Praise the Lord, all nations; Sing His praises, all peoples! Psalm 117:1 NASB Praise the Lord – We spent more than 180 days looking through the longest psalm in the Bible (Psalm 119). After all that time, I wondered if the shortest psalm carried the same theme. So, here it is, just two verses: הַֽלְל֣וּ אֶת־יְ֖הֹוָה…
but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name. John 20:31 NASB By believing – I received an email advertisement. It contained the following: So, of course, I was interested. Not because I wanted to know the…
Yesterday I was in St. Kitts. After Psalm 119, I thought I would take a day off.
It seems appropriate to finish this study with some personal reflections. We’ve explored the 176 verses over the course of half a year. Looking at the psalm verse by verse revealed the depth and complexities of the grammar, vocabulary, and Hebraic thought patterns. But this microscopic examination might cloud the overall impact. After all, it…
I have wandered about like a lost sheep; search for Your servant, for I do not forget Your commandments. Psalm 119:176 NASB Lost sheep – This is not the verse we expected! After 175 verses of praise for the Law, of reiterated commitment to obedience, of line after line extolling God’s graciousness, we expected this verse to be…
Let my soul live that it may praise You, and let Your ordinances help me. Psalm 119:175 NASB Live/ help – We don’t need to mention the mistaken translation “soul.” You certainly know that nepeš isn’t “soul,” which is the Greek term psyche. But we should note the idea that praise can only happen while we…
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…
Let Your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen Your precepts. Psalm 119:173 NASB Help – What a wonderful verb! ʿāzar, “to help, to support.” Could you ask anything more of the Sovereign of the Universe than “help me”? Unspecified help. Whatever-is-needed help. Not even limited to my own perspective. This is help from…
Let my tongue sing about Your word, for all Your commandments are righteousness. Psalm 119:172 NASB Sing – Do you sing the psalms? It’s nice to think that this psalm is lyrical poetry designed to be sung. Many psalms are. But if we read only this English translation, we’d miss the wider implications of the use of…
Let my lips pour out praise, for You teach me Your statutes. Psalm 119:171 NASB Pour out/ teach – What’s significant about the two verbs, nābaʿ and lāmad? They’re not unusual. They don’t have some odd grammatical structure. But they do have something we need to notice, which, by the way, we don’t see in the English…
