What Does Psalm 119:22 Mean?
Roll away from me the taunt and the scorn, for I guard your testimonies.
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
Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.THE KEY
The request to remove reproach is a request to roll it off the speaker, while the testimony is already guarded.
THE MEANING
Reproach and contempt can sit upon the reader, and this verse asks that they be rolled away. The testimonies are already guarded; fidelity and humiliation occupy the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that keeping the testimony makes a person immune to contempt: the speaker has kept it and still asks for reproach to be lifted.
THE ROOT
גֹּל
gol
GROWS FROM
גלל
galal
to roll, roll away
“roll away” in this verse is gol. The form גֹּל is an imperative of גלל, “to roll.” Reproach and contempt rest upon the speaker, and the verse gives their removal the concrete motion of rolling them away.
ALSO GROWS
galal: to roll or roll away
גָּלַל
This is the root verb behind the request to have reproach removed.
gol: roll; an imperative
גֹּל
Psalm 37:5 uses this same form for “Commit” thy way, revealing the rolling motion beneath that English word.
נָצָרְתִּי
natsarti
GROWS FROM
נצר
natsar
to guard, watch over, preserve
“guard” in this verse is natsarti. The word translated “kept” carries the sense of guarding or watching over. The speaker’s testimony is actively guarded while reproach presses upon him, so vulnerability does not cancel what has been kept.
ALSO GROWS
nōṣēr: one who guards or preserves
נֹצֵר
This form shows the keeper as a guardian, making “kept” more active than simply remembering.
neṣōr: guard; keep
נְצֹר
The imperative form uses the same root for the act of guarding, reinforcing that the testimonies are held with care.
עֵדוֹתֶיךָ
edotekha
GROWS FROM
עוד
ʿ-w-d
to bear witness, affirm; in related forms, to repeat or reaffirm
“Testimonies” belongs to the witness family: עֵד is a witness, and עֵדוּת is testimony. What the speaker guards is an attested word, not a private possession without a voice.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēd: witness
עֵד
The witness is the person who gives testimony, linking the guarded word to something that can be publicly affirmed.
ʿēdût: testimony, witness
עֵדוּת
This is the singular form of the word-family used for the testimonies in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A testimony can remain guarded and speakable while reproach or shame presses against it.
I speak of your witnesses in sight of kings, and I am not put to shame.For the Lord GOD will gird me; therefore I have not been shamed. Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.So do not be ashamed of the witness of our Lord, nor of me, his bound one. But suffer alongside me for the good news, according to the power of God.THE THREAD
Roll your way upon the LORD, and lean your weight on him, and he will do it.The Hebrew verb translated “Commit” is גֹּל (gol), from the same root גלל (galal) as “remove” here: both carry the image of rolling. Psalm 37:5 rolls a way onto the LORD, while this verse asks for reproach to be rolled off the speaker.
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