Saving Grace

But I am lowly and hurting.  Your rescue, O LORD, will protect me.  Psalm 69:30 [Hebrew Bible]  Robert Alter Rescue – By far the most common English rendition of this word is “salvation.”  Virtually all the popular English Bible use “May Your salvation” or something similar.  Given that the Hebrew is yĕšûʿât, it’s easy to…

The Hesitant Petitioner

But I—may my prayer to You, O LORD, come in a favorable hour.  God, as befits Your great kindness, answer me with Your steadfast rescue.  Psalm 69:14 [Hebrew Bible]  Robert Alter But I – Most English Bibles gloss this Hebrew word, rendering it as “but as for me.”  However, Alter correctly catches the hesitation, the…

When the Bible Lies

One who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will lodge in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”  For it is He who rescues you from the net of the trapper and from the deadly plague.  Psalm 91:1-3  NASB Plague – The Black Plague killed between…

A Divine Oath

Be to me a rock of dwelling to which I may continually come; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress.  Psalm 71:3  NASB The commandment – What do you think the poet means when he says that God has given the commandment to save him?  Do you think he…

Quando, Quando, Quando

Be assured, the evil person will not go unpunished, but the descendants of the righteous will be rescued.   Proverbs 11:21  NASB Will be rescued – If you’re like me you might remember the song, Quando, quando, quando.  Perhaps you never heard the original Italian version (here it is).  Of course, it’s an Italian love song. …

Poetic License

He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.  I will satisfy him with a long life, and show him My salvation. Psalm 91:15-16  NASB Rescue/ Honor – “The poet is a mortal, claimed by the gods to reveal them in words; poetry is…

Us and Them

So that people may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord.  Psalm 102:21-22  NASB So that people may tell of – Brevity.  That’s what’s happening here.  In Hebrew, לְסַפֵּר (le-saper).  One verb plus the conjunction.  And the verb is not conjugated.  It’s…

Galatian Salvation

who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,  Galatians 1:4  NASB Who gave Himself for our sins – “Jesus died on the cross so that I could be saved.”  That’s the way we usually interpret this phrase.  But is that…

Now the Enemy Shows Up

You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, for You are my strength.  Psalm 31:4  NASB Net– Caught!  Tangled up!  Trapped!  In the mind-body-spirit combination of nephesh (person), feeling captured in one area always affects the rest of life.  Often we have freedom of movement but are imprisoned inside.  We struggle to…