What Does Psalm 72:6 Mean in the King James?
He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.
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 rain descends to the grass after it is cut, so being cut back does not put you beyond nourishment.
THE MEANING
The one who comes down reaches you where life has already been cut back, like rain reaching mown grass and soaking the earth. The verse holds the cut and the watering in the same scene: what is shortened still receives what sustains it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being cut back means you are beyond nourishment.
THE ROOT
יֵרֵד
yēred
GROWS FROM
ירד
to descend, go down
“come down” in this verse is yēred. The Hebrew makes descent the way the figure reaches the ground; the ground does not have to rise to meet him. Yarden, the Hebrew name for the Jordan, is associated with this same root of descending, making the downward movement part of the image of water reaching what lies below.
ALSO GROWS
yārad: to descend or go down
יָרַד
This is the verb’s root form: the care in the verse moves downward to reach the earth.
Yarden: Jordan, traditionally understood as “the descender”
יַרְדֵּן
The river’s name echoes the same descent carried by “come down,” joining the image of reaching water with the movement of a river.
גֵּז
gēz
GROWS FROM
גזז
to shear or cut off
“mown” in this verse is gēz. Gez names the grass in its cut state, from the root used for shearing. The Hebrew keeps that cut condition visible in the scene: rain still comes to what has been shorn.
ALSO GROWS
gāzaz: to shear or cut off
גָּזַז
The verb makes the image’s cut-back state part of the word’s root family.
gōzēz: one who shears
גֹּזֵז
This branch shows that the word belongs to the language of shearing, sharpening the image of rain reaching what has been cut.
THE PATTERN
Life-giving presence descends as rain, reaching the ground and sustaining what grows there.
My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass:Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.THE THREAD
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:“Cometh down” in Isaiah uses the same Hebrew root, ירד, as “come down” here. Isaiah carries the image further: the descending rain waters the earth until it brings forth and buds.
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