And I will keep your instruction (Torah) continuallyforever and ever. For another sense of Hebrew parallelism, note the short 2nd line here, “forever and ever.” This is parallel with “continually” and suggests a combined “all the time for all time.” If we hadn’t just read a number of verses in which the Psalmist expresses dependence…
Never take the word of truth from my mouthfor I place my hope in your judgments. Tomorrow morning I’ll be leading a discussion of John Wesley in my Sunday School class. The notes in the book we’re using point especially to Wesley’s view of prevenient grace and to Christian perfection. It’s interesting to take these…
Now I can return my taunter a word,For I trust in your word. The lesson here is both simple and profound. Some of my background thoughts on it are in my post on Psalm 119:38. In Hebrew poetry, making a thought parallel by using synonyms is common, as for example in Psalm 119:30, “I have…
Let your grace (chesed) come to me;Rescue me according to your word. I’m sure you can see where the “grace” and “rescue” come from in my title, but what is this matter of “response”? We’ve already talked about grace and rescue, and will do so again before I’m finished with these verse-by-verse meditations. But what…
I long for your precepts.By your righteousness give me life. I spent a good deal of time thinking about the phrase “by your righteousness.” It could be understood in a number of different ways. Two of these would be “in your righteousness” and “with your righteousness.” The second of these might lead Christians into a…
Turn away from me my reproachwhich I fearfor your judgments are good. You’ll find lots of translations for the word I’ve translated as “reproach” if you compare a few versions. That’s because it’s a word with a good range of meanings and the verse doesn’t help a great deal with the context. For example, is…
Turn my eyes away from looking at what is futile;Give me life in your pathway. This one seems pretty obvious. Recently we looked at Isaiah 55:2 – “Why spend your money on what is not food, and your labor for what doesn’t satisfy.” The question becomes exactly what is vain? What is futile? There are…
Turn my mind to your testimonies,And not to ill-gotten gain. How about some alternatives. Hearten my mind to your testimoniesand not to extortion. Bob MacDonald, Seeing the Psalter, 382 Dispose my heart towards your instruction,not towards love of gain. Psalm 119:36 (REB) Christians frequently speak of the Hebrew scriptures (the Old Testament) as a book…
Make me walk in the path of your commands,For in it I take delight. On first read, this verse can sound very strange. Some translations and some interpreters tend to take a less forceful reading of the first verb, the one I translate “make me walk.” We sometimes think that we do what we want…
Give me understanding, and I will keep your Instruction (Torah).I will guard it with my entire mind. The heart, in ancient Israel, represented the mind or intellect. I have translated this as “mind.” This goes with the beginning of the verse, “Give me understanding.” There’s a basic principle here that I find repeatedly in scripture:…
