I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, for all my ways are before You. Psalm 119:168 NASB All my ways – “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” The Yogi Berra quote is just about what it means when the psalmist writes kōl-derākăy’ (“all my paths”). Since the map he follows is written…
I have restrained my feet from every evil way, so that I may keep Your word. Psalm 119:101 NASB Restrained – “When you come to a fork in the road, take it,” said Yogi Bera. Perhaps he was right. The rabbis taught that when a man wishes to follow the way of God, the Lord will…
Lord, I remember Your name in the night, and keep Your Law. Psalm 119:55 NASB In the night – Does this verse seem a little too pedestrian? Too trivial? Why should we care at all about what we remember in the night? What does it matter when we’re on our way to sleep? Ah, but then there’s…
And I shall keep Your Torah constantly, forever and ever. Psalm 119:44 Chabad I shall keep – What is the psalmist actually saying? Is he claiming that if God allows him to speak the whole truth (verse 43), he will then keep Torah forever? Or is he saying that, unlike Moses, he knows God gives…
You have granted me life and goodness; and Your care has guarded my spirit. Job 10:12 NASB Care – Be very careful with this one. “It has been said of this verb, which occurs more than three hundred times in the ot; ‘There is probably no other Hebrew verb that has caused translators as much trouble…
For my enemies have spoken against me; and those who watch for my life have consulted together, Psalm 71:10 NASB Watch for my life – Don’t read this as if others are watching over you! In this verse, the psalmist identifies those who watch in order to see him fail. They’ve teamed up with his enemies and…
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success. Joshua 1:8 NASB Careful – Step…
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” And he said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9 NASB Keeper? – How do you know if you’re human? No, I’m not asking if you’re homo sapien. That’s a matter of biology. I’m asking something more. I’m asking about ethics. Just…
The Lord will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. Psalm 121:7 NASB You – I suppose there are two questions to be asked about this verse. The first is, “Who is the Lord going to protect from all evil?” Who’s “you”? The second is “When is God going to do this?” If we…
Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. Psalm 121:4 NASB Keeps Israel – God watches over Israel. That’s basically the story of the Bible. The Bible is “God’s anthropology” (Heschel) where God’s dealing with anthropos (men) is narrated from the perspective of God’s interaction with Israel. That includes outreach to the nations,…
