What Does Psalm 16:5 Mean?
The LORD is the portion of my share and of my cup; you hold fast my lot.
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
The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.THE KEY
The LORD is not merely the giver of your inheritance; the LORD is the share itself, holding your allotted life steady.
THE MEANING
Your inheritance is not only something you receive: the LORD is your portion, and the cup is the life held within that share. Your lot does not hang loose in chance; God is sustaining it now. The verse places what you receive and what holds you within the same relationship.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You are secure only if you can control what you receive and what happens next. This verse locates security in the One who is both your portion and the one holding your lot.
THE ROOT
חֵלֶק
ḥēleq
GROWS FROM
חלק
To divide, apportion, or share out.
English “portion” can sound like a quantity handed over, but חֵלֶק (ḥēleq) is a share allotted from a whole. The verse says the LORD is not only the giver of an inheritance: the share itself is the LORD, made tangible through the images of cup and lot.
ALSO GROWS
ḥālaq: To divide or apportion.
חָלַק
This verb reveals the allotment inside “portion”: what is yours is a share set out for you.
ḥelqāh: A parcel or plot of land.
חֶלְקָה
A parcel is a portion made concrete; here the speaker’s share is not land but the LORD.
תּוֹמִיךְ
tômîḵ
GROWS FROM
תמך
To grasp, hold, or support.
“hold fast” in this verse is tômîḵ. “Maintainest” carries the image of active support: the lot is held, not left to drift. The root also describes laying hold of wisdom, so the verse turns the image around, the speaker’s lot is secure because God holds it.
ALSO GROWS
tāmaḵ: To grasp, hold, or support.
תָּמַךְ
This is the verb behind “maintainest”: God supports the speaker’s allotted share.
tōmĕḵeha: Those who hold her, speaking of wisdom (Proverbs 3:18).
תֹּמְכֶיהָ
The same root describes people laying hold of wisdom; here the holding runs the other way, with God holding the speaker’s lot.
THE PATTERN
A life is made secure when God is its portion and the one who holds its share.
My flesh and my heart run out, and God is the rock of my heart and my portion for the ages.The LORD is my portion, says my living soul; therefore I wait for him.Let your way of living be without the love of silver, and let what is at hand be enough, for he has said, I will never let go of you, nor leave you behind.THE THREAD
My flesh and my heart run out, and God is the rock of my heart and my portion for the ages.Psalm 73:26 uses the same Hebrew word, חֵלֶק (ḥēleq), for “portion.” Here the LORD is the speaker’s share within the inheritance; there, God remains the portion even when flesh and heart fail.
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