Vav – Some Hebrew Magic (1)

May Your favor also come to me, Lord, Your salvation according to Your [o]word; Psalm 119:41  NASB Also come to me – Here’s the vav section of our acrostic.  Notice the first word of the first line –  וִֽיבֹאֻ֣נִי.  You’ll see the vav but you might not know how it works.  Let me explain.  Vav has two functions.  As…

Coming and Going (2)

Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry!  Psalm 88:2  NASB Let . . . come before You – The first thing you should notice is the change in syntax.  In Hebrew the verb comes first.  So, it reads, “Let come before You my prayer.”  The action is the important thing.  What…

God’s Subpoena

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord,  Isaiah 1:18a  NJKV Come now – You probably remember this verse in its King James version suggesting that God wants you to enter into a rational discussion with Him (“reason together”).  I’ve often heard this phrase cited in classical apologetics, and, of course, the rest of the…

Coming and Going

Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry!  Psalm 88:2  NASB Let . . . come before You – The first thing you should notice is the change in syntax.  In Hebrew the verb comes first.  So, it reads, “Let come before You my prayer.”  The action is the important thing.  What…

Walking Backwards

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me.  Exodus 8:1  NASB Go – We all know that Hebrew is backwards.  After all, it reads from right to left.  The “proper” way is to read from left to right,…

Breathing Room

Hear my prayer, Lord!  And let my cry for help come to You.  Psalm 102:1  NASB Come to You – “‘There are three ways in which a man expresses deep sorrow: the man on the lowest level cries; the man on the second level is silent; the man on the highest level knows how to turn his…

Left Behind

But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8 NASB Go away – Peter’s reaction to being in the presence of a holy man is Hebraic. “Depart from me for I am a sinner.” Peter doesn’t flee. That…

A Short Delay

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.”  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.  Revelation 22:20  NASB Come – In the penultimate verse of Scripture, John exclaims what we have all felt at one time or another.  “Come, please come, and let’s get on with it!”  The problem with this verse is not…

Where Is It?

“Thy Kingdom come,” Matthew 6:10 Come – There is little doubt that the Greek text of Matthew reads eltheto.  Literally, the verse is “Let come the kingdom of You.”  Eltheto is an active imperative.  That means it is a command – a call to action – not simply an observation.  There are plenty of commentaries…