What Does Psalm 79:2 Mean in the King James?
The dead bodies of thy servants have they given to be meat unto the fowls of the heaven, the flesh of thy saints unto the beasts of 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 verse names a second violence after death: the faithful are not only killed but placed within reach of the birds of heaven and beasts of earth.
THE MEANING
You meet violence that continues after death: the servants’ bodies are exposed as food, and the faithful are left within reach of birds and beasts. The horizon runs from heaven to earth, leaving the desecration in full view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that violence ends at death. This verse names exposure and consumption as further desecration of the body.
THE ROOT
בְּשַׂר
besar
GROWS FROM
בשר
Flesh; the same consonants also form a verb meaning to announce good tidings.
The verse’s “flesh” is basar, built on בשר. Those same consonants form the word-family for announcing good tidings, so the herald language of Isaiah 52:7 sounds an echo that English cannot carry.
ALSO GROWS
bisser: Announce, bring good tidings
בִּשֵּׂר
Isaiah 52:7 uses this verbal family for the herald, creating a consonant echo with the flesh exposed here.
mevaser: One who brings good tidings
מְבַשֵּׂר
The messenger’s title carries the same ב־ש־ר sound-shape; English conceals the echo between “flesh” and “good tidings.”
נָתְנוּ
natenu
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, place.
The Hebrew says they have given or placed the bodies into the animals’ reach. The verb keeps the human act of handing them over in view.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, place
נָתַן
This is the verb’s root form; its sense of placing makes the transfer of the bodies concrete.
mattanah: Gift, present
מַתָּנָה
This noun shares the give-root, showing how broadly the root names a transfer from one hand to another.
חֲסִידֶיךָ
hasidekha
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful love; relational loyalty.
The “saints” are the LORD’s hasidim, his faithful ones, from the consonants of chesed, faithful love. That relational root stands beside the exposed bodies, sharpening the verse’s pain without softening its violence.
ALSO GROWS
chesed: Faithful love
חֶסֶד
This is the relational quality carried by the root from which “faithful ones” is formed.
hasid: Faithful, devoted one
חָסִיד
This is the singular form behind the plural word for the LORD’s faithful ones in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When the dead are left exposed, Scripture names their bodies’ desecration instead of hiding it.
And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air, and unto the beasts of the earth, and no man shall fray them away.This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves.THE THREAD
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!Here basar (בָּשָׂר, “flesh”) names what is exposed; in Isaiah, mevaser (מְבַשֵּׂר, “one bringing good tidings”) carries the same ב־ש־ר sound-shape. The word links a body left as prey with a message announcing shalom (שָׁלוֹם, “wholeness”).
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