What Does Psalm 71:4 Mean in the King James?
Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
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
Deliverance here is being pulled out of another person’s grip.
THE MEANING
The prayer names the danger plainly: another person’s power is being used to harm, and the plea is to be pulled clear. “Out of the hand” is repeated, making deliverance concrete: no longer being under that person’s control.
THE ROOT
הַצִּילֵנִי
hatzileini
GROWS FROM
נצל
To snatch away, rescue, or strip away.
“Deliver me” in this verse is hatzileini. The verb carries a sense of being taken out of danger’s reach. Paired with the repeated image of a hand, deliverance is not abstract safety but removal from the power that holds someone.
ALSO GROWS
nitsal: A form of נצל (natsal) meaning to be rescued or escape.
נִצַּל
It makes clear that rescue means getting free of the danger’s hold.
venitzaltem: A form of נצל (natsal) used for stripping or taking away, as in Exodus 3:22.
וְנִצַּלְתֶּם
The same root can describe taking something out of another’s possession; here, the person being rescued is taken out of the oppressor’s reach.
THE PATTERN
Rescue removes a person from the power that holds them and carries them toward safety.
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.THE THREAD
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.Exodus uses the same Hebrew verb, הַצִּיל (hatzil, “deliver”), and the same image of being brought out of a hand. The sentence pairs removal from that grip with being brought up into a good, large land: rescue opens into room to live.
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