What Does Psalm 21:7 Mean?
For the king leans his full weight upon the LORD, and through the faithful love of the Most High he will not totter.
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
For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved.THE KEY
The king’s stability is received through trust in the LORD and the Most High’s faithful love.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks of a life that relies on the LORD and is held steady by the Most High’s faithful love. Even the king’s footing rests on that trust and love.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that status makes a person unshakable gives way: the king’s steadiness comes through trust and faithful love.
THE ROOT
בֹּטֵחַ
bōṭēaḥ
GROWS FROM
בטח
To feel secure, trust, or rely with confidence.
“leans his full weight upon” in this verse is bōṭēaḥ. This word carries reliance with a sense of security. The verse joins the king’s trusting with the steadiness that follows.
ALSO GROWS
beṭaḥ: Security; safely.
בֶּטַח
The same root names security as well as trust, joining the king’s reliance to his unshaken footing.
mibṭāḥ: Confidence; refuge.
מִבְטָח
This form can name a basis of confidence, bringing the king’s reliance into view as trust placed in another.
חֶסֶד
ḥesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
Faithful love; loyal kindness.
The verse grounds the king’s steadiness in the Most High’s faithful love. Chesed holds kindness and loyalty together, so this support is both tender and dependable.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāsîd: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
This related word describes someone marked by the loyal quality named here as the Most High’s faithful love.
ḥasîdîm: Faithful or devoted ones.
חֲסִידִים
The plural carries that same quality across a people, showing faithful love as a sustaining bond.
THE PATTERN
Trust anchored in the LORD gives a life steadiness that threat and change cannot dislodge.
A Song of degrees. Those who lean their full weight upon the LORD are like Mount Zion, which does not totter, but sits for the ages.He does not fear evil report; his heart is set firm, leaning his weight on the LORD.So then, my beloved brothers, be steady, unmoved, always overflowing in the work of the Lord, seeing that your toil is not empty in the Lord.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees. Those who lean their full weight upon the LORD are like Mount Zion, which does not totter, but sits for the ages.This verse echoes Psalm 21:7 in both its word for trust and its word for being moved. The king’s steadiness opens into a wider image: all who trust in the LORD are like a mountain that remains.
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