What Does Psalm 147:10 Mean?
He takes no delight in the strength of the horse; he takes no pleasure in the legs of a man.
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
He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.THE KEY
The verse names human strength without making it the currency of divine delight.
THE MEANING
Your strength does not secure God’s delight. The verse names the horse’s might and the man’s legs, then denies that either is what God desires; visible capacity is real, but it is not the measure of your worth before him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God values you in proportion to your physical might or visible capacity.
THE ROOT
גְּבוּרַת
gevurat
GROWS FROM
גבר
gābar
Be strong, prevail, become mighty.
The verse’s word for strength comes from גבר, a root family that includes being strong and the mighty one who prevails. English can flatten strength into an amount of force; the Hebrew family carries the active sense of might, while this verse refuses to make that might the measure of what God desires.
ALSO GROWS
gābar: Be strong; prevail.
גָּבַר
This verb makes strength an act of prevailing, giving the verse’s word more force than a neutral measure of ability.
gibbōr: Mighty one; warrior.
גִּבּוֹר
This word names a person marked by might, echoing the verse’s focus on visible animal and human strength.
יֶחְפָּץ
yeḥpaṣ
GROWS FROM
חפץ
ḥāphaṣ
Desire, take pleasure in, regard as desirable.
“takes no delight” in this verse is yeḥpaṣ. The verb means to desire or take pleasure in; its noun branch can name desire or a desired thing. English ‘delight’ can sound like a passing emotion, while this family points to what is regarded as desirable, precisely what the verse denies of physical might.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēpheṣ: Desire, delight; a desired thing.
חֵפֶץ
The noun makes the verb’s delight tangible as what is desired, sharpening the verse’s question about what God values.
ḥāphēṣ: Desiring; willing.
חָפֵץ
This participial form describes one who desires or is willing, keeping the focus on what God wants.
THE PATTERN
God’s pleasure is not measured by the visible strength a person can display.
The LORD takes pleasure in those who stand in awe of him, and in those who wait for his faithful love.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.But God picked out the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; and God picked out the weak things of the world to shame the strong.THE THREAD
The LORD takes pleasure in those who stand in awe of him, and in those who wait for his faithful love.The shared Hebrew root רצה (rāṣāh, “be pleased with, favor”) marks the pleasure denied in verse 10 and affirmed in verse 11. The contrast continues: God does not take pleasure in horse strength or human legs; he does take pleasure in those who stand in awe of him and hope in his faithful love.
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