Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2 NASB Guilt/ sin – “This time I will praise the Lord.” So said Leah (Genesis 29:35) on the birth of Judah. But “praise” isn’t the only derivative of this Hebrew word, yādâ. It can also mean “confess, give thanks.” It is the…
Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2 NASB Guilt/ sin – Jonathan Sacks makes a very important point about guilt. Do you remember? “. . . Judaism is overwhelmingly a guilt rather than a shame culture. Shame attaches to the person. Guilt attaches to the act. . . In…
Add guilt upon their guilt, and let them have no part in Your bounty. Psalm 69:28 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter Guilt – In order to understand the ramifications of this Hebrew word—ʿāwōn—we need to read the explanation provided by Schultz: We note in the first place that the noun is a collective. Thus God says…
Woe, offending nation, people weighed down with crime, seed of evildoers, sons acting ruinously. They have forsaken the LORD, scorned Israel’s Holy One, they have fallen behind. Isaiah 1:4 Robert Alter Woe, offending nation – Robert Alter’s translation of the Hebrew Bible attempts to use the same English words for the same Hebrew words whenever…
For I am ready to fall, and my sorrow is continually before me. For I admit my guilt; I am full of anxiety because of my sin. Psalm 38:17-18 NASB Admit my guilt – The Hebrew verb nāgad means “to make known.” TWOT elaborates, “to place a matter high, conspicuous before a person.”[1] In the social context of Israel, this…
“With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity; You consume as a moth what is precious to him; surely every man is a mere breath.” Selah. Psalm 39:11 NASB Reproofs– The apostolic letters don’t stray far from roots in the Tanakh. We should not be surprised. The letters are commentary on the Bible of the apostles, the Tanakh. So…
