TheBibleNet: Psalm 119a

Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106

Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles

Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language

By some distance the longest of all the Psalms, at a mere 176 verses. Acrostical, and each acrostical set comes as an octet, and always a Pey break to separate the octets. There is no letter Seen. There is no evidence of a second-letter acrostic (keeping the second letters in alphabetical order, even if the eight chosen are random), which seems to me rather disappointing (and why does the Internet, amongst its million emojis, not have a face with its tongue properly in its cheek: another serious disappointment).

The sun-god emoji, half yevarechecah
half histir panav

What does the acrostic do for the poem, besides existing arbitrarily and seemingly randomly... does the acrostic, for example, spell out into a phrase by putting all the acrostical words together in a row?... Or is that the role of the fourth letter of the fourth word on each line (no that would have to be the seventh letter of the seventh word)?

Is this the precursor of PIYYUT? Probably, though "this" meaning the Psalms as a book, not Psalm 119 specifically; there have been acrostical Psalms before this - 111 and 112 for example, and 145 still to come.

Would this have been recited, or studied as text on parchment? I cannot imagine this set to music, unless the music was the really important part, and the words little more than background - but the octet and acrostical form refutes that.

I am trying to imagine a situation in which a Psalm of this length and repetitiveness might be recited, and I can only imagine it as mantra, a process of drone-slow meditation on sound and word, for which it is precisely the repetition that induces the deep internal intensity which is presumably the objective.

Otherwise, I can imagine a naughty member of the Beney Korach being sent to the Principal's office, and made to recite it, from memory, or even to write it out, as an afternoon-length punishment.

Or, as a remote possibility, it is another of the teaching Psalms, and what is being taught is literary technique - a remote possibility, because the techniques involved here are entirely dreadful.

Two last thoughts, a consequence of having reached the end of section 7 in my setting of the Yehudit, the transliteration, the KJ, my own preliminary translation, and becoming aware that phrases repeat and repeat, endless anagrams of the same, an obsession almost, with law, either as ordinance, or statute, judgement, precept or commandment. The first, that perhaps this was written for, recited on, the day on which the giving of the Law itself is honoured, which might have been Shavu'ot, or might have been Simchat Torah, both of which include this reason for their existence, the bookends indeed: one the giving, the other the end of the reading. The second that, each acrostical fragment being integral to itself as well as part of the whole, perhaps only one fragment was ever recited on any occasion, chosen by whoever for whatever reason, or according to a structured order.

[I wonder if it would be worth drawing up a table of repeated words in their different forms, verse by verse, in this Psalm and then cross-referenced through the others - something like my table for Calvino in the "Homage To Thomas Bowdler" collection? Yes! essential! But far too complex for me: I shall leave it to some PhD student or yeshiva bucher as a life-task.]

1: Aleph (א)

119:1 ASHREY TEMIYMEY DARECH HA HOLCHIM BE TORAT YHVH

אַשְׁרֵי תְמִימֵי דָרֶךְ הַהֹלְכִים בְּתוֹרַת יְהוָה

KJ (King James translation): ALEPH. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD.

BN (BibleNet translation): Happy are they who follow the path of righteousness, who live by the law of YHVH.

ASHREY: See my many previous notes on why this should not be translated as "blessed". The word that should be can be found in verse 12.

HOLCHIM: From HALACH = "to go". whence MELECH for the one who leads that journey, "the king"; and also the philosophy behind the journey, Jesus' "I am the Way" - HALACHAH.

19:2 ASHREY NOTSREY EDOTAV BE CHOL LEV YIDRESHUHU

אַשְׁרֵי נֹצְרֵי עֵדֹתָיו בְּכָל לֵב יִדְרְשׁוּהוּ

KJ: Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.

BN: Happy are they who keep his basic precepts, who seek him with all their heart.

NOTSREY: By curious irony, the Yehudit word for a Christian is NOTSRI (with a Tsade - צ - not a Zayin - ז; this is the "branch" of Yesha-Yah, not the town of Nazareth or the ceremonies of Nazirut).

EDOTAV: Given that this word is going to recur about a hundred times in this Psalm, we need to try to understand what it means. There is a sense of "proofs of your existence" about it, though sometimes it is so closely connected to the author's studies that it could mean the scriptures themselves. "Evidence" alone is not sufficient for a translation, and "testimonies" is, to me anyway, frankly meaningless. My translation is based on my notes at Psalm 78:5)

119:3 APH LO PHA'ALU AVLAH BIDRACHAV HALACHU

אַף לֹא פָעֲלוּ עַוְלָה בִּדְרָכָיו הָלָכוּ

KJ: They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways.

BN: They perform no bad deeds; they follow his path.

BIDRACHAV: Or BI DERACHAV?

19:4 ATAH TSIVIYTAH PHIKUDEYCHA LISHMOR ME'OD

אַתָּה צִוִּיתָה פִקֻּדֶיךָ לִשְׁמֹר מְאֹד

KJ: Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.

BN: You issued your instructions, for us to observe them diligently.

Reflecting the Prophetic statement, oft-repeated, that "YHVH doesn't want your sacrifices, he wants your obedience", which in modern parlance might be rendered as "it isn't about the song, it's about the way you sing it".

119:5 ACHALAI YIKONU DERACHAI LISHMOR CHUKEYCHA

אַחֲלַי יִכֹּנוּ דְרָכָי לִשְׁמֹר חֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes!

BN: If only my ways were directed to observe your laws ...

Strange statement, theologically speaking. YHVH won't like it, even if the poetry-reading public do. "What do you mean, 'if only'? Don't wish it, do it! What's preventing you?"

119:6 AZ LO EVOSH BE HABIYTI EL KOL MITSVOTEYCHA

אָז לֹא אֵבוֹשׁ בְּהַבִּיטִי אֶל כָּל מִצְוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all thy commandments.

BN: ... then I would not be ashamed, when I look carefully at all your commandments.

HABIYTI: As with "listening" and "hearing", so with "looking" and "seeing", there is a superficial (Po'al) and there is an intensive (Pi'el). HABIYTI is the intensive.

