What Does Psalm 35:3 Mean?
Draw out also the spear, and shut the way against those who pursue me. Say to my living soul, I am your deliverance.
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
Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.THE KEY
The one who blocks the pursuer also speaks deliverance directly into the pursued person’s living self.
THE MEANING
When danger pursues you, this verse holds the threat in view while addressing your whole living self with the words, “I am thy deliverance.” The assurance is spoken while the danger is still present; deliverance is named as the LORD’s own presence with you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that danger gets the last word inside you: deliverance can be spoken to your living self while the pursuit is still underway.
THE ROOT
יְשׁוּעָתֶךָ
yeshuʿatekha
GROWS FROM
י־ש־ע
y-sh-ʿ
Deliver; bring out to safety.
The Hebrew closes with the words “your deliverance am I,” placing the LORD’s own presence at the center of the assurance. The root carries the sense of being brought out of danger into safety, giving “salvation” the texture of deliverance.
ALSO GROWS
yashaʿ: To deliver or bring out to safety.
יָשַׁע
The verb shows the movement contained in the promise: the pursued one is brought out of danger.
yeshuʿah: Deliverance or rescue.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun shares the root in “thy salvation,” joining the act of deliverance with the LORD’s declaration of who he is.
נַפְשִׁי
nafshi
GROWS FROM
נ־פ־שׁ
n-p-sh
The living self: a person as a whole living being.
“living soul” in this verse is nafshi. “My soul” is the Hebrew nefesh: the living person, not a detached inner part. The verse addresses the whole self that is being pursued, not merely an idea or emotion within it.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: A living person, self, or life.
נֶפֶשׁ
This is the word behind “my soul,” making the assurance personal and whole.
nafash: To rest or be refreshed.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb gives the living self a connection to restoration and relief, resonating with the promise of deliverance.
הָרֵק
hareq
GROWS FROM
ר־י־ק
r-y-q
Empty out; make bare.
The command translated “draw out” uses a verb of emptying or making bare, picturing the spear brought out and ready. The Hebrew gives the plea for defense a concrete action before the verse turns to the words spoken to the living self.
ALSO GROWS
req: Empty or void.
רֵיק
This adjective shares the root’s image of emptiness, which underlies the command to draw out the spear.
heriq: To empty out or pour out.
הֵרִיק
This related verb makes the physical sense of “draw out” visible: something is emptied from its covering and made ready.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance meets danger both by confronting what pursues and by speaking assurance to the living self under threat.
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.A Psalm of David. The LORD is my light and my deliverance; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I tremble?And has raised up a horn of deliverance for us in the house of his servant David;THE THREAD
The LORD is my strength and song, and becomes my deliverance.“Salvation” here and “thy salvation” in Psalm 35:3 share the Hebrew root י־ש־ע (y-sh-ʿ), deliverance. Psalm 35:3 places that deliverance in a direct word to the living self; Psalm 118:14 names the LORD as that deliverance alongside strength and song.
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