What Does Psalm 70:3 Mean in the King James?

Let them be turned back for a reward of their shame that say, Aha, aha.

Psalm 70:3 · 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.

THE KEY

The Hebrew says the mockers are made to turn back, reversing the direction of their taunt until their own shame meets them.

THE MEANING

When someone says “Aha” over your shame, the verse names the sting without disguising it. It gives the mockers’ taunt a reversed direction: their delight in your shame returns to them.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that someone else’s mockery gets the final word over you.

THE ROOT

יָשׁוּבוּ

yāšûvû

GROWS FROM

שׁוּב

⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv) means to turn or return.

“turned back” in this verse is yāšûvû. The verb in the verse comes from ⁨שׁוּב⁩, the root of turning back or returning. The mockers’ movement is reversed: the shame they celebrate becomes the place they themselves turn back toward.

ALSO GROWS

teshuvah: return, turning back

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun keeps the root’s change of direction visible: return means turning back toward a different course.

meshuvah: turning away, backsliding

מְשׁוּבָה

This branch uses the same root for a turn away, showing how ⁨שׁוּב⁩ can name a change of direction in either course.

THE PATTERN

The direction of contempt can be reversed, returning the shame or harm toward its source.

Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.

Psalm 35:4 · KJVThe same plea turns the movement of those plotting harm back toward confusion and shame.

Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.

Proverbs 26:27 · KJVThe harm someone sets in motion returns upon the one who set it in motion.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Galatians 6:7 · KJVEven what is sent out as mockery or action comes back as its corresponding harvest.

THE THREAD

Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.

Psalm 6:10 · KJV

Psalm 6 uses the same Hebrew root ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv), “to turn back” or “return,” in the phrase “let them return.” It joins that turning with shame, making explicit the reversal Psalm 70 asks for.

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