What Does Psalm 88:9 Mean in the King James?
Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
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 eye that “mourns” is described by a Hebrew verb for languishing under affliction, even as the voice keeps calling and the palms remain extended.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you in affliction: your sight can feel spent while your call continues day after day and your palms reach toward the LORD. Reaching does not erase the pain; both are present at once.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse loosens the belief that visible anguish means the voice has gone silent: the eye languishes, yet the call continues every day.
THE ROOT
דָּאֲבָה
da'avah
GROWS FROM
דָּאַב
To languish or pine away.
“mourneth” in this verse is da'avah. The verb describes the eye itself as languishing under affliction, not only expressing grief. Its related noun can name anguish as a condition, linking what the eye shows to what the person carries.
ALSO GROWS
da'ab: To languish or pine away.
דָּאַב
This is the root verb behind “mourneth”; the eye is described as worn down by affliction.
de'avon: Anguish or sorrow.
דְּאָבוֹן
This related noun appears as “sorrow of mind” in Deuteronomy 28:65, showing the root can name the inward condition as well as the eye’s visible languishing.
THE PATTERN
The appeal to God takes shape through the body as well as through words.
And Moses said unto him, As soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands unto the LORD; and the thunder shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that thou mayest know how that the earth is the LORD’s.I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.THE THREAD
And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:The noun דְּאָבוֹן (de’avon, anguish or sorrow) in Deuteronomy 28:65 grows from the same root דָּאַב (da’ab, languish or pine away) as the verb for the eye here. Psalm locates the languishing in the eye; Deuteronomy names sorrow as an inward burden.
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