What Does Psalm 80:3 Mean in the King James?
Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
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
Deliverance unfolds as God turns the people back and the light of God’s face meets them.
THE MEANING
The prayer holds three movements together now: God turns you back, God’s face shines upon you, and you are delivered. Deliverance is being brought out of constriction through this return and shining presence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that you must first repair yourself before God can turn toward you: the prayer asks God to turn you and make the divine face shine.
THE ROOT
שׁוּבֵנוּ
shuvēnū
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
turn back, return, restore
“turn us again” in this verse is shuvēnū. The plea asks God to effect the return: “us” are the ones being turned. The root’s restoring sense makes this more than a change of direction; it is being brought back into relation.
ALSO GROWS
teshuvah: turning, return
תְּשׁוּבָה
This branch names the movement at the heart of the plea: a return toward God.
hēshîv: bring back, restore
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form echoes the verse’s request for God to turn the people back.
וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה
venivvashe’ah
GROWS FROM
ישע
deliver, bring out into safety
The line’s “saved” is deliverance: being brought out of the narrow place into room. Its grammar makes that deliverance the people’s outcome as the turning and shining face come together.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun gives the verse’s promised outcome the sense of being brought out.
moshia: deliverer
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This form names the one who brings another out, matching the plea addressed to God.
וְהָאֵר
veha’er
GROWS FROM
אוֹר
shine, give light
“shine” in this verse is veha’er. The request joins אוֹר (or, light) with פָּנִים (panim, face), so the shining is personal: the light comes from God’s face. The image is not merely brightness but the presence turned toward the people.
ALSO GROWS
or: light
אוֹר
The noun shares the root of “shine,” showing that the action and its light belong to one word family.
ma’or: luminary, light-bearer
מָאוֹר
This branch shows the root’s reach from shining itself to what gives light.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance unfolds as people are turned back toward God and meet the light of God’s face.
The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.THE THREAD
There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.The Hebrew pairs אוֹר (or, light) with פָּנִים (panim, face), the same two words joined in Psalm 80:3. The parallel makes the shining face itself the answer to the plea for good.
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