What Does Psalm 74:21 Mean in the King James?
O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.
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 crushed are not merely spared disgrace; the poor themselves give voice to God’s name, God’s nature.
THE MEANING
This verse holds the crushed before God without hiding their condition. It asks that they not be sent away in shame, and that the poor and needy praise God’s name: שֵׁם (shem), name as nature. Their hardship does not erase their place in that praise.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being brought low makes a person fit only for disgrace, with no voice left to name God’s nature.
THE ROOT
דַּךְ
dak
GROWS FROM
דכא
d-k-ʾ
To crush or break down; brought low.
The word translated “oppressed” carries the image of someone crushed down. The verse asks that this person not return from the encounter in disgrace.
ALSO GROWS
dāḵāʾ: To crush or break down.
דָּכָא
The verb makes the image in “oppressed” concrete: the person has been pressed down.
dakkei-rûaḥ: The crushed in spirit.
דַּכְּאֵי־רוּחַ
This phrase in Psalm 34:18 uses the same root to describe people brought low, linking the oppressed here with those God draws near to.
medukkāʾ: Crushed, bruised.
מְדֻכָּא
The form in Isaiah 53:5 carries the same force of being broken down, showing how much weight the verse’s “oppressed” holds.
עָנִי
ʿānî
GROWS FROM
ענה
ʿ-n-h
To afflict or bring low.
The Hebrew poor person, ʿānî, is associated with being afflicted or brought low, not only with having little. Beside “needy,” the word points to vulnerability as well as material lack.
ALSO GROWS
ʿānāh: To afflict or bring low.
עָנָה
This verb shares the root and shows the lowered condition carried by “poor.”
ʿŏnî: Affliction, hardship.
עֳנִי
This noun names the hardship itself, illuminating the vulnerability contained in the verse’s word for the poor.
יְהַלְלוּ
yəhaləlū
GROWS FROM
הלל
h-l-l
To praise or acclaim.
The verb of praise is halal (הלל), acclaim; “thy name” is שֵׁם (shem), name as nature. The verse places the poor and needy’s praise as a voice that speaks of God’s nature.
ALSO GROWS
tehillāh: Praise or a song of praise.
תְּהִלָּה
This related noun shows praise as something voiced, fitting the poor and needy who praise here.
hallel: Praise or celebrate.
הַלֵּל
This related form makes clear that the verse’s praise is an act of acclaim, not a condition the poor must first escape.
THE PATTERN
God’s regard keeps the lowly from being forgotten or left in shame.
For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.THE THREAD
The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever.The word translated “praise” in both verses comes from halal (הלל), to praise or acclaim. Here the meek eat and are satisfied before they praise; in Psalm 74:21 the poor and needy give praise to God’s name, his nature.
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