What Does Psalm 71:16 Mean in the King James?
I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.
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
Your movement rests in the LORD’s might, while the righteousness you name belongs to God alone.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to your movement now: the strength carrying you is the LORD’s, and the alignment named in your words is God’s alone. What you make known points beyond your own power to the one whose strength and righteousness sustain you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your progress rests on your own force or that rightness is something you produce: the verse locates strength in the LORD and names righteousness as his alone.
THE ROOT
גְּבוּרוֹת
gevurot
GROWS FROM
גבר
To be strong, mighty, or prevail.
The word can hold both strength and mighty deeds, so the verse’s support is not an abstract force but the LORD’s power in action. The speaker’s movement is carried by that power, rather than claimed as a personal possession.
ALSO GROWS
gevurah: Might or strength.
גְּבוּרָה
This related form makes explicit the power in which the speaker moves.
gibbor: A mighty one or warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
The branch gives strength a personal, active shape: might that acts and prevails.
אַזְכִּיר
ʾazkîr
GROWS FROM
זכר
To remember, recall, or bring to mind.
The Hebrew verb translated “make mention” comes from the same root as “remember.” Naming God’s righteousness is therefore bound to recollection: the speaker brings what is true of God into view.
ALSO GROWS
zākar: Remember or recall.
זָכַר
This is the root verb behind “make mention,” revealing memory within the act of speaking.
zikkārôn: Remembrance or memorial.
זִכָּרוֹן
This branch shows how recalling can make something present and keep it before the mind.
צִדְקָתֶךָ
tsidqatekha
GROWS FROM
צדק
To be right, just, or in alignment.
The verse names this alignment as God’s own, and its closing “thine only” leaves no ambiguity about its source. English “righteousness” carries the sense of moral rightness; the root also opens the image of being rightly aligned.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Righteousness, justice, or rightness.
צֶדֶק
This related form shows the shared root beneath the verse’s naming of God’s righteousness.
tsaddiq: Righteous or just; one who is in the right.
צַדִּיק
This branch describes a person in alignment and clarifies the quality the verse attributes to God.
THE PATTERN
The strength that carries a person and the rightness they name have their source in God.
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.THE THREAD
I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.“Make mention” translates אַזְכִּיר (ʾazkîr), from זכר (z-k-r), the same root rendered “remember” here. That shared root opens the verse’s speech as remembrance: naming God’s righteousness brings God’s works into view.
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