What Does Psalm 79:9 Mean in the King James?
Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake.
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 plea rests on God’s nature: the name carries weight, and salvation is being brought out.
THE MEANING
This prayer speaks now: you can ask for help with God’s nature as the ground of the request. It holds together being brought out and having what is missing covered, without pretending the missing is not there. The weight of God’s name is the reason given for deliverance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must become worthy before asking for deliverance: the plea appeals to God’s nature while naming the missing openly.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁעֵנוּ
yish'enu
GROWS FROM
יָשַׁע
yasha
To deliver, bring out into safety and spaciousness.
The word translated “salvation” grows from the language of being brought out. The prayer asks for more than rescue as an idea: it asks to be delivered from constriction into room to live.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This branch names the movement the prayer asks God to make: bringing someone out.
moshia: Deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
Here deliverance is not only an event; it is bound to the one who brings the person out.
כְּבוֹד
kevod
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy; to carry weight.
The “glory” of God’s name carries the sense of weight: God’s nature has substance and consequence. The plea rests on that weight as its ground for deliverance.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy
כָּבֵד
This familiar branch makes the image concrete: glory carries weight.
kibbed: Honored, treated as weighty
כִּבֵּד
To honor is to recognize the weight of what is named.
וְכַפֵּר
wekappēr
GROWS FROM
כפר
k-p-r
Covering; to cover.
The Hebrew verb translated “purge away” grows from covering. The verse pairs being brought out with a covering that addresses what has been missed, while the name’s weight remains the reason for the plea.
ALSO GROWS
kippur: Covering, atonement
כִּפּוּר
This branch keeps the verse’s image of covering close to its request concerning the missing.
kapporet: Cover, the ark’s covering
כַּפֹּרֶת
The same root appears in the name of a covering, deepening the image carried by “purge away.”
THE PATTERN
Deliverance and release are grounded in God’s name rather than the petitioner’s merit.
For thy name’s sake, O LORD, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great.Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went.I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?“My salvation” here comes from the same Hebrew root as “our salvation” in the prayer: יָשַׁע (yasha), to deliver and bring out. The shared root lets the request open into a present claim: the LORD is named as the one who brings out and gives strength.
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