MITSVOTEYCHA: The distinction being made here is between CHOKIM and MITSVOT (and later with MISHPATIM and PIKUDIM). The former are the deductions of laws made by the Rabbis from the scriptural texts: the latter are the ones that are stated explicitly in the Torah (click here for more on this). Is it then a criticism of YHVH, for not being clear enough, or of himself and his teachers, for not studying them fastidiously enough? The next verse makes clear it is the latter.

119:7 ODECHA BE YOSHER LEVAV BE LAMDI MISHPETEY TSIDKECHA

אוֹדְךָ בְּיֹשֶׁר לֵבָב בְּלָמְדִי מִשְׁפְּטֵי צִדְקֶךָ

KJ: I will praise thee with uprightness of heart, when I shall have learned thy righteous judgments.

BN: I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart, when I have learned your righteous ordinances.

YOSHER LEVAV: How is this different from BE CHOL LEV in verse 2? Either way, the LEV is the ancient equivalent of the mind, the place where most thinking gets done, subjectively, as contrasted with the MO'ACH, the brain, where thought pretends to be rational and objective.

MISHPETEY: A third form of law. These are the precedents determined by judgement.

And you can see why I have wondered if this was written as a MASKIL, a teaching-Psalm.

119:8 ET CHUKEYCHA ESHMOR AL TA'AZVENI AD ME'OD

אֶת חֻקֶּיךָ אֶשְׁמֹר אַל תַּעַזְבֵנִי עַד מְאֹד

KJ: I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

BN: I will observe your statutes; do not forsake me altogether. {P}

AD ME'OD: It is not obvious to me how one can be forsaken "partially".

Section 1 then is about repentance, not from sin so much as from the failure to learn thoroughly what sin is.

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2: BET (ב)

119:9 BA MEH YEZAKEH NA'AR ET ARCHO LISHMOR KIDVARECHA

בַּמֶּה יְזַכֶּה נַּעַר אֶת אָרְחוֹ לִשְׁמֹר כִּדְבָרֶךָ

KJ: BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

BN: How may a young man keep his way pure? By paying attention to your Word.

YEZAKEH: I love these subtle variations of meaning that come with equally legitimate translations, KJ the first, Mechon-Mamre borrowed by me for the second, though I don't think MM makes its own translations, and I don't know where it sources them. No matter: cleansing his way versus staying pure: the one after the sin, the other before it - which of course works perfectly with my final note to the previous octet.

KIDVARECHA: Or KI DEVARECHA? see my note to IMRATECHA at verse 11.

You will see that I have given the word "Word" a capital letter; this is to distinguish DEVARCHA from IMRAT'CHA (and also the DRASHIM and MITZVOT and CHOKIM of the next verse, or verse 6, above); explanation of the distinction will be given in context as they arise, but in brief, the DEVARECHA are the actions of the deity, the E-forces at work; the IMRATECHA are the laws, precepts, moralds etc drawn from their understanding of the workings of those E-forces (narure) by humans, but nonetheless attributed to the deity.

119:10 BE CHOL LIBI DERASHTIYCHA AL TASHGENI MI MITSVOTEYCHA

בְּכָל לִבִּי דְרַשְׁתִּיךָ אַל תַּשְׁגֵּנִי מִמִּצְוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

BN: With my whole heart I have sought you; let me not err from your commandments.

TASHGENI: The SHIGAYON of several earlier Davidic Psalms (Psalm 7 the best place to go).

MITSVOTEYCHA: I have commented earlier on a confusing double-Vav; this is the more customary way of writing it. Properly there should be an unpointed Vav before the pointed one that is used here, to give both the "V" and the separate "O" sounds; this is in fact an elipsis, but it has the redeeming virtue of being self-evident how to pronounce it.

119:11 BE LIBI TSAPHANTI IMRATECHA LEMA'AN LO ECHETA LACH

בְּלִבִּי צָפַנְתִּי אִמְרָתֶךָ לְמַעַן לֹא אֶחֱטָא לָךְ

KJ: Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

BN: I have laid up your words in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

IMRATECHA: As noted above, this is yet another of these subtly variant meanings; we need to find a way of distinguishing it in English from DEVARECHA, rather than translating both as "word". AMAR is "to say", DIBER is "to speak"; not that different, but the text nonetheless differentiates (as per my note on CHABIYTI at verse 6). The best I can think of is "your words" for IMRATECHA, and "your Word" for DEVARECHA. See my note at verse 9.

119:12 BARUCH ATAH YHVH LAMDENI CHUKEYCHA

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה לַמְּדֵנִי חֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.

BN: Blessed are you, YHVH, who teaches me your statutes.

N.B. the rarity of a blessing directed upwards, directly, 2nd person singular, as in modern (post 70 CE) liturgy, where almost every other blessing in the Tanach is rendered in the 3rd person singular, speaking about the diety, rather than directly to him. If we treat this as patterned in the modern manner, then a "who" should be understood as implicit: this is not a request, but a description of something that is already being received.

119:13 BISPHATAI SIPARTI KOL MISHPETEY PIYCHA

בִּשְׂפָתַי סִפַּרְתִּי כֹּל מִשְׁפְּטֵי פִיךָ

KJ: With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.

BN: With my lips I have recited all the ordinances of your mouth.

A deliberate confirmation, perhaps, of the words that preface the Amidah, from Psalm 51:17:

אֲ֭דֹנָי שְׂפָתַ֣י תִּפְתָּ֑ח וּ֝פִ֗י יַגִּ֥יד תְּהִלָּתֶֽךָ׃

Lord, open my lips, & my mouth will speak your praises.

Alliteration with all sorts of alternative letters and letterings all across virtually the length of this long verse.

119:14 BE DERECH EDOTEYCHA SASTI KE AL KOL HON

בְּדֶרֶךְ עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ שַׂשְׂתִּי כְּעַל כָּל הוֹן

KJ: I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.

BN: I have rejoiced in following your precepts, just as much as in all forms of material wealth.

The first four of these Bet-verses did indeed have their second-letter in alphabetical order too, but the pattern now turns out to be purely chance (or it was just too difficult and the author gave up!).

119:15 BE PHIKUDEYCHA ASIYCHAH VE ABIYTAH ORCHOTEYCHA

בְּפִקֻּדֶיךָ אָשִׂיחָה וְאַבִּיטָה אֹרְחֹתֶיךָ

KJ: I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.

