What Does Psalm 24:1 Mean?
A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD's, and what fills it; the inhabited world, and those who settle in it.
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
A Psalm of David. The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.THE KEY
The LORD’s claim widens from the earth to everything filling it, then to every person dwelling there.
THE MEANING
The ground beneath you, what fills it, and every life settled in the world belong to the LORD. The verse holds the land, its abundance, and its inhabitants within one claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your life or what sustains it stands outside the LORD’s claim.
THE ROOT
מְלוֹאָהּ
umelo’ah
GROWS FROM
מלא
To fill or be full.
“what fills it” in this verse is umelo’ah. The root points to what fills the earth: its abundance is part of what belongs to the LORD. The verse then widens that fullness to include the world and everyone who dwells there.
ALSO GROWS
male’: To fill or be full.
מָלֵא
This verbal form makes the fullness in the verse the filled state of the earth, not a separate possession beside it.
mille’: To fill or fulfill.
מִלֵּא
The same root can describe filling something; here the earth’s abundance is named within the LORD’s belonging.
יֹשְׁבֵי
yoshvei
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, settle, or dwell.
“settle” in this verse is yoshvei. The word for those who dwell carries the sense of settling in a place. The verse includes not only the world and what fills it, but also those who make their home within it.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit, remain, or dwell.
יָשַׁב
This verb shows the shared root behind the inhabitants named in the verse.
moshav: A dwelling place or seat.
מוֹשָׁב
This related noun connects dwelling with a settled place, echoing the verse’s inclusion of those who inhabit the world.
THE PATTERN
The world, its fullness, and every life within it remain within the LORD’s belonging and presence.
Look, the heavens and the heavens of heavens belong to the LORD your God, and the earth, and all that is in it.For in him we live and move and are; as some of your own makers have said, for we are also his offspring.For the earth is the Lord's, and what fills it.THE THREAD
How many are your works, LORD! In wisdom you make them all; the earth is full of your possessions.Psalm 104 uses the same מלא root when it says the earth is full. Psalm 24 names that fullness as the LORD’s; Psalm 104 lets you see it as the abundance filling the earth.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us