The Short List

I long for Your salvation, Lord, and Your Law is my delight.  Psalm 119:174  NASB

Long – Twice.  The Hebrew tāʾeb is used only twice, here and in verse 40 of this psalm.  The derivative, taʿăbâ, is only used once, in verse 20 of the same psalm.

Psalm 119:40 “Behold, I long for Your precepts; . . .”

Psalm 119:20 “My soul is crushed with longing after Your ordinances . . .”

This makes rendering the word in English very difficult.  Why?  Because there is no context to determine how the word is used outside of this one psalm.  Alter translates the Hebrew as “pine away” in verse 20, but “desired” in verse 40.  At least he is consistent with tāʾeb, translating this verse (174) as “I desired Your rescue . . .”  Chabad, on the other hand, renders verse 20 and 40 with “longing” and this verse with “yearned.”  In most English Bibles you’re stuck with the translators’ choice of synonyms without any indication that the underlying word is the same root or a derivative.  So, what does it really mean?  Well . . . the best we can do is look for any similar saying in this psalm, and that leads us to “hope,” “wait,” or “yearn.”  However . . .

There is another Hebrew word made up of the same consonants found only one time in Amos 6:8.  Without the diacritical Masoretic pointing, this word looks exactly the same.  How is the word used in Amos where it is a hapax legomenon?  Here’s the verse:

The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of armies has declared: “I loathe the arrogance of Jacob, and detest his citadels; therefore I will give up the city and all it contains.”

Can you guess which word is the consonant combination of תאב?  Here’s the Hebrew text (to give you a clue).  I’ve highlighted the word.

נִשְׁבַּע֩ אֲדֹנָ֨י יֱהֹוִ֜ה בְּנַפְשׁ֗וֹ נְאֻם־יְהֹוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י צְבָא֔וֹת מְתָאֵ֚ב אָֽנֹכִי֙ אֶת־גְּא֣וֹן יַֽעֲקֹ֔ב וְאַרְמְנֹתָ֖יו שָׂנֵ֑אתִי וְהִסְגַּרְתִּ֖י עִ֥יר וּמְלֹאָֽהּ

What we find in this hapax legomenon is an extremely intense emotion.  In Amos, tāʾab (pointed with the vowel “a” instead of “e”) is translated “loathe.”  You will recall that the psalmist uses another word for “loathe.”  In verse 158, the Hebrew verb is qûṭ, intense disgust, so intense that it is repulsive and wants to make us get rid of the object.  In verse 163, the Hebrew verb is tôʿēbâ, from the root tāʿab.  You might think this is the same verb used in our verse, 174, but the verb in 163 is spelled Tav-Ayin-Bet, whereas here it is Tav-Aleph-Bet.  It sounds the same, but it surely isn’t the same verb, even though the meaning seems quite similar.  tāʿab, with an Ayin.  Its  “basic meanings in the Piel are ‘abhor, loathe’ in a physical sense (Job 9:31; 19:19; 30:10; Ps 107:18) and ‘detest, exclude’ for ritual or ethical reasons (Deut 7:26; 23:7 [H 8]). Often the two meanings coalesce (Amos 5:10; Mic 3:9); in any event, the subject may be either God (Ps 106:40) or man (Isa 49:7). In the Hiphil, the verb means ‘commit abominable/detestable deeds’ (I Kgs 21:26; Ps 14:1; 53:1 [H 2]; Ezk 16:52), while in the Niphal it means ‘be loathesome [sic], detestable’ (I Chr 21:6; Job 15:16; Isa 14:19).^[1]

You will remember the meaning of the derivative, tôʿēbâ:

As with the verb, so also with the noun the abomination may be of a physical, ritual or ethical nature and may be abhorred by God or man. Sharing a meal with a Hebrew was ritually offensive to an Egyptian (Gen 43:32), as was offering certain kinds of sacrifices (Ex 8:22). Homosexuality and other perversions are repugnant to God and fall under his judgment (Lev 18:22–30; 20:13). Idolatry (Deut 7:25), human sacrifice (Deut 12:31), eating ritually unclean animals (Deut 14:3–8), sacrificing defective animals (Deut 17:1), conducting one’s business dishonestly (Deut 25:13–16), practicing ritual prostitution (I Kgs 14:23f.), and similar acts of disobedience (for seven more abominations, see the list in Prov 6:16–19) were sure to bring God’s wrath on those who perpetrated them. ^[2]

But here the psalmist uses a different spelling, Tav-Aleph-Bet, and since this spelling is essentially a hapax legomenon, the tendency is to translate the word with Tav-Ayin-Bet in the background.  In other words, to translate it as intense, powerful emotion in a positive direction, rather than in a negative direction like “loathe.”  So, we end up with “long for” or “desire” (not quite strong enough, I think).  But in the end, it’s a guess, unless the poet misspelled (deliberately?) the word.

What do we learn aside from the grammar?  Two things.  First, the psalmist finds extreme joy in God’s Law.  He never thinks of the Torah as restrictive regulation.  It’s nothing but pleasure to serve God through obedience.  I wonder if we experience the same delight.  And secondly, he aches to the core of his very being for God’s salvation.  The same intensity of overwhelming emotional experience that accompanies his joy in the Law also stabs him with grieving because the Law presents him with the perfection of life in God, and the world doesn’t.  He experiences a taste of the heavenly—and confronts the reality of its corruption.  As much as he leaps up the mountaintop of the Law, he falls into the depths of the world’s idolatry.  That’s the emotional rollercoaster of tāʾeb.

Is that how you feel?

Topical Index: tāʾeb, long for, desire, hapax legomenon, tāʾab, Psalm 119:174

^[1] Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., Jr., & Waltke, B. K., eds. (1999). In Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 976). Moody Press.

^[2] Ibid.