What Does Psalm 7:8 Mean in the King James?
The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.
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 prayer makes inner wholeness a basis for inviting judgment.
THE MEANING
You stand within the reach of the LORD’s judgment, and the verse names the alignment and wholeness within you as part of what is measured. The prayer gives voice to being seen and assessed truthfully.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that divine judgment can only expose what is wrong: the prayer names alignment and wholeness within as realities judgment can see.
THE ROOT
תֹּם
tom
GROWS FROM
תמם
to be complete, whole, or finished
Tom means completeness or wholeness: integrity reaches beyond a clean reputation to a life that is not divided against itself. The speaker invites the LORD to judge on the basis of that wholeness, offering it to be fully seen.
ALSO GROWS
tummah: integrity, blamelessness
תֻּמָּה
This same word family describes integrity held under accusation, giving the plea the sense of a wholeness that holds.
tamim: whole, complete, blameless
תָּמִים
The same completeness can describe a person, showing how integrity names a state of wholeness.
צֶדֶק
tsedeq
GROWS FROM
צדק
rightness, justice, alignment
The root family carries righteousness and justice together; alignment is connected to how a life is ordered toward what is right. Here the speaker names that alignment as present within.
ALSO GROWS
tsaddiq: just, righteous
צַדִּיק
This form describes a person as aligned with what is right, echoing the speaker’s appeal to what is in him.
tsedaqah: righteousness, justice
צְדָקָה
This branch holds rightness and justice together, giving “my righteousness” a relational and lived sense.
שָׁפְטֵנִי
shafṭeni
GROWS FROM
שפט
to judge, decide a case, or govern
Where the KJV repeats “judge,” the Hebrew first has יָדִין (yadin, “shall judge”) from דין (din, “judge or decide”), then שָׁפְטֵנִי (shafṭeni, “judge me”) from שפט (shaphat, “judge or govern”). The phrasing moves from the peoples as a whole to the speaker personally, placing both within the reach of judgment.
ALSO GROWS
shofet: judge, one who judges
שֹׁפֵט
This related form names the one who evaluates, whom the speaker addresses directly.
mishpat: judgment, justice
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch names judgment and justice, linking the personal plea to the larger judging of the peoples.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents judgment as measuring the integrity and conduct present in a life.
And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.The integrity of the upright shall guide them: but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them.Who will render to every man according to his deeds:THE THREAD
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.This repeats the plea “Judge me” and grounds it in integrity, as Psalm 7:8 does. Both use forms of תֹּם (tom, completeness or wholeness), so integrity in each prayer carries the sense of a life held together and offered to God’s judgment.
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