BN: I will meditate on your precepts, and have respect for your ways.

Rather more dissonant, these repetitions of the pronoun, and then the use of the Kaf and Chaf and Chet inside the nouns and verb to emphasise it.

119:16 BE CHUKOTEYCHA ESHTA'ASAH LO ESHKACH DEVARECHA

בְּחֻקֹּתֶיךָ אֶשְׁתַּעֲשָׁע לֹא אֶשְׁכַּח דְּבָרֶךָ

KJ: I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

BN: I will take great personal delight from your statutes; I will not forget your Word. {P}

ESHTA'ASAH: Is that LA'ASOT in the Hitpa'el? Never seen that before.

DEVARECHA: See my note to IMRATECHA in verse 11

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3: Gimmel (ג)

119:17 GEMOL AL AVDECHA ECHEYEH VE ESHMERAH DEVARECHA

גְּמֹל עַל עַבְדְּךָ אֶחְיֶה וְאֶשְׁמְרָה דְבָרֶךָ

KJ: GIMEL. Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.

BN: Deal bountifully with your servant that I may live, and I will observe your Word.

GEMOL: See my note on how the camel evolved into this, at Psalm 116:7.

ECHEYEH: See my note on the distinction between LECHIYOT and LEHIYOT in the previous Psalm, or better in the pages on YHVH and CHAVAH.

119:18 GAL EYNAI VE ABIYTAH NIPHLA'OT MI TORATECHA

גַּל עֵינַי וְאַבִּיטָה נִפְלָאוֹת מִתּוֹרָתֶךָ

KJ: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.

BN: Open my eyes, that I may see the wonders in your law.

ABIYTAH: As per my note to verse 6.

119:19 GER ANOCHI VA ARETS AL TASTER MIMENI MITSVOTEYCHA

גֵּר אָנֹכִי בָאָרֶץ אַל תַּסְתֵּר מִמֶּנִּי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.

BN: I am a sojourner on the Earth; do not hide your commandments from me.

GER: The word is used to mean "stranger" (see Numbers 15:14 for an example), but the root also gives the verb LAGUR, which means "to dwell". So either translation is valid. Though it would be much more fun, and just as meaningful-accurate, to translate this as:

BN: I am a tourist on this Earth; please don't deprive me of a guide-book.

AL TASTER: This is a very different construct from the familiar HISTIR PANAV; there it was the serotonin, the healing and growing light from the sun's rays, the ones that were invoked in the Yevarechecha, but which were being turned aside; here it is the intellectual, the abstract, but also bewildering for being so, given that the "commandments" had already been given in Mosheh's time - had they not? Presumably, as with the Aleph section, it is not access to the laws, but a thorough understanding of them (ABIYTAH), that he is seeking.

119:20 GARSAH NAPHSHI LE TA'AVAH EL MISHPATEYCHA VE CHOL ET

גָּרְסָה נַפְשִׁי לְתַאֲבָה אֶל מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ בְכָל עֵת

KJ: My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto thy judgments at all times.

BN: My soul breaks from the yearning that it has for your ordinances at all times.

119:21 GA'ARTA ZEDIM ARURIM HA SHOGIM MI MITSVOTEYCHA

גָּעַרְתָּ זֵדִים אֲרוּרִים הַשֹּׁגִים מִמִּצְוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: Thou hast rebuked the proud that are cursed, which do err from thy commandments.

BN: You have rebuked the proud ones, the accursed, who err from your commandments.

GA'ARTA: GER for the "stranger", in verse 19. GARSAH for the breaking of his soul, in verse 20 - a broken soul renders a man a "stranger". GA'ARTA here - rebuked for those very things that caused him to be GARASH, and therefore GER. This is not just accrostical, and if the phrasings are sometimes a touch awkward, that is because the word-idea games are difficult to play, and sometimes the phrasing suffers.

SHOGIM: see verses 10 and 67.

119:22 GAL ME ALAI CHERPAH VA VUZ KI EDOTEYCHA NATSARTI

גַּל מֵעָלַי חֶרְפָּה וָבוּז כִּי עֵדֹתֶיךָ נָצָרְתִּי

KJ: Remove from me reproach and contempt; for I have kept thy testimonies.

BN: Take away from me any reproach and contempt, for I have stuck to your precepts.

And this despite not knowing them terribly well! The point, again, is the effort and the intent.

GAL: Yet another word in this Psalm whose root has a double-letter, but the second has been dropped - almost as though the writer had made a list of all those words, and was determined to find ways to get all of them in the text somehow. GALAL is a development of the root, and it gives the GALIL, which we call Galilee; but also, perhaps more significantly here, Gil-Gal, which was one of the most important shrines in Yisra-El before Yeru-Shala'im had been conquered; but also the place where Shemu-El "rebuked" King Sha'ul (1 Samuel 13) for not keeping the laws strictly or correctly, and made him a "stranger" as far as his kingship was concerned.

119:23 GAM YASHVU SARIM BI NIDBARU AVDECHA YASIYACH BE CHUKEYCHA

גַּם יָשְׁבוּ שָׂרִים בִּי נִדְבָּרוּ עַבְדְּךָ יָשִׂיחַ בְּחֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: Princes also did sit and speak against me: but thy servant did meditate in thy statutes.

BN: Even though princes sat and said nasty things about me, your servant will go on reflecting on your statutes.

SARIM: Several words find themselves translated as "princes", which represents a failure by we translators to pick, yet again, the subtle nuances of difference. SAR is the root that also gives SARAI and SARAH, the wives, respectively, of Av-Ram and Av-Raham, though we can now say that neither of these were actually her name, but only her title: "princess".

YASIYACH: In the future tense, though YASHVU and NIDBARU are in the past tense.

119:24 GAM EDOTEYCHA SHA'ASHU'AI ANSHEY ATSATI

גַּם עֵדֹתֶיךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי אַנְשֵׁי עֲצָתִי

KJ: Thy testimonies also are my delight and my counsellors.

