I will meditate on Your precepts and [f]regard Your ways. Psalm 119:15 NASB Regard – If you didn’t read it in Hebrew, you might expect that the translated word is šāmaʿ (shama). “Hear, O Israel,” is the equivalent of “Do, O Israel” as šāmaʿ means both “to hear” and “to do.” But surprising alternatives are often the tradecraft…
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…
I will meditate on Your precepts and [f]regard Your ways. Psalm 119:15 NASB Meditate – I think we’ve thoroughly modernized this one. Even Alter writes, “Let me dwell on Your decrees.” Both terms (meditate and dwell) move the thought from verbalization to contemplation. Both ignore the oral culture of the 10th Century B.C.E. Notice Cohen’s remark about the…
I will meditate on your precepts, and fix my eyes on your ways. Psalm 119:15 Meditate – Perhaps we “meditate” more than we think. For us, meditation usually implies something like quiet and deliberate reflection. But the Hebrew word siyach has some unusual history and application that just might open the door to a different…
