Take Two Aspirin

I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, Lord, according to Your word.  Psalm 119:107  NASB

Revive – By this time it will come as no surprise that the verb here is ḥāyâ (to live, have life).  The choice of “revive” comes from the tone of the verse, not from the literal translation.  As you can see in the Chabad translation, there’s a lot of latitude here:

I have been exceedingly humbled; O Lord, sustain me according to Your word.  Chabad

In English, revive and sustain have very different nuances.  In Hebrew, it’s all captured under the ḥāyâ umbrella.  Indo-European languages like English developed this specificity along Greek lines where each nuance produced a different, related word.  Not so Hebrew.  One word does the work of many ideas, nuanced in oral delivery.  So, when we read Hebrew, we must remember that the individual choice of a word by the translator usually only scratches the surface of the complexity under the umbrella.

With that in mind, what do you suppose the poet wants you to hear?  Under great affliction (or is it oppression, or stress, or humiliation, or forced compliance, or sorrow, or grief, or punishment—or all of that?), how does he respond?  The answer depends on how I read ʿānâ mĕʾōd.  ʿānâ mĕʾōd is affliction (or any of the other choices) amplified.  If I think it means very stressed, I might choose refresh.  If I think it means severely oppressed, I might choose sustain.  If I choose exceedingly afflicted, I might choose revive.  You can appreciate the array of possibilities.  So, both the NASB and the Chabad versions are potentially correct because we really don’t know what the author had in mind.  We get the idea, but the actual, nuanced meaning is lost to us.

This is an important lesson in translation.  We may claim that the Hebrew text is fixed, that God has overseen its history, that it has an authorized inerrancy.  But that doesn’t mean any of the translations are perfect.  Hebrew itself is “messy.”  There is always room for another way to read the text.  Since these word-umbrellas offer so many different combinations, it’s critically important not to claim one has priority over another.  In other words, 1) there is no perfect translation, and 2) any doctrine that depends on one particular reading of the text is too short-sighted.  When it comes to the Hebrew canon, flexibility is the proper approach.  Ideas are often more important than the details.

What is the idea here?  The author expects God to offer some sort of assistance or recovery in the midst of trials.  That assistance will be within the framework of “Your word,” and since “word” here is dābār, we can expect this assistance to follow either written or spoken communication.  What does that mean?  It means that our expectation of recovery isn’t limited to what the authorized text reveals.  It means that God is not in a theological box.  He can (and often does) respond in any way He wishes.  And the poet recognizes this.  There is no formula to God’s reply.  In fact, if anything He is the God of surprises.

Topical Index: ʿānâ mĕʾōd, affliction, dābār, word, surprises, Psalm 119:107