What Does Psalm 9:10 Mean?
Those who know your name lean their weight on you, for you do not let go of those who seek you, LORD.
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
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.THE KEY
The verse makes trust the fruit of recognizing God’s nature, not merely learning God’s name.
THE MEANING
The name here is the LORD’s שֵׁם (shem, name as nature): as you come to know who God is, trust takes root. Seeking does not leave you outside; the verse says the LORD has not abandoned those who seek.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You do not have to become certain before you begin seeking; the verse holds seeking and not being forsaken together.
THE ROOT
יֹדְעֵי
yod'ei
GROWS FROM
י-ד-ע
yada
To know, perceive, or recognize through encounter.
“know” in this verse is yod'ei. The form here means “those knowing,” and its object is the LORD’s שֵׁם (shem, name as nature). The knowing is relational recognition of who God is, not merely memorizing a title; that recognition becomes ground for trust.
ALSO GROWS
yada: to know or perceive
יָדַע
In Genesis 4:1, the same verb describes intimate knowing, showing its relational depth.
da'at: knowledge or understanding
דַּעַת
This noun from the same root points to knowledge that grows from knowing, rather than from a name alone.
יִבְטְחוּ
yivteḥu
GROWS FROM
ב-ט-ח
batach
To trust, feel secure, or rely with confidence.
“lean their weight on” in this verse is yivteḥu. The Hebrew trust-word carries the sense of being secure, not only agreeing with a claim. Set beside “hast not forsaken,” it rests on the LORD’s character as one who remains present to seekers.
ALSO GROWS
batach: to trust or feel secure
בָּטַח
This verb names trust as a settled confidence, the response of those who recognize the LORD’s nature.
mivtaḥ: confidence or refuge
מִבְטָח
This related noun shows how trust can name a place of security, illuminating the confidence the verse describes.
דֹּרְשֶׁיךָ
doreshêkha
GROWS FROM
ד-ר-ש
darash
To seek, inquire, or consult.
“seek” in this verse is doreshêkha. The verse describes seekers as people actively turning toward the LORD, then answers that seeking with the assurance that they are not abandoned. Knowing and seeking meet here: recognition grounds trust, while inquiry remains met by the LORD’s presence.
ALSO GROWS
darash: to seek or inquire
דָּרַשׁ
The verb makes seeking an active orientation, not a passing glance.
midrash: exposition or interpretive inquiry
מִדְרָשׁ
This related word preserves the root’s searching quality, echoing the purposeful seeking named in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Trust grows from recognizing God’s character, while the seeker is met by a God who knows and does not abandon.
O taste and see that the LORD is good. Flourishing is the strong one who takes shelter in him.I am the good shepherd. I perceive my own, and my own perceive me.But now, after you have known God, or rather have been known by God, how do you turn back again to the weak and emptied elements, to which you desire to serve again?THE THREAD
Release your grip, and perceive that I AM God; I am lifted high among the nations, I am lifted high in the earth.“Know” comes from the same Hebrew root י-ד-ע (yada, know or perceive) as the word in Psalm 9:10. The shared root links trust to recognizing who God is, while Psalm 9:10 names the evidence of that nature: the LORD does not abandon seekers.
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