What Does Psalm 94:14 Mean?
For the LORD will not cast off his people, and will not let go of his inheritance.
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
For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.THE KEY
The verse denies abandonment twice, with two different Hebrew verbs, then grounds that refusal in a startling claim: the people are God’s own inheritance.
THE MEANING
You are named both as his people and as his inheritance; neither relation is discarded. The verse grounds its assurance in belonging: the LORD does not push his people away or leave his own portion behind.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that God’s claim on you is temporary and can disappear without warning.
THE ROOT
יִטֹּשׁ
yiṭṭōš
GROWS FROM
נטש
To leave behind or abandon.
“cast off” in this verse is yiṭṭōš. This verb can describe leaving land uncultivated or leaving something behind. Here its negation says God does neither with his people; beside the next line’s עזב, it forms a double refusal in two distinct verbs.
ALSO GROWS
ūnəṭaštāh: Leave the land uncultivated, as in Exodus 23:11, where the KJV says to let it rest and lie still.
וּנְטַשְׁתָּהּ
The same root can describe leaving ground unworked; here, the verse says God does not leave his people outside his care.
nāṭaštî: A first-person form meaning I have left or abandoned, as in Jeremiah 12:7.
נָטַשְׁתִּי
The verb names the very act this verse denies: leaving behind what is called God’s heritage.
יַעֲזֹב
yaʿazōv
GROWS FROM
עזב
To leave, abandon, or relinquish.
“let go of” in this verse is yaʿazōv. This root can describe leaving one household to form a new bond, as well as the state of being abandoned. Here it gathers into a direct assurance: God’s people are not the ones he leaves behind.
ALSO GROWS
leave: Leave, as in Genesis 2:24, where a person leaves father and mother to cleave to a spouse.
יַעֲזֹב
The same root can describe departure that begins a new bond; here, the verse declares that God does not depart from his people.
forsaken: Abandoned or forsaken, as in Isaiah 62:4.
עֲזוּבָה
The word can name abandonment as a condition; this verse denies that condition for the people God claims.
נַחֲלָתוֹ
naḥălātô
GROWS FROM
נחל
To inherit or possess an allotted share.
The people are described not only as those God protects, but as his own allotted portion. The refusal to forsake them is grounded in belonging: he does not relinquish what he calls his inheritance.
ALSO GROWS
inherit: To receive or possess an allotted share.
נָחַל
The verb carries the sense of taking or holding a portion that belongs to someone.
inheritance: An inherited or allotted share.
נַחֲלָה
This noun appears in Deuteronomy 32:9, which calls the LORD’s people his portion and the lot of his inheritance.
THE PATTERN
God’s belonging is expressed as a refusal to abandon: the one who claims a people does not leave them behind.
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.For the LORD loves judgment and does not leave his faithful ones. They are guarded for the ages, but the seed of the wicked will be cut off.Let your way of living be without the love of silver, and let what is at hand be enough, for he has said, I will never let go of you, nor leave you behind.THE THREAD
For the LORD's portion is his people; Jacob is the measuring cord of his inheritance.This verse names God’s people as his portion and calls them the lot of his inheritance, the same נַחֲלָה (naḥălāh, allotted share) named here. The root link opens the logic: the promise is not only that God stays near, but that he does not relinquish what he calls his own.
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