What Does Psalm 122:9 Mean?

For the sake of the house of the LORD our God, let me seek your good.

Psalm 122:9 · SDV

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.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek thy good.

THE KEY

The house of God is not the endpoint of devotion; it is the reason the city’s good is actively pursued.

THE MEANING

The house of the LORD is the reason for seeking Jerusalem’s good, not a retreat from it. Reverence for God takes visible shape in active concern for the city’s wellbeing.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It dissolves the idea that closeness to God can remain enclosed within sacred space: here, devotion moves outward into seeking the city’s good.

THE ROOT

אֲבַקְשָׁה

avaqshah

GROWS FROM

בקש

Seek out, search for, or request.

“let me seek” in this verse is avaqshah. English “seek” can sound like an inward wish, but ⁨בָּקַשׁ⁩ also gives words for a seeker and a request. The good here is something actively pursued; the house of the LORD gives that pursuit its reason.

ALSO GROWS

mevaqqesh: One who seeks; a seeker.

מְבַקֵּשׁ

The shared root makes the speaker a seeker of Jerusalem’s good, not merely someone who approves of it.

baqqashah: A request or petition.

בַּקָּשָׁה

This branch carries seeking into an expressed request, showing the active force of pursuing another’s good.

טוֹב

tov

GROWS FROM

טוב

Good, beneficial, or pleasing.

⁨טוֹב⁩ here is Jerusalem’s concrete welfare, not only an abstract moral quality. The same root gives ⁨טוּב⁩, goodness or abundance, and ⁨מֵיטָב⁩, the best or choicest; seeking her good means seeking what benefits her.

ALSO GROWS

tuv: Goodness, benefit, or abundance.

טוּב

It opens “good” toward the wellbeing and abundance sought for Jerusalem.

meitav: The best or choicest.

מֵיטָב

This branch shows the root extending to what is best, sharpening the sense of seeking Jerusalem’s full good.

THE PATTERN

Reverence for God’s dwelling becomes active pursuit of the surrounding community’s welfare.

And seek the wholeness of the city where I have carried you away, and pray to the LORD for it, for in its wholeness you will have wholeness.

Jeremiah 29:7 · SDVThe city’s wholeness becomes something actively sought, and its peace is bound to the seekers’ own wellbeing.

Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.

Psalm 34:14 · SDVGood and peace appear as realities to do and pursue, not merely admire.

So then, while we hold the season, let us work the good toward all, and most of all toward the household of trust.

Galatians 6:10 · SDVThe pursuit of good reaches outward to people beyond the sacred gathering.

THE THREAD

Turn aside from evil and do good; seek wholeness and pursue it.

Psalm 34:14 · SDV

Both verses use the Hebrew root ⁨טוב⁩ (tov) for good and ⁨בקש⁩ (baqash) for seeking. Psalm 34:14 places doing good beside seeking peace, revealing the active pursuit inside “I will seek thy good.”

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