What Does Psalm 87:4 Mean in the King James?
I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.
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
God names distant peoples as born in Zion, so origin does not have the final word on belonging.
THE MEANING
Your birthplace does not set the boundary of your belonging. God speaks of people from distant nations as born into Zion. Here, belonging reaches across the borders that seem to define who is inside and who is outside.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that where you began permanently determines whether you can belong to God.
THE ROOT
יֻלַּד
yullad
GROWS FROM
ילד
To beget, bear, or bring forth; here, to be born.
The verse uses birth language for people named by their distant origins: they are not only welcomed as visitors but spoken of as born there. The root makes belonging sound like a new beginning, not a change of address.
ALSO GROWS
yalad: To bear or beget.
יָלַד
The active form behind “born” shows birth as something brought forth, the beginning of a life and identity.
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
This noun from the same root names the one who has been brought forth, linking birth to a lasting identity.
moledet: Birthplace, kindred, or native land.
מוֹלֶדֶת
This branch ties birth to place and people, sharpening the verse’s reimagining of where someone belongs.
THE PATTERN
God’s dwelling gathers people across the boundaries of origin and counts them among its own.
Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people.Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;THE THREAD
And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.The same root ילד (yalad, to bear or bring forth) appears again, and this verse makes Zion the birthplace explicit. The shared birth language turns the nations named in verse 4 into people who belong to Zion by birth.
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