What Does Ruth 2:12 Mean in the King James?
The LORD recompense thy work, and a full reward be given thee of the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust.
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 word translated “trust” carries the sense of taking refuge, so trust here is a coming beneath shelter.
THE MEANING
The blessing holds your work before the LORD and calls for a full recompense from the LORD God of Israel. Your trust appears as a coming beneath wings, an arrival into shelter. Labor is named, and the vulnerable one is covered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that trust is only an inner conviction: here, trust is a movement into refuge.
THE ROOT
לַחֲסוֹת
lachasot
GROWS FROM
חסה
chasah
To seek shelter; to take refuge.
Trust here is the motion of taking refuge, and the wings are the shelter entered. The verse pictures trust as arrival into cover.
ALSO GROWS
chasah: To seek refuge; take shelter.
חָסָה
This verb shows the movement carried by “come to trust.”
machseh: Refuge; shelter.
מַחְסֶה
This branch names the place of covering that the verse pictures beneath the wings.
מַשְׂכֻּרְתֵּךְ
maskurtekh
GROWS FROM
שכר
sakar
To hire; pay wages.
The word behind “reward” belongs to the language of wages and payment, making the blessing a call for a full return for your work. Recompense and shelter meet in the same sentence: the labor is named, and the worker comes beneath cover.
ALSO GROWS
sachar: Wages; payment; reward.
שָׂכָר
This noun makes the promised reward a concrete return.
sakhir: A hired worker.
שָׂכִיר
This branch keeps the verse’s language of work and recompense grounded in labor.
THE PATTERN
Trust is pictured as taking shelter beneath a covering that receives the exposed.
As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings:He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul in the cave. Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.Both verses draw on חָסָה (chasah), “to take refuge,” joining trust with seeking shelter. The Psalm makes the movement visible beneath the shadow of wings and holds that refuge through the passing calamities.
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