BN: Your precepts are both my delight and my counsellors. {P}

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4: DALET (ד)

119:25 DAVKAH LE APHAR NAPHSHI CHAI'ENI KIDVARECHA

דָּבְקָה לֶעָפָר נַפְשִׁי חַיֵּנִי כִּדְבָרֶךָ

KJ: DALETH. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

BN: My soul cleaves to the dust; quicken me according to your Word.

DAVKAH: I have a note on this somewhere; but, davka, I can't find it, and anyway, likewise davka, this is not that davka, which is spelled דווקה, with a double-Vav not a single-Vet: possibly in Aramaic at one time, definitely in Yiddish now - click here. The one here is from the root DAVAK, which is bound, literally, to the modern Ivrit word for glue; and no, I have no idea how you get from either of these words to the Dybbuk, though it too, davka, uses the letters Dalet-Bet-Kupf.

As to the verse as a whole: the difference between entertainment and culture, summed up in a Psalm! The one simply lies there, passively; the other gets up and grows.

119:26 DERACHAI SIPARTI VA TA'ANENI LAMDENI CHUKEYCHA

דְּרָכַי סִפַּרְתִּי וַתַּעֲנֵנִי לַמְּדֵנִי חֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: I have declared my ways, and thou heardest me: teach me thy statutes.

BN: I told you my ways, and you answered me; now teach me your statutes.

DERACHAI...SIPARTI...CHUKEYCHA: We begin to become hyperaware of the technique of Anadiplosis, the reduplication of key words; words beginning one sentence that have been predominant in previous phrases, or simply re-used in variant contexts, to emphasise them, to anagramise their multivalences. I shall not bother to keep pointing them out; they should, like the ones in the next verse (every word, actually!), be obvious.

DERAHAI: I think the intention here is (metaphorically) a student-teacher conference, or a university tutorial: this is how I think I have been doing; please give me an end-of-term report, point out what you see as my successes and failures, set me some targets, and guide me with some strategies to achieve them. The statutes are the curriculum.

And note, as I have pointed out many times before, that the Jewish concept of, the Hebrew word for prayer, is LEHITPALEL, from the root PALAL meaning "to judge", but in the Hitpa'el, the reflexive form: so, here, the student is the teacher and the teacher is the student, the reflexive is also the reflective, the report purely self-criticism, and who needs a god anyway, except metaphorically, once you know the precepts?

119:27 DERECH PIKUDEYCHA HAVIYNENI VE ASIYCHAH BE NIPHLE'OTEYCHA

דֶּרֶךְ פִּקּוּדֶיךָ הֲבִינֵנִי וְאָשִׂיחָה בְּנִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: Make me to understand the way of thy precepts: so shall I talk of thy wondrous works.

BN: Help me to understand the intention of your precepts, that I may talk to others about your wondrous works.

ASIYCHAH: "To anagramise their multivalences" - a pretentious piece of pseudo-intellectualism if ever there was one, Mr Prashker! But absolutely precise. And this verse provides another excellent example. I pointed out the difference between AMAR and DIBER at verse 11; here we have yet a third way of saying not quite the same thing. A SICHAH, from this root, is "a conversation".

HAVIYNENI: There is a world of difference between "make me understand" and "help me understand"; perhaps someone should write a Maskil to explain it! (Actually, it's the difference between "teaching" and "educating": the former puts in, the latter draws out, and, as this Psalm states repeatedly, real, true, deep understanding can only come through experiential learning, and never from a worksheet handed out, learned by rote, and tested for a league table.)

119:28 DALPHAH NAPHSHI MI TUGAH KAIMENI KIDVARECHA

דָּלְפָה נַפְשִׁי מִתּוּגָה קַיְּמֵנִי כִּדְבָרֶךָ

KJ: My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.

BN: My soul weeps with grief; sustain me according to your Word.

119:29 DERECH SHEKER HASER MIMENI VE TORAT'CHA CHANENI

דֶּרֶךְ שֶׁקֶר הָסֵר מִמֶּנִּי וְתוֹרָתְךָ חָנֵּנִי

KJ: Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.

BN: Keep the path of falsehood away from me, and grant me your law graciously.

DERECH: Interesting that it is this way around; we would expect "keep me away from the path of falsehood".

CHANENI: Given the etymology of "graciously", in English, which is to say Latin, it is surely the recipient who needs to apply gratis, not the deity? Or is he expecting Torah for free? (Maybe he'll leave a gratuity, or say grace after meals).

And speaking of etymology, the names Anne, Anna, Joanne, Joanna and Hannah all derive from the root that has given us CHANENI here. Jon likewise (Yo-Chanan) but not John (Yeho-Natan or Yahu-Natan).

119:30 DERECH EMUNAH VACHARTI MISHPATEYCHA SHIVIYTI

דֶּרֶךְ אֱמוּנָה בָחָרְתִּי מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ שִׁוִּיתִי

KJ: I have chosen the way of truth: thy judgments have I laid before me.

BN: I have chosen the way of truth; I have tried to make manifest your ordinances.

SHIVIYTI: Like DAVKA earlier, word-play between the Vav and the Vet: here it is a Vav, and the root is SHAVAH, for which see the link. But with a Vet it might have been SHABAT, which means "to sit" or "to rest", as on the seventh day; or it might, homophonously, have been SHEV'A, which is the number 7, as in the SHABAT, or seventh day; or it might, homonymously, have been SHEV'A, an "oath", as in Be'er Sheva, or indeed Bat Sheva...

119:31 DAVAKTI VE EDOTEYCHA YHVH AL TEVIYSHENI

דָּבַקְתִּי בְעֵדְוֹתֶיךָ יְהוָה אַל תְּבִישֵׁנִי

KJ: I have stuck unto thy testimonies: O LORD, put me not to shame.

BN: I cleave to your precepts, YHVH. Do not put me to shame.

Variations, yes, to convey ambivalences. But disappointing that a good poet can't find eight different words for his acrostic. Davakti was already used in the first line of this section, and variations on Derech have occupied most of the others. Or is there a point being made precisely by these repetitions?

119:32 DERECH MITSVOTEYCHA ARUTS KI TARCHIV LIBI

דֶּרֶךְ מִצְוֹתֶיךָ אָרוּץ כִּי תַרְחִיב לִבִּי

KJ: I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart.

