Deal with Your servant according to Your graciousness, and teach me Your statutes. Psalm 119:124 NASB According to – Perhaps the most important word in this verse is the preposition ki. It’s attached to the word ḥesed like this: כְחַסְדֶּ֗ךָ (ke–ḥăsdĕ’-kā, “according to ḥesed yours”). Such a tiny addition. Why is it so critical? Because the psalmist…
I have done justice and righteousness; do not leave me to my oppressors. Psalm 119:121 NASB Ayin 121 I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors. עָשִׂיתִי מִשְׁפָּ֣ט וָצֶ֑דֶק בַּל־תַּ֜נִּיחֵ֗נִי לְעֹֽשְׁקָֽי 122 Be a guarantor for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me. עֲרֹ֣ב עַבְדְּךָ֣ לְט֑וֹב אַל־יַֽעַשְׁקֻ֥נִי זֵדִֽים 123 My eyes…
Revive me according to Your faithfulness, so that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth. Psalm 119:88 NASB Revive – We’ve been at this for quite a while. Perhaps “revive” is the right term for the halfway point. Halfway through the longest psalm, we should pause and ask ourselves, “Why is the poet spending…
May Your favor [ad]comfort me, according to Your [ae]word to Your servant. Psalm 119:76 NASB Comfort – We start this investigation by noting two things: 1) the opening in Hebrew is not translated in this NASB version. That opening is necessary for the acrostic pattern. It is יְהִי־נָ֣א, with a yod, and should probably be translated “O,…
The earth is full of Your goodness, Lord; teach me Your statutes. Psalm 119:64 NASB Goodness – There’s hardly a more insipid translation of ḥesed than the crop of English expressions in Bible translations. We have “love, unfailing love, steadfast love, loving devotion, mercy, goodness, lovingkindness, faithful love, mercies, constant love, kindness.” None really capture the…
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…
But now faith, hope, and love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NASB The greatest – How many times have you read this verse? How often have you been told that love is the answer? How frequently has Christian theology proclaimed that God’s fundamental characteristic is love? All of these questions…
But I—may my prayer to You, O LORD, come in a favorable hour. God, as befits Your great kindness, answer me with Your steadfast rescue. Psalm 69:14 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter But I – Most English Bibles gloss this Hebrew word, rendering it as “but as for me.” However, Alter correctly catches the hesitation, the…
Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am wretched. Heal me, for my limbs are stricken. Psalm 6:3 Robert Alter My limbs – Now you will read a reflection that I wrote more than a month ago. My left knee still hurts, every day, all the time. But it isn’t excruciating. No wheelchair. Nevertheless, it’s…
I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. John 13:34 NASB New – But this isn’t new at all, is it? Leviticus 19:18—“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Yeshua even cites this passage as the equivalent of loving God. So, how can…
