What Does Psalm 83:1 Mean in the King James?
A Song or Psalm of Asaph. Keep not thou silence, O God: hold not thy peace, and be not still, O God.
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 names divine silence as silence, deafness, and stillness, and keeps speaking into it.
THE MEANING
This verse gives the reader words for the ache of receiving no answer: God seems silent, seems not to hear, seems still. Yet the plea continues to address God directly. The verse lets protest and relationship occupy the same breath.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that honest protest has to be hidden from God: the unanswered plea is spoken directly to God.
THE ROOT
דֳּמִי
domi
GROWS FROM
דמם
To be silent or still; to cease.
“silence” in this verse is domi. The first plea asks God not to fall silent or still. The root’s sense of cessation makes the request reach beyond quiet speech: the reader is naming the fear that all response has stopped.
ALSO GROWS
dāmam: Be silent, be still, cease.
דָּמַם
The verb shares the root of the plea and gives its silence the shade of cessation.
demamah: Silence, stillness.
דְּמָמָה
This noun shows that the root can name a whole condition of quiet, not merely the absence of words.
תֶּחֱרַשׁ
teḥĕraš
GROWS FROM
חרש
To be silent; also to be deaf or not hear.
“hold not thy peace” in this verse is teḥĕraš. This second plea links silence with not hearing: the fear is not only that God says nothing, but that the cry goes unheard. English separates those ideas, while this Hebrew root lets them meet.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāraš: Be silent.
חָרַשׁ
This is the verb used in the plea, directly repeating its request for an answer.
ḥērēš: Deaf, unable to hear.
חֵרֵשׁ
The same consonants connect silence with the fear of not being heard.
תִּשְׁקֹט
tišqōṭ
GROWS FROM
שקט
To be quiet, undisturbed, or at rest.
“be not still” in this verse is tišqōṭ. The third plea turns from silence and hearing to settled stillness. The reader asks that God not remain undisturbed while the distress continues.
ALSO GROWS
shāqaṭ: Be quiet or undisturbed.
שָׁקַט
The verb shows the sense of settled quiet behind the request.
šeqeṭ: Quietness, rest.
שֶׁקֶט
This noun carries the stillness the plea asks God not to keep while distress remains.
THE PATTERN
Scripture gives unanswered prayer direct speech: the plea can name God’s silence and still address God.
A Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.Psalm 28:1 repeats the same Hebrew verb חָרַשׁ (ḥāraš), meaning “be silent,” used in Psalm 83:1’s second plea. In both verses, silence carries the fear of not being heard, while the speaker keeps addressing God.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us