What Does Psalm 11:5 Mean?
The LORD tests the aligned; the restless and the one who loves violence, his living soul hates.
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 LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.THE KEY
The verse puts God’s own living self behind the hatred: the person who loves violence is personally rejected, while the aligned person is examined.
THE MEANING
The LORD examines the person in alignment; this scrutiny is searching, not automatic approval. The person who loves violence meets the LORD’s hatred, expressed as the response of his own living soul.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God may disapprove of violent behavior while remaining neutral toward a person who cherishes it.
THE ROOT
נַפְשׁוֹ
nafsho
GROWS FROM
נ־פ־ש
n-p-sh
The living self or life.
“his living soul” in this verse is nafsho. The word translated “soul” names the LORD’s own living self as the one who hates. The verse presents the rejection of violence as a personal response, not just an abstract verdict.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living soul, life, or person.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the noun in the verse, here with the suffix “his.”
naphash: To rest or be refreshed.
נָפַשׁ
In Exodus 23:12, this root-family describes living creatures being refreshed, showing its association with living selves.
שָׂנְאָה
sane’ah
GROWS FROM
ש־נ־א
sh-n-ʾ
To hate or reject.
The verb makes the response direct: the verse says the LORD’s living self hates the person who loves violence. The rejection reaches the person’s chosen attachment, not only the violent act.
ALSO GROWS
sane: To hate.
שָׂנֵא
This verb form shows the basic action named in the verse.
sin’ah: Hatred.
שִׂנְאָה
The related noun makes clear that this root names aversion itself, not merely disagreement.
חָמָס
chamas
GROWS FROM
ח־מ־ס
ḥ-m-s
Violence, injury, or oppressive wrong.
The word can include wrongful injury and oppression, not only physical force. The verse makes the decisive detail that this violence is loved: it has become something the person embraces.
ALSO GROWS
chamas: Violence or wrongful oppression.
חָמָס
This is the noun used for what the person loves.
chamas: To act violently or wrongfully.
חָמַס
The related verb shows the action beneath the noun: violence is harm enacted against another.
THE PATTERN
The LORD examines the inner person and rejects an attachment to violence.
Let the evil of the wicked now be spent, and set the aligned one firm, for the aligned God tests the hearts and kidneys.The earth also was ruined before God, and the earth was filled with violence.Let love be without a mask. Recoil from what is evil; cling to what is good.THE THREAD
Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall stop, that your ox and your donkey may settle, and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.The verb translated “may be refreshed” comes from the נ־פ־ש (n-p-sh) root-family of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, living soul). Exodus uses that family for living creatures receiving rest; Psalm 11:5 places the LORD’s own living self at the center of its response to the lover of violence.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us