Today’s Word
The Sound of Honey
How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Psalm 119:103 NASB Your words – What do Genesis 1:3, 3:1 and 3:10 have in common with Psalm 119:103? The answer is ʾāmar, the Hebrew verb for “say, speak, command, promise.” Of course, there are a lot of other verses that use this…
Final Instructions
I have not turned aside from Your judgments, for You Yourself have taught me. Psalm 119:102 NASB You Yourself – Emphasis added. The actual Hebrew text just uses ʾattâ, the second person singular pronoun, “you.” “It is appended to verbs for emphasis. Its use in oblique cases (genitive and accusative) is to afford stress to a…
The Path Not Chosen
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…
Age Before Beauty
I understand more than those who are old, because I have complied with Your precepts. Psalm 119:100 NASB More than – The grammatical error spreads. Consider the strikingly different translation of Chabad: “From the wise elders I gain understanding, for I kept Your precepts.” The NASB rearranges the syntax and translates מִזְּקֵנִ֥ים as “more than the aged”…
I’m Better Than You
I have more insight than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation. Psalm 119:99 NASB More insight – Do you remember Goldberg’s remark, “In the well-known verse Prov 4:7, ‘understanding’ is not a higher stage than ‘wisdom,’ but a poetic synonym used for emphasis.”[1] We’ll want to keep this in mind as we examine…
What Lasts?
Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever mine. Psalm 119:98 NASB For they are ever mine – We might think that the last part of this verse is straightforward. No matter if the first part is a comparative or (syntax rearranged) a declaration of need, at least the last part seems…
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