What Does Psalm 35:22 Mean?
You see this, LORD; do not be silent. Lord, do not be far from 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
This thou hast seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O Lord, be not far from me.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “silence” can also carry the sense of deafness, so the plea asks to be heard as well as answered.
THE MEANING
You are seen in what you bring forward, and the verse gives that seeing an urgent next movement: an answer and a presence that does not stay far. Its plea holds recognition, response, and nearness together.
THE ROOT
תֶּחֱרַשׁ
teḥĕraš
GROWS FROM
חרש
To be silent; the same consonants also carry the sense of deafness.
“do not be silent” in this verse is teḥĕraš. The plea against silence touches both an unanswered voice and an unheard cry. The next words ask the LORD not to be far, joining hearing and nearness in one appeal.
ALSO GROWS
ḥērēš: Deaf; unable to hear.
חֵרֵשׁ
The shared consonants bring the possibility of not hearing close to the plea against keeping silent.
ḥārēš: Silent; one who keeps silence.
חָרֵשׁ
This form makes the verse’s direct request not to remain silent visible in the root itself.
רָאִיתָ
rāʾîtā
GROWS FROM
ראה
To see, look at, or perceive.
“see” in this verse is rāʾîtā. The verse begins with an act of perception: “this” is already before the one addressed. The root also names the seer and what comes into view, tying the plea to something seen rather than an abstract idea.
ALSO GROWS
rōʾeh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
The branch names the one doing the seeing, echoing the verse’s address to the LORD as witness.
marʾeh: Appearance, sight, or vision.
מַרְאֶה
The root reaches from seeing to what is seen, giving “this” the sense of a matter brought into view.
תִּרְחַק
tirḥaq
GROWS FROM
רחק
To be distant or far; to put at a distance.
“do not be far” in this verse is tirḥaq. The plea is about presence as well as response: the speaker asks for distance to close. The same root can describe being far and putting something far away.
ALSO GROWS
rāḥōq: Far away, distant.
רָחוֹק
This adjective gives the condition the verse asks not to remain: the LORD far from the speaker.
hirḥîq: To remove or put at a distance.
הִרְחִיק
This form makes distance an action or change, opening the plea as a request for separation to be undone.
THE PATTERN
A cry for help holds together being seen, being heard, and God’s nearness.
Do not move far from me, for the narrow place is near, and there is no helper.The eyes of the LORD are upon the aligned, and his ears are open to their cry.For the eyes of the LORD are upon the aligned, and his ears are open to their pleading; but the face of the LORD is against those who do evil.THE THREAD
A Psalm of David. I call out to you, O LORD, my rock. Do not be silent to me, lest, if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down into the pit.Both pleas use חָרַשׁ (ḥāraš), the word for keeping silent, and address the LORD directly. Psalm 35:22 extends the shared plea from silence to distance, holding hearing and nearness together.
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