BN: I will run the road of your commandments, for you expand my heart. {P}

MITSVOTEYCHA: once again we can see the double-Vav issue(not the same as the Vav-Vet issue); as seen, this should be read as MITSOTECHA, but the elision allows us to recognise the word as MITSVOTEYCHA and treat it as though the double-Vav were in place.

ARUTS: Why, after walking all the time until now, is it suddenly necessary to run? Or maybe this is the Biblical equivalent of a marathon - and studying the Law fastidiously is most definitely a slow marathon, not a short sprint nor a gentle stroll.

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5: Hey (ה)

119:33 HORENI YHVH DERECH CHUKEYCHA VE ETSRENAH EKEV

הוֹרֵנִי יְהוָה דֶּרֶךְ חֻקֶּיךָ וְאֶצְּרֶנָּה עֵקֶב

KJ: HE. Teach me, O LORD, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep it unto the end.

BN: Enlighten me, YHVH, in the way of your law, and I will keep it at every step.

HORENI: And yet another anagram of multivalences. We have had LAMDENI in verse 12, LELAMED being front-loaded teaching, catechism-by-rote; we have had GAL EYNAI in verse 18, which is the bored and disinterested student suddenly realising that this is actually worth paying attention to; we have had AL TASTER MIMENI in verse 19, in which the student who didn't bother to take home the worksheet now asks if there is a copy available after all (GAL EYNAI become active, as per verse 25; and then even more active, in verse 20); we have had YASIYACH in verse 23, which found the student going over the worksheet in private and trying to make deeper sense of it; we have had HAVIYNENI in verse 27, which is the teacher sending the student to the library to undertake more detailed research, beyond front-loading, beyond catechism, beyond worksheets. And all of these will recur again and again throughout the Psalm. But this is the first appearance of HORENI, from the root OR, which means light, and which... but wait a moment, this isn't its first appearance at all; it has been the key word all the time only we didn't register it: because the word TORAH is derived from the same root. Enlightenment - though that would be yet another word in Yehudit: HASKALAH, from the root that also gives... MASKIL.

119:34 HAVIYNENI VE ETSRAH TORATECHA VE ESHMERENAH VE CHOL LEV

הֲבִינֵנִי וְאֶצְּרָה תוֹרָתֶךָ וְאֶשְׁמְרֶנָּה בְכָל לֵב

KJ: Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.

BN: Help me to understand, and I will keep your Torah, and observe it wholeheartedly.

TORATECHA: And no sooner do we register it, than there it is, confirming our insight (that's a double-play on words too!).

ETSRAH: Once again the NOTSRIM of verse 2. "Branches" - just like the ones on that most ancient version of Bloom's Taxonomy, the Tree of Wisdom, also known as Yggdrasil or the World Tree, as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (see my notes at Genesis 3:3)...

... and of course the Tree of Life (the illustration here is my own modern version; for the original, and a fuller exegesis, click here).

119:35 HADRIYCHENI BINTIYV MITSVOTEYCHA KI VO CHAPHATSTI

הַדְרִיכֵנִי בִּנְתִיב מִצְוֹתֶיךָ כִּי בוֹ חָפָצְתִּי

KJ: Make me to go in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I delight.

BN: Guide me along the path of your commandments, for in them is my delight.

BINTIYV: Or BI NETIYV?

HADRIYCHENI: In the Hiph'il, the causative, and so, yes, on this occasion, it would seem to be "make me" rather than "help me to"; but surely, from everything we have learned thus far, we are asking for guidebooks, not worksheets, for scavenger hunts, not rote-tests.

119:36 HAT LIBI EL EDOTEYCHA VE AL EL BATS'A

הַט לִבִּי אֶל עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ וְאַל אֶל בָּצַע

KJ: Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

BN: Incline my heart towards your precepts, and not to greed.

VE AL: Interesting use of AL; we would normally expect AL to mean "do not", and for the simple "not", as here, to be rendered by LO (לא).

BATS'A: I am uncomfortable using the word "covetousness" here, simply because it is such a well-known word amongst those who know their Bibles even a little bit - the Ten Commandments uses the term (Exodus 20:13). But the Yehudit there is not BATS'A, it is LO TACHMOD, and it may well be that "Thou shalt not covet..." is actually a mis-translation there, though it has entered the culture anyway.

And actually, it is probably a mis-translation here as well (though Micah 4:13 definitely uses it with this meaning). The root means "to break" usually in the form of cutting something into pieces, for which cf Amos 9:1. From this it comes to mean "rape" (specifically the rape of a virgin, and you can work out the anatomical explanation for yourself), and thence, metaphorically, any gain made by immoral means, including the "rape" of customers by flea-market capitalists and barrow-boy bankers (Judges 5:19), extortion (Ezekiel 22:12), or any form of black market profiteering (Exodus 18:21, Psalm 10:3, Isaiah 56:11.

119:37 HA'AVER EYNAI ME RE'OT SHAV BIDRACHECHA CHAYENI

הַעֲבֵר עֵינַי מֵרְאוֹת שָׁוְא בִּדְרָכֶךָ חַיֵּנִי

KJ: Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

BN: Turn my eyes away from seeing vanity, and quicken me in your ways.

SHAV: "Worthless things" (Job 15:31), "falsehoods" (Exodus 23:1), even "taking YHVS's name in vain" (Deuteronomy 5:10).

BIDRACHECHA: Or BI DERACHECHA?

CHAYENI: Chai is "Life" itself - for which see my page on Chavah (Eve).

119:38 HAKEM LE AVDECHA IMRATECHA ASHER LE YIR'ATECHA

הָקֵם לְעַבְדְּךָ אִמְרָתֶךָ אֲשֶׁר לְיִרְאָתֶךָ

KJ: Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.

BN: Inculcate your words in your servant, the words which cause him to fear you.

Another old-fashioned classroom concept - this one is about getting key terms into long-term rather than short-term memory. But why do teachers need to threaten the cane, or even detention, when we have seen repeatedly that this is a willing, engaged student (and will again, confirmed at verse 40)?

119:39 HA'AVER CHERPATI ASHER YAGORTI KI MISHPATEYCHA TOVIM

הַעֲבֵר חֶרְפָּתִי אֲשֶׁר יָגֹרְתִּי כִּי מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ טוֹבִים

KJ: Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.

