What Does Psalm 94:10 Mean in the King James?
He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
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
Discipline and instruction grow from one Hebrew root, placing correction inside the work of teaching.
THE MEANING
The one who corrects whole peoples also teaches human beings knowledge, and the verse asks whether this teacher does not know as well. Human knowing is held within the knowing of its source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that correction means abandonment: the one who corrects is also the one who teaches and knows.
THE ROOT
יֹסֵר
yoser
GROWS FROM
יסר
ysr
Discipline or instruct through correction.
The verb translated “chastiseth” and the Hebrew word for instruction grow from יסר. The verse joins correction and teaching as two expressions of one action.
ALSO GROWS
musar: Instruction; discipline.
מוּסָר
This branch makes the link between correction and teaching explicit.
yissurim: Chastisements; corrective afflictions.
יִסּוּרִים
This branch shows how the root also names the painful side of discipline.
דַּעַת
da'at
GROWS FROM
ידע
ydʿ
Know or perceive.
The Hebrew word for “knowledge” and the word translated “know” later in the verse grow from the same root. The question connects knowledge given to human beings with knowing by encounter, rather than treating knowledge as information alone.
ALSO GROWS
yada: Know; perceive.
יָדַע
This is the verb echoed in the verse’s question about whether the teacher knows.
madda: Knowledge; understanding.
מַדָּע
This noun shows another branch of the root’s connection to knowing.
THE PATTERN
Correction belongs to the same movement as instruction: what exposes error also teaches and guides.
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:THE THREAD
My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:Proverbs uses מוּסָר (musar), meaning “chastening” or “instruction,” from the same root יסר (ysr) as the verb translated “chastiseth” here. The shared seed reveals correction as one form of instruction, not a departure from it.
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