What Does Psalm 119:123 Mean?
My eyes run out for your deliverance, and for the word of your alignment.
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
Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.THE KEY
The eyes are being consumed by what they await: deliverance out of constriction and the word that reveals alignment.
THE MEANING
Your eyes are spent watching for deliverance, and your attention reaches for the word of God’s alignment. The verse gives longing a bodily force: what you see and what you wait to hear are held together.
THE ROOT
לִתְשׁוּעָתֶךָ
litshuʿatekha
GROWS FROM
י־ש־ע
Deliver, bringing someone out of distress and into spaciousness.
“deliverance” in this verse is litshuʿatekha. “Salvation” here carries the movement of being brought out of constriction. The eyes are fixed on that opening, and on the word that names God’s alignment.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance
יְשׁוּעָה
This is the noun from the same root: the deliverance the eyes await.
moshia: One who delivers
מוֹשִׁיעַ
The same root holds both the act of being brought out and the one who brings out.
כָּלוּ
kalu
GROWS FROM
כ־ל־ה
Be consumed, come to an end, or reach completion.
“run out” in this verse is kalu. The verb translated “fail” also carries the sense of being consumed or spent. The eyes are not simply weak; the gaze is used up in longing for deliverance and for the word.
ALSO GROWS
kalah: Come to an end or be complete
כָּלָה
The eyes have reached the limit of their waiting, holding the ache of longing.
killah: Consume or bring to completion
כִּלָּה
This form makes the force of “fail” vivid: longing consumes the gaze.
צִדְקֶךָ
tsidqekha
GROWS FROM
צ־ד־ק
Alignment, what is right or straight.
The word awaited is a word of God’s alignment. The root family reaches from the quality of what is aligned to the person and action that embody it.
ALSO GROWS
tzaddiq: A just or aligned person
צַדִּיק
The shared root links alignment to a person who lives in it.
tzedakah: Justice or right action
צְדָקָה
This branch shows alignment taking form in what is done.
THE PATTERN
Waiting for deliverance fixes the gaze on the word until longing opens into sight.
My living soul runs out for your deliverance; I wait for your word.But those who wait upon the LORD exchange their strength; they rise on wings like eagles; they run and do not tire; they walk and do not faint.For my eyes have perceived your deliverance,THE THREAD
My living soul runs out for your deliverance; I wait for your word.Psalm 119:81 uses the same כ־ל־ה (kalah, be consumed or come to an end) root for “fainteth,” and the same י־ש־ע (yasha, deliver) family for “salvation.” Here the eyes are consumed in waiting; there, the inward self is spent while hope is held in the word, one longing voiced through two parts of the person.
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