What Does Psalm 107:36 Mean?
There he settles the hungry, so that they set firm a city to settle in.
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
And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation;THE KEY
The same Hebrew root makes the hungry dwell and names the city as a dwelling: those given a place become able to establish one.
THE MEANING
Your need does not leave you only receiving. You are brought into a place to dwell, and from that settled ground you help establish a city fit for habitation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that hunger leaves you without a place or agency: the hungry are given a dwelling and become city-makers.
THE ROOT
וַיּוֹשֶׁב
vayyoshev
GROWS FROM
י־ש־ב
yashav
To sit down, remain, or dwell.
“settles the hungry” in this verse is vayyoshev. The verb means that he causes the hungry to dwell; the word translated “habitation” is מוֹשָׁב (moshav), from this same root. English gives “dwell” and “habitation” different forms, while Hebrew links being settled with the dwelling that can be established.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit, remain, or dwell.
יָשַׁב
This is the root beneath “maketh … to dwell,” showing that the hungry are settled into a place.
moshav: A dwelling, settlement, or place to sit.
מוֹשָׁב
This is the word translated “habitation”; it shares the root of “dwell” in the same verse.
yoshev: One who sits or dwells; an inhabitant.
יֹשֵׁב
This branch names the person who belongs in a dwelling, extending the verse’s movement from being settled to having a place.
THE PATTERN
Provision moves people in need into settled belonging and gives them a place from which life can be established.
God settles the lone ones into households; he brings out the bound ones in chains; but the ones who turn away dwell in a parched land.They will build houses and settle in them, and they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.In my Father's house are many places to remain. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to make ready a place for you.THE THREAD
He leads them along the straight way, so that they go to a city to settle in.The phrase “city of habitation” uses מוֹשָׁב (moshav, dwelling), the same root as “dwell” and “habitation” in verse 36. There the city is a destination; here the hungry are settled and establish a city of their own.
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