For I know my wrongdoings, And my sin is constantly before me. Psalm 51:3 NASB Constantly before me – What’s it like to live with constant reminders of your mistakes? What if your worst sins were never forgotten, never faded away? Douglas Murray’s comment about the omniscient, unforgiving internet is a terrifying specter of living in…
Wash me thoroughly from my guilt and cleanse me from my sin. Psalm 51:2 NASB Guilt/ sin – Jonathan Sacks makes a very important point about guilt. Do you remember? “. . . Judaism is overwhelmingly a guilt rather than a shame culture. Shame attaches to the person. Guilt attaches to the act. . . In…
Be gracious to me, God, according to Your faithfulness; according to the greatness of Your compassion, wipe out my wrongdoings. Psalm 51:1 NASB Wipe out – Do you know the pseudepigraphical “Prayer of Manasseh”? Perhaps you should. Here it is: O Lord Almighty, God of our ancestors, of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and of their righteous…
Arise, Lord; save me, my God! For You [d]have struck all my enemies on the [e]cheek; You [f]have shattered the teeth of the wicked. Psalm 3:7 NASB Have struck – If you wanted to rid yourself of all your enemies, would you be satisfied to simply strike them each on the cheek? I don’t think so. You and I would probably want…
I am full of shame, and conscious of my misery. Job 10:15b NASB Shame – You might think that the Hebrew word here is the common word translated “shame,” i.e., bôš. That word is found in verses like Psalm 25:2 (“Let me not be ashamed”). Its primary meaning is public humiliation. “to fall into disgrace, normally through…
Then I will not be ashamed when I look at all Your commandments. Psalm 119:6 NASB Not be ashamed – It’s worth reiterating the difference between our contemporary, psychological idea of “shame” and the ancient Hebrew idea. As we’ve discovered before: The primary meaning of this root is “to fall into disgrace, normally through failure, either…
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1 NIV Teach us – Do you find it odd that the disciples asked Yeshua to teach them to pray? We know, of course, that they…
It is You who know my reproach, and my shame and disgrace before all my foes. Psalm 69:20 [Hebrew Bible] Robert Alter Reproach – “In a White House eager to distance itself from allegations of nepotism, corruption and grifting, Hunter Biden is the problem that simply won’t go away.”[1] We’re not so familiar with the word “reproach,”…
Now it will come about that instead of balsam oil there will be a stench; Instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp; instead of fine clothes, a robe of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Isaiah 3:24 NASB Branding instead of – Something is missing from the Masoretic text, and because something is missing,…
Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, Lord, You know it all. Psalm 139:4 NASB You know it all – God knows everything, right? Theologically, the idea is called omniscience. This verse in Psalms supports the doctrine even if the actual Hebrew is only about words. It’s clear that the Psalmist means God knows…
