What Does Psalm 71:21 Mean in the King James?
Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
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 comfort here is pictured as encircling the person, reaching all the way around rather than arriving as a single point of relief.
THE MEANING
God’s promise reaches you now: your greatness is not fixed at its present measure, and comfort surrounds you on every side. The verse holds enlargement and consolation together as one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that your present stature is final is undone here: greatness can still increase, and comfort can still surround you.
THE ROOT
וְתִסֹּב
ve-tisov
GROWS FROM
סבב
turn around, go about, encircle
The phrase rendered “on every side” carries the motion of going around. English describes the extent of the comfort; the Hebrew lets you hear it as an action that circles the person.
ALSO GROWS
savav: to go around or surround
סָבַב
It gives the verse’s spatial image: consolation circles the person.
sevivah: surroundings, vicinity
סְבִיבָה
This branch carries the same around-one idea into the space surrounding a person.
תְּנַחֲמֵנִי
tenaḥameni
GROWS FROM
נחם
comfort, console; in other forms, be comforted or relent
This is consolation given to a person, not simply a reassuring thought. Joined to the encircling verb, comfort becomes an action that reaches around the whole person.
ALSO GROWS
neḥamah: consolation
נֶחָמָה
It names the consolation carried by the verb in this verse.
menaḥem: comforter
מְנַחֵם
It names one who brings the comfort expressed here.
תַּרְבֶּה
tarbeh
GROWS FROM
רבה
become many, grow abundant, multiply
The verb for “increase” comes from רָבָה (rabah, “become many, multiply”), while “greatness” comes from גְּדֻלָּה (gedullah, “greatness”), from גָּדַל (gadal, “grow, become great”). Two distinct roots stack abundance and stature: greatness itself is made to abound.
ALSO GROWS
rav: many, much, abundant
רָב
It carries the root’s sense of abundance into a word for what is plentiful.
hirbah: increase, multiply
הִרְבָּה
This causative form makes the root’s idea of becoming many into an act of increasing.
THE PATTERN
God’s care enlarges a person’s life while surrounding them with consolation.
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.THE THREAD
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.Psalm 23:4 uses the same Hebrew root, נחם (nacham, “comfort, console”), as “comfort me” here. The valley shows where that consolation reaches; Psalm 71:21 adds the image of comfort turning around the person.
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