How long, O LORD, will You forget me always? How long hide Your face from me? How long shall I cast about for counsel, sorrow in my heart all day? How long will my enemy loom over me? Psalm 13:2-3 [Hebrew] Robert Alter How long? – We covered the Hebrew intensity of this phrase nearly…
For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes 1:18 NIV Grief – It’s the weight that hurts. The deep sense of sadness. Not just about the world’s mad dash toward destruction. Not just the unspeakable evil perpetrated upon the voiceless masses. Not just the moral inequity of economic and…
And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 NASB Weakness – Is God weak? Our immediate reaction is “No! Of course not! God can do anything. He…
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. Psalm 139:2 NASB Understand– If God “knows” everything about me, then why do we also read, “You understand”? Isn’t knowing and understanding pretty much the same thing? As it turns out, in Hebrew these two ideas are different, and the difference is precisely…
Make me to hear joy and gladness, let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Psalm 51:8 NASB You have broken – Broken bones and a broken heart. David eventually connects the two (as we will see in verse 17), but he starts with the impact of sin before he can reach the reconciliation of…
O God, You have rejected us. You have broken us; You have been angry; O, restore us. Psalm 60:1 [English] NASB Angry – Emotionally-charged breathing. That’s the metaphorical intention of the use of ‘ap, the Hebrew word associated with nostril or nose. Hebrew is an intensely tactile language, employing dozens of idioms and metaphors from…
God has spoken in His holiness: “I will exult, I will portion out Shechem and measure out the valley of Succoth. Psalm 60:6 NASB Will exult – Do you feel it? God does. Yes, that’s right, God rejoices. Don’t for one minute think of the immutable, impassible God of Aquinas or Luther or Calvin. God is…
Lead me in Your truth and instruct me, for You are the God of my rescue. In You do I hope every day. Psalm 25:5 Robert Alter translation Rescue – When Michael W. Smith sings, “I’m lost without You,” I don’t think he has Torah in mind. But he should. Our popular Christian culture is…
Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 1 Peter 4:1 NASB Suffered in the flesh – “Do you need a permanent solution to sin?” I don’t mean, “Do you need forgiveness and relief from the…
to sum up, let all be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kind-hearted and humble in spirit” 1 Peter 3:8 NASB Kind-hearted – eusplanchnoi in Greek. Wow! Don’t even try to say this word. The prefix eu means “well” or “good” (you remember eulogize?). But “good” what? The second part of the word (splanchnon) means “intestine” or in…
