What Does Psalm 78:67 Mean in the King James?
Moreover he refused the tabernacle of Joseph, and chose not the tribe of Ephraim:
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 tribe whose name carries fruitfulness is explicitly left unchosen, separating fruit from selection.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks now of an explicit refusal: Joseph’s tent is refused, and Ephraim’s tribe is not chosen. Joseph’s name carries the sense “he adds,” and Ephraim’s name is tied to fruitfulness, so increase and fruit do not by themselves secure selection.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Visible increase or fruitfulness proves that a person, people, or work is the one chosen.
THE ROOT
אֶפְרַיִם
ʾEfrayim
GROWS FROM
פרה
To bear fruit; to be fruitful.
Ephraim’s name is linked to fruitfulness, a link Genesis 41:52 makes explicit. Here the tribe named for fruitfulness is not chosen, keeping fruitfulness and selection distinct.
ALSO GROWS
pārāh: To be fruitful, to bear fruit.
פָּרָה
The verb behind the name makes fruitfulness audible in the verse.
perî: Fruit.
פְּרִי
This branch gives the name’s fruitfulness a concrete image, while the verse separates it from being chosen.
בָּחַר
bāḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
To choose, select.
The phrase “chose not” still uses the verb of choosing: Ephraim’s nonselection is expressed as a decision. The same root returns in the next verse for Judah, pairing refusal with a positive choice.
ALSO GROWS
bāḥîr: Chosen; elect.
בָּחִיר
This branch names one marked out by the act of choosing.
mibḥār: Choice; the choicest.
מִבְחָר
The root also names what is selected as choice.
יוֹסֵף
Yôsēf
GROWS FROM
יסף
To add, increase, or continue.
Joseph’s name carries the sense “he adds.” Alongside Ephraim’s fruitfulness, it gives the refused tent a language of increase, yet the verse names no cause for the refusal.
ALSO GROWS
yāsaf: To add; to continue.
יָסַף
This verb is the seed behind Joseph’s name.
hôsîf: To add; to increase.
הוֹסִיף
This form makes the name’s sense of addition explicit.
THE PATTERN
Fruitfulness does not establish who is chosen; it can follow a choosing that comes first.
And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.THE THREAD
But chose the tribe of Judah, the mount Zion which he loved.The next verse repeats בָּחַר (bāḥar, “choose”) and names Judah and Zion. The repeated root shows that verse 67’s refusal is paired with a positive selection.
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