What Does Psalm 83:2 Mean in the King James?
For, lo, thine enemies make a tumult: and they that hate thee have lifted up the head.
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 joins a roaring crowd with a raised head: hostility is making a public bid for elevation.
THE MEANING
The opposition confronting you is not quiet: it surges in public tumult, and those who hate you lift their heads openly. The verse lets you see hostility in both its noise and its posture.
THE ROOT
יַהֲמִיוּן
yehemayun
GROWS FROM
המה
To roar, murmur, or surge noisily.
The sound here belongs to the root הָמָה (hamah), which can describe roaring or murmuring; הָמוֹן (hamon) names a multitude or its din. Isaiah uses this same root for peoples making a noise like the sea, so the English “tumult” carries the image of a surge of voices.
ALSO GROWS
hamah: To roar or murmur.
הָמָה
This verb gives the enemies’ tumult its sense of a swelling, audible uproar.
hamon: A multitude, crowd, or din.
הָמוֹן
This related word brings the crowd and its noise together, rather than leaving “tumult” as a vague disturbance.
נָשְׂאוּ
nas'u
GROWS FROM
נשא
To lift, carry, or bear.
“lifted up” in this verse is nas'u. The verb can mean lifting as well as bearing, while נָשִׂיא (nasi) means a prince or leader, one elevated in rank. Beside “head,” the root depicts hatred taking an openly raised, defiant posture.
ALSO GROWS
nasa: To lift, carry, or bear.
נָשָׂא
This is the verb behind the raised head, keeping the image of elevation concrete.
nasi: A prince, leader, or chief.
נָשִׂיא
This related word links being lifted up with public rank and authority.
massa: A load or burden.
מַשָּׂא
This branch preserves the root’s other shade: what is lifted can also be carried as a burden.
THE PATTERN
Hostility toward God becomes public as a swelling roar and organized opposition.
Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ.THE THREAD
Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!Isaiah uses the same root, הָמָה (hamah), for peoples making a noise like the sea. That shared root opens the “tumult” here as a surge of voices, human opposition sounding like waters in motion.
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