BN: Turn away my reproach which I dread; for your ordinances are good.

CHERPATI: Is this not a contradiction in terms? Don't punish me; but yes (previous verse), if necessary, punish me.

MISHPATEYCHA: This appears to be singular and plural at the same time; I think the Masoretes have made an error with the pointing; it should be, and the unpointed Yehudit allows it - משפטיך - MISHPOTEYCHA.

119:40 HINEH TA'AVTI LE PHIKUDEYCHA BE TSIDKAT'CHA CHAI'ENI

הִנֵּה תָּאַבְתִּי לְפִקֻּדֶיךָ בְּצִדְקָתְךָ חַיֵּנִי

KJ: Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.

BN: As you can see, I have yearned for your precepts; quicken me in your righteousness. {P}

Might that be better translated in the colloquial rather than the formal: I've done the studying, now make me a good person.

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6: Vav (ו)

119:41 VIYVO'UNI CHASADECHA YHVH TESHU'AT'CHA KE IMRATECHA

וִיבֹאֻנִי חֲסָדֶךָ יְהוָה תְּשׁוּעָתְךָ כְּאִמְרָתֶךָ

KJ: VAU. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD, even thy salvation, according to thy word.

BN: Let your loving-kindness also come to me, YHVH, your salvation, according to your words...

VAU: I am interested in the transliterations used by KJ for each of the letters of the alphabet, which do not always coincide with those that I am accustomed to in the Jewish world, even including the full range from Moroccan Sephardi to Litvak Ashkenazi... VAU in interesting because it goes half-way to addressing the long-standing scholarly debate about this letter, which may actually have been rather more of a W than a V (think of Daoud, which is still the Arabic way of saying David, though the northern Mesopotamian Cymry soften it to an F as Dyfed).

VIYVO'UNI: I would expect to be asking my usual question about the Masoretic pointing: VIYVO'UNI or VE YIVO'UNI, or even, on this occasion, VA VIYVO'UNI? But in fact there is no question, because the Masorete has not added an unnecessary sheva, as he usually does (it would be under the second letter, the Yud, if he had done so).

119:42 VE E'E'NEH CHORPHI DAVAR KI VATACHTI BIDVARECHA

וְאֶעֱנֶה חֹרְפִי דָבָר כִּי בָטַחְתִּי בִּדְבָרֶךָ

KJ: So shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I trust in thy word.

BN: ... That I may have an answer for he who taunts me; for I trust in your Word.

CHORPHI: Another of the multivalents, but this one difficult to work out. CHOREPH is the winter, in modern Ivrit, though originally it was just the late autumn, from CHARAPH = "to gather", and autumn being the season when the harvest is gathered. From there to the intention here is straightforward: you learn the teachings to a point of wisdom, and you harvest that crop by always having an answer ready for your detractors. But how does the same root get us to Leviticus 19:20, let alone Judges 5:18 or 8:15, which is how CHORPHI is being used directly here (the "answer" is E'E'NEH); and 1 Samuel 17:5 is a complete mystery.

BIDVARECHA: That distinction between IMRATECHA again, but this time both words in the same sentence.

119:43 VE AL TATSEL MI PIY DEVAR EMET AD ME'OD KI LE MISHPATECHA YICHALTI

וְאַל תַּצֵּל מִפִּי דְבַר אֱמֶת עַד מְאֹד כִּי לְמִשְׁפָּטֶךָ יִחָלְתִּי

KJ: And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth; for I have hoped in thy judgments.

BN: And do not snatch the Word of truth from my mouth, for I place my hope in your ordinances;

AL TATSEL: Now why would a superhuman deity living in Heaven want to do a thing like that? Whereas a metaphorical deity, describing the forces that drive you from inside yourself, inclining you both to the good and the bad, and in a certain circumstance, even though you know now that it's wrong, but it was only a small lie, a mere Boris Johnson, and I have apologised twice for it, albeit totally insincerely...

119:44 VE ESHMERAH TORAT'CHA TAMID LE OLAM VA ED

וְאֶשְׁמְרָה תוֹרָתְךָ תָמִיד לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד

KJ: So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.

BN: So I shall observe your law continually, for ever and ever.

119:45 VE ET'HALCHAH VARCHAVAH KI PIKUDEYCHA DARASHTI

וְאֶתְהַלְּכָה בָרְחָבָה כִּי פִקֻּדֶיךָ דָרָשְׁתִּי

KJ: And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.

BN: And I will walk at ease, for I have sought your precepts;

ET'HALCHA: This is still Halachah, but in the Hitpa'el, reflexive form, not the Pa'al, active. So there is something more than mere physical walking in this. This is about a person's ability to "walk with himself", which we should probably idiomise as "live with myself", or "be comfortable with the person that I have become".

VARCHAVAH: Or VA RECHAVAH? Usually this question over the pointing is purely that, and from it the follow-up question of pronunciation. Here it is more complex, because VA infers a definite article, but definite articles do not usually combine with adverbs, so VARCHAVAH means "at ease", but VA RECHAVAH would mean "go by chariot", VA functioning as a softened form of BA - "by" or "in". Highly unlikely, in this context, and therefore rejected - by me, as by the Masorete presumably. But in rejecting it, we cannot also assume that it establishes a rule which must now apply in general, because it was exactly the opposite rule that would have been derived in the previous instance, VIYVO'UNI in verse 41. Clearly we have to go on questioning each instance, and evaluating it in its own context; there is no general rule. Is the intention here then not RECHAVAH at all, the vehicle, but the RECHOV, the street on which you drive it? (The other option, a connection with RACHAV the Prince of the Sea, seems implausible, at best.)

119:46 VA ADABRAH VE EDOTEYCHA NEGED MELACHIM VE LO EVOSH

וַאֲדַבְּרָה בְעֵדֹתֶיךָ נֶגֶד מְלָכִים וְלֹא אֵבוֹשׁ

KJ: I will speak of thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed.

BN: And I will speak about your precepts before kings, and will not be ashamed.

NEGED: Is he "discussing", as with SIYACH earlier, or "debating", because the kings in question don't travel by the same Halachah or in the same Rechavah?

