What Does Psalm 87:7 Mean?
As well the singers as the dancers are there; all my springs are in you.
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
As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.THE KEY
The Hebrew word for “spring” belongs to the same word-family as “eye,” so Zion is pictured as the source of both life and sight.
THE MEANING
As you speak these words, the place addressed as “you” becomes the home of your deepest sources. Song and water rise together from that belonging; what sustains you is gathered in the presence you address.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that your sources of life are scattered and unrelated; it gathers them in one presence.
THE ROOT
מַעְיָנַי
maʿyanay
GROWS FROM
עין
Eye; also spring or fountain, a source that wells up.
English gives “springs” and “eyes” separate words, while this Hebrew word-family holds both senses. The singer’s claim that every spring is in “you” can therefore evoke a place from which both life and vision arise.
ALSO GROWS
ʿayin: Eye; also a spring or source.
עַיִן
The shared Hebrew word connects seeing with the image of water welling up.
maʿyan: Spring, fountain.
מַעְיָן
This is the singular form behind “my springs,” placing the singer’s sources in the one addressed.
THE PATTERN
Life is pictured as a spring held in one presence and flowing outward from there.
He sends the springs into the valleys, and they walk between the hills.For with you is the spring of life; in your light we see light.The one who leans his weight into me, as the writing has said, rivers of living waters will flow from his belly.THE THREAD
He sends the springs into the valleys, and they walk between the hills.Both verses use מַעְיָן (maʿyan, spring), from עין (ʿayin), the Hebrew word-family for eye and spring. Psalm 104 shows springs sent through valleys; Psalm 87 gathers all the singer’s springs in “thee,” making the addressed place a source, not merely a destination.
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