If we don’t need the Greek or the Hebrew to understand the King James then what do we do with Psalm 119? … which is the Hebrew alphabet!
Psalm 119 does not prove that an English-speaking believer must know Hebrew to understand the King James Bible. It proves something else: God originally gave that Psalm in a Hebrew poetic structure, and the King James faithfully preserves the words and divisions in English.
The headings in Psalm 119 — ALEPH, BETH, GIMEL, DALETH, etc. — are not doctrinal barriers. They are section markers. The believer can read:
“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
Psalm 119:11
without knowing one letter of Hebrew.
He can read:
“Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Psalm 119:105
without needing a Hebrew lexicon.
He can read:
“Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.”
Psalm 119:114
and understand exactly what God is saying.
The Hebrew alphabet arrangement is part of the form of the Psalm. The spiritual truth is in the words God preserved for us. The KJV gives us both enough to understand: it keeps the alphabetic headings, and it gives the inspired text in faithful English.
This is no different than reading the superscriptions of the Psalms: “To the chief Musician,” “Maschil,” “Michtam,” and so forth. A man may study those terms further, but he does not need to become a Hebrew scholar before he can believe, preach, or obey the Psalm.
That agrees with the conservative KJV position found in the reference material: the issue is not whether God originally used Hebrew and Greek — He did — but whether God is limited to those languages. One article states plainly that God gave the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New Testament in Greek, but then asks, “Is God limited to using particular languages?” and points out that the New Testament writers quoted the Old Testament across language lines. It also states the position that the KJB is God’s preserved Word for English-speaking people.
So what do we do with Psalm 119?
We receive it as it stands in the King James Bible. We acknowledge that its original structure was Hebrew. We appreciate the alphabetic divisions. But we do not surrender the understanding of the Psalm to Hebrew scholars, especially when many of them use the languages to correct the Bible rather than submit to it.
The Bible itself says:
“The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
Psalm 119:130
It does not say, “The entrance of Hebrew grammar giveth light.”
A man may learn something interesting by studying the alphabetic structure of Psalm 119, but he does not need Hebrew to understand its doctrine: love God’s Word, keep God’s commandments, hate false ways, seek holiness, trust the LORD, and let Scripture govern the heart.
The Hebrew alphabet in Psalm 119 is a beautiful feature of the original form. It is not a chain binding English believers to the scholar’s desk before they can know what God said.
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