I’m a companion to all who fear you,and to those who keep your precepts. My thoughts today took me onto the subject of companionship and friendship. Who are your friends? Why are you friends with various people? In scripture we have a tension between two views of the relationship between God’s people and those around…
I reflect on the challenges of waking up at night, often due to worry, and discusses the importance of prayer and rest for mental clarity and health improvement, but also for simple rest and relaxation.
The bonds of the wicked encompass me,I do not forget your instruction. These posts are meditations, not attempts at exegesis. I’m pretty sure the psalmist is here congratulating himself and pointing out to the Lord how he has been faithful under difficult circumstances. But what occurred to me is the number of times the “wicked,”…
I hurried, and didn’t delayin obeying your commands. The Message has an interesting way of expressing this: I was up at once, didn’t drag my feet,was quick to follow your orders. Psalm 119:60 (The Message) Some might like me to talk about what seems like a rash statement. Who can claim to have always been…
I considered my waysand turned my feet to your testimonies. As I translate it, this looks a bit like a mixed metaphor, but “turning my feet” is a idiom for “changing my ways.” I’ve been following more older translations. (See my post on Psalm 119:58). In this case there’s not a huge amount of difference,…
I seek your face with all my heart.Show me favor according to your word. A friend commenting on Facebook mentioned ancient translations, so I thought I’d mention a few of these over the next few days just to give a flavor. If you’re not that interested in this kind of detail, skip the section between…
You are my portion Lord.I have said that I will keep your word. It’s interesting to look at multiple translations of this. Many of these translations reflect ways in which my meditation was going even before I read them. Some are straightforward, such as the NRSV: “The LORD is my portion; / I promise to…
This has become mine,for I have kept your precepts. There’s an interesting translation of this verse in The Message, which may very well go back to a suggestion by Mitchell Dahood, though I don’t know that Eugene Peterson got it from that source. Still, I walk through a rain of derisionbecause I live by your…
I remembered your name in the night, Lord,So I followed your instruction. Dahood (Anchor Bible Psalms III) again has an alternate suggested, based on repointing the word translated “And I kept/guarded/followed.” I remember your name in the night YHWH,and during the watch, your law. I won’t discuss the arguments for his rendering, which I consider…
Your statues have been my songsIn my home away from home. Mitchell Dahood (Psalms III in the Anchor Bible), suggests: “Your statutes have been my defenses, / in the house of my sojourning.” He gets the translation “defenses” via Ugaritic. It’s interesting to see some alternatives in the way we translate Hebrew poetry. It is…
