What Does Psalm 94:13 Mean in the King James?
That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked.
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 afflicted person receives rest before the pit prepared for the wicked is finished.
THE MEANING
You are given quiet within the days of adversity while the pit for the wicked is still being dug. “Until” gives this interval a boundary: the trouble is real, and the consequence awaiting wickedness is not yet complete.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that a delay in justice means the afflicted have been forgotten.
THE ROOT
לְהַשְׁקִיט
lehashqit
GROWS FROM
שקט
שקט (shaqat): to be quiet, undisturbed.
The verse’s word for rest comes from the root of quieting and being undisturbed. English “rest” can sound like a pause after trouble, but this root lets you hear quiet given within the span of adversity.
ALSO GROWS
shaqat: To become or remain quiet.
שָׁקַט
Isaiah says the earth is “at rest” and “quiet” when the oppressor’s force is broken, showing quiet as release from disturbance.
sheqet: A state of quiet or settled security.
שֶׁקֶט
This noun shows the same root can name not only the act of quieting but the settled condition that follows.
שָׁחַת
shachat
GROWS FROM
שחת
שחת (sh-ḥ-t): to ruin, destroy, or corrupt.
The word for the wicked person’s pit belongs to the same root family as ruin and corruption. The pit is not just a hole in the verse’s image; it carries the sense of destruction taking shape.
ALSO GROWS
shachat: A pit, or the ruin associated with one.
שָׁחַת
Here, the pit names the consequence awaiting the wicked.
shichet: To ruin or corrupt.
שִׁחֵת
This verb exposes the ruin held inside the pit’s name and links the place prepared for the wicked with the destructive character of wickedness.
THE PATTERN
The afflicted can receive rest while the consequences of wickedness are still unfolding.
Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,THE THREAD
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.Both verses use שַׁחַת (shachat, pit/ruin). Proverbs makes the pit’s logic explicit: the one who digs it falls into it, so Psalm 94:13’s waiting has an outcome already taking shape.
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