What Does Psalm 68:6 Mean?
God settles the lone ones into households; he brings out the bound ones in chains; but the ones who turn away dwell in a parched land.
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
God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.THE KEY
The verse turns belonging and freedom into movements of place: the solitary are set inside a household, the bound are brought out, and the rebellious settle in a dry land.
THE MEANING
When you are alone, the verse gives your place a new horizon: God sets the solitary in a household. When you are bound, God brings you out; rebellion, by contrast, dwells in dry ground. The verse holds belonging and release beside the barrenness of refusal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being alone means having no place to belong: the verse gives the solitary a house.
THE ROOT
יְחִידִים
yeḥidim
GROWS FROM
יחד
yachad
To be one; to join or be united.
“lone ones” in this verse is yeḥidim. The word for solitary belongs to the root of being one or joined, so it holds a tension English cannot show: the solitary are marked as one, yet the verse places them in a household. Belonging gives the one a place among others.
ALSO GROWS
yachid: Only one; solitary.
יַחִיד
This is the singular form behind the verse’s description of those who are alone.
yachad: Together; as one.
יַחַד
The same root holds both being one and being joined, echoing the move from solitude into a household.
מוֹצִיא
motsi
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
To go out or come forth.
“bringeth out” in this verse is motsi. The verb carries the root of going out, while its form means to cause someone to go out. The bound are moved from inside to outside; their release is an exit from confinement.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: To go out; to come forth.
יָצָא
This is the basic movement carried by the verse’s phrase “bringeth out.”
motsa: An exit; an outlet.
מוֹצָא
This branch names the way out that the verb opens for those who are bound.
אֲסִירִים
asirim
GROWS FROM
אסר
asar
To bind or tie up.
“bound” in this verse is asirim. The Hebrew describes the prisoners as people held by a binding, a condition with a point of release. Beside the verb “bringeth out,” the verse presents deliverance as the undoing of that hold.
ALSO GROWS
asir: A prisoner; a captive.
אָסִיר
This singular form names a person held by the binding described in the verse.
asur: Bound; tied up.
אָסוּר
This form makes the binding itself visible beneath the English word “bound.”
THE PATTERN
God changes where people dwell, placing the isolated in a household and bringing the bound out of confinement.
He settles the uprooted woman in the house, a glad mother of children. Praise the LORD.He brings them out of darkness and the valley of deepest darkness, and tears their bonds apart.And behold, the messenger of the LORD stood over him, and a light shone in the prison, and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, "Stand up quickly." And his chains fell away from his hands.THE THREAD
He brings them out of darkness and the valley of deepest darkness, and tears their bonds apart.The verb translated “bringeth out” and the verb “brought them out” share יצא (yatsa, to go out or come forth). Psalm 107 pairs that same movement with broken bonds, making visible the exit already held in the image of the bound.
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