What Does Psalm 142:5 Mean?
I cry out to you, O LORD, and I say, You are my shelter, my portion in the land of the living.
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 cried unto thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the living.THE KEY
The LORD is not only the place the speaker runs to; he is also the share the speaker has while still living.
THE MEANING
Your cry can name the LORD as refuge while you remain in the land of the living. He is also your portion there: shelter and belonging are present realities in your life now.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that belonging begins only after trouble is over: the verse names the LORD as the speaker’s portion even while the cry is being spoken.
THE ROOT
חֶלְקִי
ḥelqî
GROWS FROM
חלק
ḥ-l-q
To divide, apportion, or share out.
A portion is a share marked out from a whole. Calling the LORD “my portion” names him as the speaker’s own share in present life, not only as protection from trouble.
ALSO GROWS
ḥālaq: To divide or apportion.
חָלַק
This verb is the root-action behind a portion: a share is marked out from a whole.
ḥelqāh: A parcel or plot of land.
חֶלְקָה
A parcel is a concrete, bounded share of ground, giving “portion” the sense of an allotted place rather than a vague reward.
מַחְסִי
maḥsî
GROWS FROM
חסה
ḥ-s-h
To seek refuge or take shelter.
“my shelter” in this verse is maḥsî. The word for refuge belongs to a root that can describe seeking shelter. The verse holds the shelter and the act of turning toward it together: the LORD is named as the refuge the speaker seeks.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsâ: To seek refuge or take shelter.
חָסָה
This verb gives the movement implicit in calling the LORD a refuge: seeking shelter under protection.
maḥseh: A shelter or refuge.
מַחְסֶה
This related noun makes the root’s sheltering sense concrete, illuminating the refuge named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
The LORD is named as a present refuge and allotted share within the life of the living.
The LORD is the portion of my share and of my cup; you hold fast my lot.To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a help found very near in the narrow place.So that through two unshifting deeds, in which it is without power for God to lie, we might have a strong comfort, we who have fled for refuge to grip the hope lying before us.THE THREAD
The LORD is the portion of my share and of my cup; you hold fast my lot.Psalm 16:5 uses the same Hebrew word חֵלֶק (ḥēleq, portion or share), calling the LORD the speaker’s inheritance and cup. That parallel opens “portion” here as present belonging alongside refuge.
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