What Does Psalm 92:9 Mean in the King James?

For, lo, thine enemies, O LORD, for, lo, thine enemies shall perish; all the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

Psalm 92:9 · 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 verse gives hostility two endings: it perishes, and the people who work it come apart.

THE MEANING

When opposition to the LORD stands before you, this verse names its end as disappearance and dispersal. The enemies perish; the workers of iniquity are scattered.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that what stands against the LORD can remain intact simply because it appears to hold together now.

THE ROOT

יֹאבֵדוּ

yovēdū

GROWS FROM

אבד

avad

To be lost, perish, or disappear.

The root holds loss and perishing together, so the enemies’ end carries disappearance as well as destruction. The same root also describes a lost thing, bringing the sense of being lost into the word translated “perish.”

ALSO GROWS

avad: To perish or be lost.

אָבַד

This verbal form makes the shared sense of loss and perishing explicit.

avedah: A lost thing; loss.

אֲבֵדָה

This noun keeps the root’s sense of being lost visible in a concrete form.

avaddon: Destruction; Abaddon.

אֲבַדּוֹן

This branch extends the root toward destruction, intensifying the outcome named in the verse.

יִתְפָּרְדוּ

yitpārədū

GROWS FROM

פרד

parad

To separate, divide, or part.

“scattered” in this verse is yitpārədū. The root presents scattering as separation: the workers do not simply vanish from view; the group comes apart. English gives the result, while the Hebrew root makes the division at its center visible.

ALSO GROWS

nifrad: Separated; parted.

נִפְרַד

This form shows the root’s sense of parts becoming separate.

hifrid: To separate or divide.

הִפְרִיד

This form makes the root’s dividing action explicit, illuminating the dispersal in the verse.

THE PATTERN

Opposition to the LORD ends in loss and dispersal, not lasting stability.

For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 1:6 · KJVThe same root for “perish” describes the end of the ungodly way.

But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

Psalm 37:20 · KJVThe enemies of the LORD meet the same end of perishing and disappearance.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

2 Thessalonians 2:8 · KJVThe force set against the Lord is consumed and destroyed, expressing the same pattern of opposition coming to an end.

THE THREAD

For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 1:6 · KJV

The Hebrew word translated “perish” in both verses comes from ⁨אבד⁩ (avad), to be lost or perish. Psalm 1:6 extends the image from the LORD’s enemies to the way they follow: that way, too, cannot continue.

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