What Does Psalm 9:13 Mean in the King James?
Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
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 holds being seen and being raised together: the one who looks at your affliction is also the one who lifts you from death’s gates.
THE MEANING
You are asking the LORD to look directly at the trouble those who hate you bring. The one you call upon is also named as the one who raises you from death’s gates; even there, you are within reach of being lifted.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that reaching death’s threshold puts you beyond the reach of help.
THE ROOT
מְרוֹמְמֵנִי
meromemeni
GROWS FROM
רום
רום (rum): to be high, rise, or raise.
The verb translated “liftest me up” comes from the root for height and rising. Set beside the gates of death, it pictures a change of position: the speaker is raised from the threshold of death.
ALSO GROWS
ram: High, exalted.
רָם
The same root names the raised position toward which the speaker is lifted.
marom: Height, high place.
מָרוֹם
The verb for lifting shares its root with a word for height, giving the rescue an upward direction.
עָנְיִי
ʿonyi
GROWS FROM
ענה
ענה (ʿanah): to be bowed down or afflicted.
The speaker’s “trouble” is named as affliction, from a root that can mean being brought low. This gives the verse a sharp movement: the speaker is pressed down by hatred, then lifted by the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
ʿani: Afflicted, poor, or lowly.
עָנִי
This related word describes someone in the low condition named in the speaker’s plea.
ʿinnah: To afflict or bring low.
עִנָּה
This verb makes the force of the affliction explicit: someone is being brought down.
חָנְנֵנִי
ḥonnēnî
GROWS FROM
חנן
חנן (ḥanan): to show favor or be gracious.
The request translated “have mercy” comes from the Hebrew family of favor and graciousness. It presents the plea as asking for favor while the suffering remains real.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēn: Favor.
חֵן
This related noun names the favor the speaker asks to receive.
ḥannûn: Gracious, showing favor.
חַנּוּן
This related form describes the quality of one who grants favor.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s deliverance reaches the person under threat and raises them beyond its reach.
He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;THE THREAD
He delivereth me from mine enemies: yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.In both verses, “liftest me up” comes from רום (rum), the root meaning to rise or raise. Psalm 18:48 places the speaker above enemies; Psalm 9:13 places that raising at the gates of death.
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