What Does Psalm 125:4 Mean?
Do good, O LORD, to the good, and to those straight in their hearts.
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
Do good, O LORD, unto those that be good, and to them that are upright in their hearts.THE KEY
The verse’s two English “good”s come from different Hebrew roots: one asks the LORD to make things go well, while the other describes people as good.
THE MEANING
This is a present-tense prayer that the LORD act for the good of those who are good and straight within. It locates uprightness in the heart, in a person’s inward direction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that uprightness is only a public appearance: the verse places it in the heart.
THE ROOT
הֵיטִיבָה
hēṭîḇâ
GROWS FROM
יטב
y-ṭ-b
To be good, go well, or do well.
“Do good” in this verse is hēṭîḇâ. The English phrase sounds like a general wish for goodness, but the Hebrew verb carries the sense of acting well toward someone or causing things to go well. The next “good” in the verse comes from a different root, so the prayer’s action and its recipients are not repetitions of one Hebrew word.
ALSO GROWS
yēṭaḇ: It will go well.
יֵיטַב
This form makes the well-being within “do good” audible: the prayer asks for circumstances to go well for its recipients.
hēṭîḇ: He did well; he dealt well.
הֵיטִיב
This related verb presents goodness as an action done toward someone, matching the prayer’s request.
טוֹבִים
ṭôḇîm
GROWS FROM
טוב
ṭ-w-b
Good, pleasing, beneficial.
“the good” in this verse is ṭôḇîm. This is the root that describes the people receiving the prayer. Alongside יטב (y-ṭ-b), “do well,” it gives the line a subtle movement from good action toward people described as good.
ALSO GROWS
ṭôḇ: Good, pleasant.
טוֹב
This form shows the quality attributed to the people in the verse.
ṭûḇ: Goodness, benefit.
טוּב
This noun turns the same root into a gift or benefit, broadening the idea of goodness beyond a personal quality.
יְשָׁרִים
yĕšārîm
GROWS FROM
ישר
y-š-r
Straight, level, upright.
“straight” in this verse is yĕšārîm. The root carries the image of straightness, and the verse locates that straightness in the heart. Uprightness is described as an inward direction, not just an outward display.
ALSO GROWS
yāšār: Straight, upright.
יָשָׁר
This form makes the image behind “upright” visible: a heart oriented along a straight course.
mîšôr: Level ground; levelness.
מִישׁוֹר
This related word extends the root’s image from straightness to an even, unobstructed way.
THE PATTERN
God’s regard and goodness meet a person at the level of the heart’s direction, not merely outward appearance.
But the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have pushed him away. The LORD does not see as the human sees. The human sees what is outside, but the LORD sees the heart.Flourishing are the clean in heart, for they perceive God.THE THREAD
The young lions go lacking and go hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.“Good” in “good thing” comes from טוֹב (ṭôḇ, good), the same root describing the people in Psalm 125:4. The word shifts from a quality attributed to people to the good they do not lack, widening the prayer’s horizon.
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