves innocence. What the hands have done can expose whether that claim holds.
THE ROOT
עָוֶל
ʿāwel
GROWS FROM
עול
To act unjustly or deal crookedly.
“iniquity” in this verse is ʿāwel. This word names wrongdoing as crooked dealing, not a vague stain. Its branches describe both the unjust person and the injustice itself; here, the speaker asks whether that crookedness is present in his hands.
ALSO GROWS
ʿavval: An unjust person
עַוָּל
The same root can describe the one who acts crookedly.
ʿavlah: Injustice or wrong
עַוְלָה
This branch names the crooked act whose presence the verse questions.
עָשִׂיתִי
ʿāsîtî
GROWS FROM
עשה
To do, make, or carry out.
“done” in this verse is ʿāsîtî. The root carries both doing and making. Its branch מַעֲשֶׂה names a deed or work, giving the question a tangible edge: what has been made real through the speaker’s actions?
ALSO GROWS
maʿăśeh: Deed, work, or action
מַעֲשֶׂה
It names what doing leaves behind as a deed.
ʿōśeh: One who does or makes
עֹשֶׂה
It shows the same root describing the person through their actions.
THE PATTERN
Integrity becomes examinable when a claim is measured against the path walked and the deeds left behind.
A Psalm of David. Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.THE THREAD
I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:Psalm 7 asks whether crookedness is in the hands; Psalm 26 pictures hands washed in innocence. Together, the verses make integrity visible in what the hands carry.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us