What Does Psalm 89:13 Mean in the King James?
Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
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 raised right hand makes “high” a movement: divine strength is pictured in action, not left as an abstract quality.
THE MEANING
The verse names God’s strength through an arm, a strong hand, and a right hand raised high. It speaks now of divine might as something with reach and movement, not an abstract quality beyond the reader’s life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that strength is only a distant title: here, might has an arm and a raised hand.
THE ROOT
תָּרוּם
tarum
GROWS FROM
רוּם
rum
Rise, be high, be lifted.
English “high” can sound like a fixed position, but this Hebrew verb carries the sense of rising or being lifted. The right hand is not only lofty; it is shown in elevation.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, lofty.
רָם
This related word keeps the sense of elevation inside the verse’s description of the right hand.
romem: Raises, exalts.
רוֹמֵם
It shows the same root describing the act of lifting, illuminating the movement in “high is thy right hand.”
תָּעֹז
ta'oz
GROWS FROM
עזז
ʿ-z-z
Grow strong, be mighty.
The hand’s strength belongs to a word family that names strength itself. English can make “strong” sound like a detached quality; the Hebrew keeps force close to the hand that acts.
ALSO GROWS
oz: Strength, might.
עֹז
This noun names the force carried by the strong hand in the verse.
az: Strong, fierce.
עַז
This related form shows the root describing strength as a present quality, not only an event.
גְּבוּרָה
geburah
GROWS FROM
גבר
g-b-r
Be strong, prevail.
“mighty” in this verse is geburah. The might of the arm comes from a root that also describes one who prevails. Power here is not merely impressive size; it is strength with the capacity to act and overcome.
ALSO GROWS
gibbor: Mighty one, warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This branch gives might a living agent, matching the verse’s embodied image of arm and hand.
gever: Man, male person.
גֶּבֶר
This related noun keeps the root’s association with strength attached to a person rather than an abstract force.
THE PATTERN
Divine might is pictured as embodied, lifted strength that acts.
Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.THE THREAD
The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.The Hebrew word translated “high” here and “exalted” there comes from רום (rum), meaning to rise or be high. Psalm 118 shows that same raised right hand acting valiantly.
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