What Does Psalm 96:13 Mean in the King James?
Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.
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 repeated “he cometh” makes judgment the awaited arrival that brings the world into alignment, not merely a threat.
THE MEANING
The LORD comes to govern the world with alignment and steadiness. This is true now: the world is not outside that ordering or left to arbitrariness. Creation can rejoice in the character of the one who judges.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that judgment can only mean arbitrary condemnation: here, creation rejoices because judgment is grounded in alignment and steadiness.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁפֹּט
yishpot
GROWS FROM
שפט
shaphat
To judge, govern, or render a decision.
“judge” in this verse is yishpot. The root joins judgment with the act of governing through decisions. Here, the LORD’s judgment reaches the earth and the peoples, so the verse presents his coming as the ordering of the whole world.
ALSO GROWS
mishpat: Judgment, justice, or an order of justice.
מִשְׁפָּט
This branch shows judgment as a way the world is governed, not only a verdict delivered to an individual.
shōphēt: A judge or ruler.
שֹׁפֵט
The same root names both the act of judging and the one who governs, joining the LORD’s arrival to his rule.
צֶדֶק
tsedeq
GROWS FROM
צדק
To be right or just; alignment with what is right.
“righteousness” in this verse is tsedeq. Tsedeq brings the sense of alignment into the LORD’s judgment. The verse’s scale is the whole world, so this rightness describes the order under which the world is judged.
ALSO GROWS
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice.
צְדָקָה
This branch carries the same idea of right alignment into the practice of justice.
tsaddiq: A righteous or just person.
צַדִּיק
This branch describes someone in alignment with what is right, echoing the measure named in the verse.
אֱמוּנָתוֹ
emunato
GROWS FROM
אמן
aman
To be firm, steady, or reliable.
The word rendered “truth” is emunato, “his steadiness” or “his reliability,” from aman. The peoples are judged in the LORD’s dependable character, holding reliable firmness together with right alignment.
ALSO GROWS
amen: Firmly; truly; so be it.
אָמֵן
This familiar word carries the root’s sense of something being firm and established.
ne'eman: Reliable or steady.
נֶאֱמָן
This branch describes the dependable quality that the verse attributes to the LORD’s judgment.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s judgment is portrayed as world-ordering justice whose measure is right alignment.
Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.THE THREAD
Before the LORD; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.Psalm 98:9 repeats the coming-to-judge refrain almost word for word, using the same shaphat root for “judge.” Its final word is “equity,” placing level dealing beside Psalm 96’s emphasis on the LORD’s steadiness.
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