What Does Psalm 18:20 Mean?
The LORD deals with me according to my alignment; according to the cleanness of my hands, he repays me.
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 rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.THE KEY
What the KJV calls “recompense” is literally a return, so the verse pictures the LORD’s response coming back in the measure of alignment made visible through your hands.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s response is portrayed as a return that corresponds to your alignment. The cleanness of your hands gives that alignment a visible shape in what you do.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that alignment is only an inward status, separate from the actions your hands carry out.
THE ROOT
יָשִׁיב
yāshîv
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
To return or turn back.
“he repays me” in this verse is yāshîv. The verb rendered “recompensed” is yashiv, “he returns,” from shuv. Reciprocity is built into the wording: the response comes back in correspondence with the alignment and action named.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To return, turn back.
שׁוּב
This is the root of the verb translated “recompensed”: what comes back is pictured as a return.
teshuvah: Return, turning back.
תְּשׁוּבָה
It keeps the root’s motion visible: a return is movement back toward a point.
צִדְקִי
tsidqî
GROWS FROM
צדק
ts-d-q
To be straight or right; alignment.
The word translated “righteousness” is tsidqi, “my alignment,” from the צדק family of rightness and just dealing. Set beside clean hands, it describes alignment as something that takes visible form in action.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This branch keeps the verse’s righteousness rooted in straightness and just dealing.
tzedakah: Righteousness, just action.
צְדָקָה
It shows alignment as something expressed through what a person does.
tsaddiq: A righteous or aligned person.
צַדִּיק
The same root describes a person by the quality of alignment embodied in their life.
בֹּר
bōr
GROWS FROM
ברר
To purify or make clear.
“cleanness of my hands” in this verse is bōr. The word for cleanness belongs to the ברר family of purification and clarity. The image is not only hands without stain, but action made clear of what would compromise its integrity.
ALSO GROWS
barar: To purify, cleanse, clarify.
בָּרַר
It opens “cleanness” into a process of clearing away what obscures integrity.
barur: Pure, clear.
בָּרוּר
This related form links clean hands with an unclouded quality that can be recognized.
THE PATTERN
What is returned corresponds to the alignment expressed through a person’s deeds.
And yours, O Lord, is faithful love, for you repay each man according to his deed.Who will give back to each one according to his works.But someone will say, You have self-commitment, and I have works. Show me your self-commitment without your works, and I will show you my self-commitment by my works.THE THREAD
With the clean one you show yourself clean; and with the crooked you twist yourself.The “cleanness” in verse 20 and “pure” here belong to the ברר (barar) family of purification and clarity. This verse opens the image further: the quality named in a person is reflected in the response they meet.
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