What Does Psalm 89:21 Mean?
With whom my hand will be set firm; my arm also will strengthen him.
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
With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.THE KEY
The same presence that stays with him both steadies him and makes him strong.
THE MEANING
The hand is established with him, and the arm strengthens him: nearness and strength arrive together. The one who is accompanied is not merely held up; he is made steady and strong.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that being supported means remaining weak: the presence that stays with him also strengthens him.
THE ROOT
תִּכּוֹן
tikon
GROWS FROM
כון
k-w-n
To be firm, set in place, or prepared.
“set firm” in this verse is tikon. The root behind “established” also carries the sense of being prepared or set in place. The hand is pictured as a firm presence with him, joining nearness to steadiness.
ALSO GROWS
hēkhīn: Prepare, make ready.
הֵכִין
The same root links being established with being made ready and set in place.
kōnēn: Establish, make firm.
כּוֹנֵן
This form makes the root’s sense of stable support explicit.
תְאַמְּצֶנּוּ
teammetzennu
GROWS FROM
אמץ
ʾ-m-ṣ
To be strong or to make strong; strength and courage.
The root behind “strengthen” also appears in words for being strong and courageous. The arm’s strength is not separate from the person’s growing steadiness; the verse holds support and strength together.
ALSO GROWS
imtsu: Be strong, be courageous.
אִמְצוּ
This related form joins the root’s strength to courage and steadfastness.
ōmets: Strength, courage.
אֹמֶץ
The noun shows that the same root names strength as a quality, not only an action done to someone.
THE PATTERN
Divine presence accompanies and sustains the person it strengthens.
Hold fast and be firm. Do not fear, and do not quake before them. For the LORD your God is the one who walks with you. He will not release you, nor leave you.Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.That he would give you, according to the riches of his weight, to be made firm with strength through his breath in the inner humankind.THE THREAD
Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.Isaiah’s אִמַּצְתִּיךָ (immatztiykha, “I strengthen you”) shares the root אמץ (ʾ-m-ṣ) with תְאַמְּצֶנּוּ (“he will strengthen him”) in this verse. Isaiah places that same strengthening beside God’s upholding hand, opening the hand-and-strength pairing further.
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