119:47 VE ESHTA'ASH'A BE MITSVOTEYCHA ASHER AHAVTI

וְאֶשְׁתַּעֲשַׁע בְּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהָבְתִּי

KJ: And I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved.

BN: And I will take great personal delight in your commandments, which I have come to love.

ESHTA'ASH'A: Nothing deeply significant to point out; but worth noting as yet one more of the double-letter words for our growing list (see GAL at verse 22). The root is SHA'A - שעע, and this time the repeated letter has not been dropped.

AHAVTI: Standard past tense, and therefore "I have loved" is perfectly legitimate. However, we have been witnessing a process of education, the punished sinner turning slowly into reluctant student being taught by rote, turning into enthusiastic, turning into passionate, self-learner.

119:48 VE ES'A CHAPAI EL MITSVOTEYCHA ASHER AHAVTI VE ASIYCHAH VE CHUKEYCHA

וְאֶשָּׂא כַפַּי אֶל מִצְוֹתֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר אָהָבְתִּי וְאָשִׂיחָה בְחֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate in thy statutes.

BN: And I will lift up my hands to your commandments, which I have come to love; and I will meditate upon your statutes. {P}

ES'A CHAPAI: Which was a position adopted for prayer in the ancient world; it is only retained today for the Kohanim, when they recite the Yevarechecha, and for anyone dunking in a mikveh. In both cases, today, the fingers are spocked (see the link); it was probably the case then too.

Note the continuing repetition of key words from the previous verses.

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7: Zayin (ז)

119:49 ZECHOR DAVAR LE AVDECHA AL ASHER YICHALTANI

זְכֹר דָּבָר לְעַבְדֶּךָ עַל אֲשֶׁר יִחַלְתָּנִי

KJ: ZAIN. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.

BN: Remind your servant of your Word, the one that has given me cause for hope.

119:50 ZOT NECHAMATI VE ANYIY KI IMRAT'CHA CHIYATNI

זֹאת נֶחָמָתִי בְעָנְיִי כִּי אִמְרָתְךָ חִיָּתְנִי

KJ: This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.

BN: That is my comfort in my affliction, that your words have quickened me.

ZOT: Sometimes Zeh is masculine and Zot feminine, at others Zeh is "this" and Zot is "that" - though it is still determined by the gender of the accompanying noun. Given that Devar, the noun to which ZOT refers, is masculine, this has to be the preposition, not the pronoun; and in this case (the one I am referring to here) ZEH must mean "this", whereas that (the one being referred to, over there, in the verse on which I am commentating, must be "that").

IMRAT'CHA: on multiple occasions this has a sheva, and so it is IMRAT'CHA; on just as many it has a segol, and so it is IMRATECHA n(the E pronounced as though with a French grave accent), and yet the grammatical context is always identical. Can someone please explain the difference?

The difference that I can explain is the one between either version of this word, and DEVARECHA; both are used in this verse (the latter by inference from the previous verse) - see my explanation at verse 11.

119:51 ZEDIM HELIYTSUNI AD ME'OD MI TORAT'CHA LO NATIYTI

זֵדִים הֱלִיצֻנִי עַד מְאֹד מִתּוֹרָתְךָ לֹא נָטִיתִי

KJ: The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.

BN: The proud have held me in great derision, yet I have not turned aside from your Torah.

119:52 ZACHARTI MISHPATEYCHA ME OLAM YHVH VA ETNECHAM

זָכַרְתִּי מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ מֵעוֹלָם יְהוָה וָאֶתְנֶחָם

KJ: I remembered thy judgments of old, O LORD; and have comforted myself.

BN: I recalled your ancient ordinances, YHVH, and comforted myself.

119:53 ZAL'APHAH ACHAZATNI ME RESHA'IM OZVEY TORATECHA

זַלְעָפָה אֲחָזַתְנִי מֵרְשָׁעִים עֹזְבֵי תּוֹרָתֶךָ

KJ: Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.

BN: Burning indignation gripped me, because of the wicked who forsook your Torah.

TORATECHA: The strongly metaphysical and philosophical ruminations of this Psalm seem to me to indicate a very late date, quite probably Hasmonean era, either way post-Ezra, and therefore the epoch in which the Torah existed as physical reality, in parchment form; it is therefore acceptable to translate Toratecha as "your Torah" rather than "your law" or "your enlightenment", which is how I generally prefer to render it for the epoch when it was purely abstract.

119:54 ZEMIROT HAYU LI CHUKEYCHA BE VEIT MEGURAI

זְמִרוֹת הָיוּ לִי חֻקֶּיךָ בְּבֵית מְגוּרָי

KJ: Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.

BN: Your statutes have been my instruments in the house of my pilgrimage.

ZEMIROT: The instruments that accompany the songs, rather than the songs themselves. KLEY ZEMER, whence the Yiddish Kletzmer (eastern Europe) or Klezmer (western Europe).

VEIT MEGURAI: Again that word GER (see verse 19); this may or may not refer to the Temple - the "house of my pilgrimage" being anywhere that a person travels along the road of Halachah.

119:55 ZACHARTI VA LAILAH SHIMCHA YHVH VA ESHMERAH TORATECHA

זָכַרְתִּי בַלַּיְלָה שִׁמְךָ יְהוָה וָאֶשְׁמְרָה תּוֹרָתֶךָ

KJ: I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law.

BN: I recalled your name in the night, YHVH, and observed your Torah.

I wonder which particular law he is referring to. There is a blessing (Asher Yatsar) that you are supposed to say when you get up and go to the loo in the middle of the night, but that is Talmud, not Torah. There is a law in Torah about fulfilling your wife's sexual needs on Friday evenings (Simchat Ona), known in English as "frigging" in honour of it being Freia's day, the moon-goddess (but Torah/Talmud doesn't tell us that).

119:56 ZOT HAYETAH LI KI PHIKUDEYCHA NATSARTI

זֹאת הָיְתָה לִּי כִּי פִקֻּדֶיךָ נָצָרְתִּי

KJ: This I had, because I kept thy precepts.

