What Does Psalm 85:12 Mean in the King James?
Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase.
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 uses one Hebrew verb for both acts: the LORD gives good, and the land gives its yield.
THE MEANING
Goodness reaches you as something given, then appears in the increase that sustains life. The land’s yield is not outside the gift; the same giving takes form in the ground.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that divine provision and the land’s material yield are separate kinds of giving.
THE ROOT
יִתֵּן
yittēn
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
“give; yield” in this verse is yittēn. The same root describes what the LORD gives and what the land yields. English makes these sound like separate actions, while Hebrew presents the land’s increase as another expression of giving.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift, present.
מַתָּנָה
The root makes giving tangible as a gift; the land’s yield is named as something given.
nātun: Given, placed.
נָתוּן
The root also carries the sense of provision being placed into reach.
THE PATTERN
Goodness moves through creation as a gift that becomes tangible provision.
And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.THE THREAD
Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us.Psalm 67:6 uses נָתְנָה (natnah, “gave”) from נָתַן (natan, “to give”) for the earth’s yield; Psalm 85:12 uses that same root for both the LORD’s giving and the land’s yielding. The shared root reveals the land’s increase as another expression of giving.
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