For You—whom You struck they pursued, and they recounted the pain of Your victims. Psalm 69:27 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter Whom You struck – When did God strike you? The verb is nākâ, used some 500 times in the Tanakh, often for physical injury or even death. But that’s not the way it’s used here. …
And the men of Ai struck and killed about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them on the mountainside; and the hearts of the people melted and became like water. Joshua 7:5 NASB Struck and killed – You know the story. Joshua sends out his army…
My heart has been struck like grass and has withered, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread. Psalm 102:4 NASB Has been struck – We might use the idiom “Go pound sand!” but I’ve never heard anyone say, “Go beat grass!” That makes me wonder what the psalmist had in mind when he chose this verb, nākâ. Certainly…
The sun will not smite you by day, nor the moon by night. Psalm 121:6 NASB Smite – I understand the connection to the sun. The Hebrew verb, nākâ (strike, hit, slay, beat, kill) makes perfect sense when you’re wandering the desert. But how does this apply to the moon? Never have I thought that the…
