What Does Proverbs 18:10 Mean?
The nature of the LORD is a strong tower; the aligned one runs into it and is set on high.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.THE KEY
The refuge is the LORD’s own nature: the one who runs into it is lifted beyond the threat’s reach.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s nature is a strong tower now. When you are aligned with that nature, the verse shows you running into refuge and being raised beyond danger’s reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that safety depends on controlling every threat: refuge is found in the LORD’s nature, which raises the one who runs into it.
THE ROOT
וְנִשְׂגָּב
ve-nisgav
GROWS FROM
שׂגב
sagav
To be high, lifted up, or inaccessible; safety comes with being raised beyond reach.
“set on high” in this verse is ve-nisgav. The Hebrew word translated “safe” carries the image of being lifted high. Paired with the tower, it reveals protection as a raised refuge, not merely a feeling of security.
ALSO GROWS
misgav: High place; stronghold or refuge.
מִשְׂגָּב
This related word names refuge as an elevated place, making the tower’s height part of how it protects.
yesaggevkha: May he set you on high; defend you.
יְשַׂגֶּבְךָ
The same root appears in Psalm 20:1, where the name of the God of Jacob “defend[s] thee”, protection described as being raised beyond reach.
מִגְדָּל
migdal
GROWS FROM
גדל
gadal
To grow, become great, or increase.
The word for tower belongs to the family of growth and greatness. Alongside “safe,” it gives the refuge a vertical shape: strength here means being raised above what threatens.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: Great or large.
גָּדוֹל
A tower is a structure made great in height, so its scale becomes part of its protection.
gedullah: Greatness or grandeur.
גְּדֻלָּה
This branch echoes the tower’s elevation and helps reveal why the verse pairs height with safety.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
To be right or in alignment.
“aligned one” in this verse is tsaddiq. The verse describes the person in alignment by where they run: into the LORD’s nature. The movement toward refuge is part of what this alignment looks like.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, or alignment.
צֶדֶק
This branch shows that “righteous” carries the sense of being rightly aligned, not merely having a moral label.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice.
צְדָקָה
This related word keeps the verse’s focus on alignment as a lived condition, paired here with movement toward refuge.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s nature is a refuge that preserves and raises those who take shelter in it.
For you are a shelter for me, a strong tower from the enemy's face.To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. May the LORD answer you in the day of the narrow place; may the name of the God of Jacob set you on high.And now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Set-Apart Father, keep them in your own nature, those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are.THE THREAD
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. May the LORD answer you in the day of the narrow place; may the name of the God of Jacob set you on high.The Hebrew word translated “defend” comes from the same root as “is safe” here: to lift someone to a high, inaccessible place. Beside the name of the God of Jacob, it reveals the same movement: the LORD’s nature raises the one who runs into it.
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