What Does Psalm 90:13 Mean in the King James?

Return, O LORD, how long? and let it repent thee concerning thy servants.

Psalm 90:13 · KJV

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 Hebrew lets the LORD’s return and relenting meet as one movement of compassionate nearness to the servants.

THE MEANING

This verse gives the reader words for the stretch of waiting: “How long?” remains part of the address to God. It asks the LORD to return and respond to the servants in a way that relieves their distress. Urgency and relationship remain together in the plea.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the belief that asking “How long?” is faithlessness: the verse places that raw question directly before the LORD.

THE ROOT

וְהִנָּחֵם

wehinnaḥēm

GROWS FROM

נחם

naḥam

Relent, be moved, comfort or console.

“repent thee” in this verse is wehinnaḥēm. Here the verb asks the LORD to relent or be moved concerning the servants; the root also gives Hebrew words for consolation and a comforter. The request holds a changed response and care for those in distress together.

ALSO GROWS

neḥāmāh: Consolation, comfort.

נֶחָמָה

The plea that God relent belongs to a root family that also names comfort, bringing the servants’ distress into view.

menaḥēm: Comforter, one who consoles.

מְנַחֵם

This branch shows the root’s movement toward someone in distress, illuminating the request for the LORD’s response toward the servants.

שׁוּבָה

shuvah

GROWS FROM

שוב

shuv

Turn back, return.

Return is a direction-bearing word: this root can describe turning back or turning away. After “How long?” the speaker asks the LORD to turn toward the servants.

ALSO GROWS

teshuvah: Return, turning back.

תְּשׁוּבָה

This branch carries the same movement named in the verse: a return toward the servants.

meshuvah: Turning away, backsliding.

מְשׁוּבָה

The branch makes direction part of the root’s meaning; here the plea is for the LORD’s return toward those who wait.

THE PATTERN

The cry of waiting addresses God directly and asks for a turn toward those in distress.

Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.

Exodus 32:12 · KJVThe Hebrew pairs the roots for turning and relenting as a plea for a changed response toward the people.

And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

Joel 2:13 · KJVThe verse joins a call to turn with a picture of the LORD as merciful and moved to relent.

And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?

Luke 18:7 · KJVJesus gives the persistent cry a place in the picture of divine response, even when the answer seems delayed.

THE THREAD

And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Genesis 6:6 · KJV

Genesis uses the same ⁨נחם⁩ (naḥam), “relent” or “be moved,” root alongside the LORD’s grief. Psalm 90 applies that verb to the LORD’s response toward the servants, making the plea sound like a request for God to be moved in relation to their suffering.

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