What Does Psalm 21:2 Mean?
You give him the craving of his heart, and the asking of his lips you do not hold back. Selah.
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
Thou hast given him his heart’s desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.THE KEY
The heart’s inward longing and the lips’ spoken request stand in parallel: both are received.
THE MEANING
This verse holds the reader’s inward desire and spoken request within one movement of receiving. What is carried in the heart and what is voiced by the lips are both seen here.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that inward longing is too private to be received, or that only what is spoken can matter.
THE ROOT
תַּאֲוַת
ta’avath
GROWS FROM
אוה
ʾ-w-h
To desire, wish, or long for.
“the craving of his heart” in this verse is ta’avath. The Hebrew word carries the sense of an active longing or appetite, not merely an abstract preference. Beside the request of the lips, it shows the inward desire and outward asking as two expressions of the same movement.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāvâ: To desire or wish for.
אָוָה
This verbal form makes the heart’s desire a living pull toward what is longed for.
ta’avah: Desire, longing, or appetite.
תַּאֲוָה
This noun shares the seed of the verse’s “desire” and keeps its sense of inward longing.
נָתַתָּה
natattah
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is natattah. The Hebrew verb belongs to a root that can mean giving, setting, and placing. The verse presents the heart’s longing as something received and placed within reach, while the request is not held back.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the root verb behind “given,” joining the desire of the heart to an act of provision.
mattanah: A gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related word frames what is given as a gift received, echoing the verse’s openhanded response.
THE PATTERN
God’s giving meets both the heart’s longing and the spoken ask.
Soften yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the asking of your heart.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.He does the delight of those in awe of him; he hears and responds to their outcry, and delivers them.THE THREAD
Soften yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the asking of your heart.Psalm 37:4 uses the same נתן (natan, give) root in “he shall give thee,” and likewise joins God’s giving to the heart’s desire. That shared root makes it a close companion: the inward longing named here is also what the Psalm says is given.
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