They stand this day by Your ordinances, for all things are Your servants. Psalm 119:91 NASB They – The odd thing about pronouns is that without a reference point we have little idea what they actually mean. If I were to write, “He said something critically important,” but I didn’t tell you who “he” is, how could…
At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You because of Your righteous judgments. Psalm 119:62 NASB Midnight – Maybe we should start this one with a little Eric C. CLICK HERE Does that put you in the mood? Despite this great tune, the psalmist has another midnight in mind. The Hebrew ḥēṣôt layĕlâ needs some…
I have remembered Your judgments from [t]of old, Lord, and comfort myself. Psalm 119:52 NASB Comfort myself – Wait a minute! Didn’t we just look at this idea (v. 50)? Remember the discussion about “comfort” versus “consolation”? And what is “consolation” in these situations? The poet chooses the term, neḥāmâ, found in this form only once more in…
My soul is crushed with longing for Your ordinances at all times. Psalm 119:20 NASB Crushed – Put in the place of emphasis, gāraš is first in the sentence. Of course, that also continues the acrostic, but here we have a word used only once (maybe twice) in the Tanakh. It’s a good thing a derivative…
I will meditate on Your precepts and [f]regard Your ways. Psalm 119:15 NASB Precepts – This Hebrew word is a derivative of the root pāqad. That means we may have some difficulties understanding what this means. “It has been said of this verb, which occurs more than three hundred times in the ot; ‘There is probably no other…
With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of Your mouth. Psalm 119:13 NASB I have told – Oral transmission. How often we forget that Israel’s ancient cultural was oral. Yes, of course, the fundamentals were written on those stone tablets, but the transmission of the message, the training in righteousness, the legacy and history…
I will give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, when I learn Your righteous judgments. Psalm 119:7 NASB Uprightness – It’s not a familiar English word although we have no trouble reading it. But what exactly does “uprightness” mean? Alter translates yōšer as “honest.” That’s better if we understand the literal meaning of the term….
How has the faithful town become a whore? Filled with justice where righteousness did lodge, and now—murderers. Isaiah 1:21 Robert Alter How – אֵיכָכָה (ʾêkākâh) how? There doesn’t appear to be anything remarkable about this, right? It’s just an interrogative. After all God’s pleading with Israel, it doesn’t seem strange to ask how all this…
Then the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is…
For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor follow other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I…
