What Does Psalm 73:15 Mean in the King James?
If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children.
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
A spoken conclusion can become betrayal when a whole generation inherits it.
THE MEANING
Your words can carry a conclusion farther than your present pain can see. This verse names the risk that a spoken verdict can betray the people who receive it, even when it feels true to your immediate experience.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that speaking your present judgment affects only you; this verse shows that words can betray the generation that receives them.
THE ROOT
בָּגַדְתִּי
bagadti
GROWS FROM
בגד
bagad
To act treacherously, betray, or deal unfaithfully.
Beneath “offend” is the sharper sense of betraying or acting unfaithfully toward someone. The verse frames speech as a matter of fidelity to the generation that will receive it.
ALSO GROWS
boged: One who acts treacherously; a betrayer.
בּוֹגֵד
It makes clear that the speaker fears more than causing offense: he fears becoming unfaithful to those who hear him.
begidah: Treachery or unfaithfulness.
בְּגִידָה
This names the relational breach that the speaker sees as a possible consequence of his words.
אֲסַפְּרָה
asapperah
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-p-r
To count, recount, or relate.
The verb rendered “speak” carries the sense of recounting: the speaker is shaping events into a telling. That account bears weight beyond the speaker because the children may receive it as their inherited account of what is true.
ALSO GROWS
sepher: A book or scroll; a written account.
סֵפֶר
It shows how recounting can take lasting form, becoming an account others receive and carry.
mispar: A number or count.
מִסְפָּר
The same root connects telling with counting or setting things in order, underscoring that speech frames how events are understood.
THE PATTERN
Words can become an inheritance: speech either sustains those who receive it or betrays them.
We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.THE THREAD
But turned back, and dealt unfaithfully like their fathers: they were turned aside like a deceitful bow.“Dealt unfaithfully” comes from the same בגד (bagad) root as “offend” here, giving that word the sharper sense of betrayal. Psalm 78 shows unfaithfulness repeating from fathers to children; Psalm 73:15 sees the danger that words could carry betrayal forward.
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