What Does Psalm 20:7 Mean?
Some lean their full weight on chariots, and some on horses; but we remember in the nature of the LORD our God.
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
Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.THE KEY
The verse sets visible force beside the LORD’s nature, and makes keeping that nature present the community’s ground of confidence.
THE MEANING
Visible power can look like security, but this verse turns your attention to the nature of the LORD your God. Remembering that nature keeps it present as the ground of confidence. The “we” makes this a shared declaration, held in common.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the force you can summon guarantees your safety.
THE ROOT
נַזְכִּיר
nazkir
GROWS FROM
זכר
z-k-r
To remember, recall, or mention.
“remember” in this verse is nazkir. The root carries both inward recollection and outward mention: what is remembered is brought into the present. The verse pairs that act with שֵׁם (shem, name as nature), so the community keeps the LORD’s character present, not merely a label.
ALSO GROWS
zakar: Remember, recall, mention.
זָכַר
The verb shows remembrance as an active bringing of something into awareness.
zeker: Remembrance, memorial, or mention.
זֵכֶר
A memorial makes what is remembered present beyond a single moment.
zikkaron: Memorial or reminder.
זִכָּרוֹן
This branch shows remembrance as something that can be kept before a whole community.
THE PATTERN
Visible strength may serve a purpose, but it cannot take the place of confidence grounded in the LORD.
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who lean upon horses and lean their full weight upon chariots, because they are many, and upon horsemen, because they have grown very strong. They do not look to the Set-Apart One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!The horse is readied for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the LORD.But we ourselves had the sentence of death within us, so that we would not lean our weight on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead.THE THREAD
Those who know your name lean their weight on you, for you do not let go of those who seek you, LORD.This verse makes explicit the link Psalm 20:7 holds in compressed form: knowing the LORD’s name, his nature, grounds trust in him. Psalm 20:7 describes the community keeping that nature present.
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