What Does Psalm 119:31 Mean?
I cling to your testimonies, LORD. Do not put me to shame.
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
I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “stuck” also describes the bond that joins two lives: this is attachment to God’s testimony, not mere agreement with it.
THE MEANING
You cling to what God has testified, and your plea shows how vulnerable that attachment can feel. Holding fast and asking not to be put to shame stand together in this verse.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that sincere attachment makes you invulnerable: the speaker clings and still asks not to be shamed.
THE ROOT
דָּבַקְתִּי
dāḇaqtî
GROWS FROM
דבק
to cling, cleave, or hold fast
“cling” in this verse is dāḇaqtî. This is the verb used when a man cleaves to his wife and they become one flesh. The verse gives attachment to testimony the force of a joining, not simply agreement with a set of claims.
ALSO GROWS
wəḏāvaq: and he shall cleave or become joined
וְדָבַק
The same verb describes the bond between husband and wife in Genesis 2:24, revealing the closeness carried by “stuck.”
dāḇəqāh: clung or adhered
דָּבְקָה
This form describes a tongue cleaving to the jaws in Psalm 22:15, making the root’s sense of attachment bodily and concrete.
עֵדֹתֶיךָ
ʿēḏōṯeḵā
GROWS FROM
עוד
to bear witness or attest
“testimonies” in this verse is ʿēḏōṯeḵā. The word carries the sense of witness: what you cling to is testimony, something that attests. That makes the verse’s attachment responsive to what has been witnessed, rather than possession of an abstract rule.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēḏ: witness
עֵד
The testimony is bound to the idea of a witness, bringing the language of attestation into the speaker’s attachment.
hēʿîḏ: to testify or attest
הֵעִיד
This verbal form makes the witness active: the testimonies are words that bear witness to what is true.
תְּבִישֵׁנִי
təḇîšēnî
GROWS FROM
בוש
to be ashamed, disconcerted, or disappointed
“put me to shame” in this verse is təḇîšēnî. The verb asks not only for relief from private embarrassment; its form asks that the speaker not be brought into shame. The plea holds the vulnerability of trusting alongside the decision to cling.
ALSO GROWS
bōš: to be ashamed or disappointed
בּוֹשׁ
The basic verbal sense names the exposure the speaker fears while remaining attached to the testimonies.
hôḇîš: to put to shame or disappoint
הוֹבִישׁ
This causative form echoes the verse’s wording: the plea is that the speaker not be made to bear disgrace.
THE PATTERN
Clinging is a joining that shapes where a life belongs.
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.Stand in awe of the LORD your God; him you serve, and to him you cling, and by his nature you swear.Let love be without a mask. Recoil from what is evil; cling to what is good.THE THREAD
Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother, and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.Genesis uses the same Hebrew verb as Psalm 119:31 for the bond between husband and wife. That shared word opens “stuck unto thy testimonies” as a joining, not merely an agreement.
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