BN: Thus it was, because I kept your precepts. {P}

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8: Chet (ח)

119:57 CHELKI YHVH AMARTI LISHMOR DEVAREYCHA

חֶלְקִי יְהוָה אָמַרְתִּי לִשְׁמֹר דְּבָרֶיךָ

KJ: CHETH. Thou art my portion, O LORD: I have said that I would keep thy words.

BN: My portion is with YHVH. I have said that I will observe your Word.

As a translator, and equally as a student, I enjoy these moments best of all, because they compel the mind to engage at the deepest level. Yehudit doesn't really have a conditional mode, and yet it definitely (he said, choosing his word very carefully!) does have a conditional mode, or, at least, I am fairly sure that it might very well do so, or even must do so, in certain circumstances, and conditions. ... So do we render AMARTI LISHMOR literally as "I have said to observe" - obviously not, because it just isn't satisfactory English. But which then: "I have said that I would..." or "I have said that I will...". The emotional and psychological kinesis behind these two statements is radically different. Kavanah cannot accept "may" or "might", which infers "if..."; kavanah (sincerity, intensity) requires full commitment, and the tone of this Psalm has most definitely indicated that commitment, commitedly, and unconditionally, as the next verse reiterates (and see verse 92).

119:58 CHILIYTI PHANEYCHA VE CHOL LEV CHANENI KE IMRATECHA

חִלִּיתִי פָנֶיךָ בְכָל לֵב חָנֵּנִי כְּאִמְרָתֶךָ

KJ: I intreated thy favour with my whole heart: be merciful unto me according to thy word.

BN: I entreated your favour wholeheartedly; be gracious to me according to your words.

IMRATECHA: You see? With the segol again.

119:59 CHISHAVTI DERACHAI VA ASHIYVAH RAGLAI EL EDOTEYCHA

חִשַּׁבְתִּי דְרָכָי וָאָשִׁיבָה רַגְלַי אֶל עֵדֹתֶיךָ

KJ: I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.

BN: I considered my ways, and turned my feet to your precepts.

Use of internal rhyme.

119:60 CHASHTI VE LO HITMAHMAHTI LISHMOR MITSVOTEYCHA

חַשְׁתִּי וְלֹא הִתְמַהְמָהְתִּי לִשְׁמֹר מִצְוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy commandments.

BN: I made haste, and did not delay, to observe your commandments.

MITSVOTEYCHA: another word with the same issue: why does it sometimes append the Yud penultimate, and sometimes not? Is that Masoretic? (Compare the text from the Dead Sea Scrolls - but alas this link, which has the complete Scrolls text in translation, doesn't include this verse; worth bookmarking it anyway).

119:61 CHEVLEY RESHA'IM IVDUNI TORAT'CHA LO SHACHACHTI

חֶבְלֵי רְשָׁעִים עִוְּדֻנִי תּוֹרָתְךָ לֹא שָׁכָחְתִּי

KJ: The bands of the wicked have robbed me: but I have not forgotten thy law.

BN: The bands of the wicked have enclosed me; but I have not forgotten your law.

CHEVLEY RESHA'IM: See my notes on this at Psalm 18:5; there is also a third usage at Psalm 116:3.

119:62 CHATSOT LAILAH AKUM LEHODOT LACH AL MISHPETEY TSIDKECHA

חֲצוֹת לַיְלָה אָקוּם לְהוֹדוֹת לָךְ עַל מִשְׁפְּטֵי צִדְקֶךָ

KJ: At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments.

BN: At midnight I will get up and give thanks to you because of your righteous ordinances.

AND WAIT JUST A MOMENT!... And turn your steps back to verse 55 for a moment... and now...

LACH: Why would you rise at midnight to worship a sun-god - prayers to him start at dawn (Shacharit) and end at dusk (Ma'ariv)? You might though, to worship a moon-goddess, and then it would be logical to address her as LACH, where "he" would have been LECHA.

LAILAH: Or in Aramaic Delilah, the female half of that pantomime pair, of whom Shimshon is the male.

So can we say that there was a much older Psalm reworked to make this one? Or that, even at the late date that we are otherwise certain about, the Lady was still part of the pantheon, not yet reduced to mere Shechinah?

119:63 CHAVER ANI LE CHOL ASHER YERE'UCHA U LE SHOMREY PIKUDEYCHA

חָבֵר אָנִי לְכָל אֲשֶׁר יְרֵאוּךָ וּלְשֹׁמְרֵי פִּקּוּדֶיךָ

KJ: I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

BN: I am a friend of all those who fear you, and of those who observe your precepts.

A couple of these CHET verses give the impression that this letter was more difficult to accrosticise than some others! But at least the poet hasn't succumbed again to the cop-out of repetition, as in the Dalet section.

I am also beginning to suspect that there is a pattern, a schema, for the various constructs of law, ordinance, judgement, etc - need to go back and list them by verse, to see if there is; and if there is, try to discern why?

119:64 CHASDECHA YHVH MAL'AH HA ARETS CHUKEYCHA LAMDENI

חַסְדְּךָ יְהוָה מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ חֻקֶּיךָ לַמְּדֵנִי

KJ: The earth, O LORD, is full of thy mercy: teach me thy statutes.

BN: The Earth, YHVH, is full of your loving-kindness; teach me your statutes. {P}

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9: Tet (ט)

119:65 TOV ASIYTA IM AVDECHA YHVH KIDVARECHA

טוֹב עָשִׂיתָ עִם עַבְדְּךָ יְהוָה כִּדְבָרֶךָ

KJ: TETH. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.

BN: You have dealt well with your servant, YHVH, according to your Word.

119:66 TUV TA'AM VA DA'AT LAMDENI KI VE MITSVOTEYCHA HE'EMANTI

טוּב טַעַם וָדַעַת לַמְּדֵנִי כִּי בְמִצְוֹתֶיךָ הֶאֱמָנְתִּי

KJ: Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments.

BN: Teach me good discernment and knowledge; for I have believed in
your commandments.

HE'EMANTI: Is this intellectual belief or emotional faith? Verses 75 and 86 use EMUNAH, which comes from the same root, but is in a different binyan, and clearly means "faithfulness" there. HE'EMANTI is Hiphil, or causative; the inference of the difference being that one is faith because the intuition of personal experience confirms it, but the other has to be caused, needs intellectual evidence, logical argument, rational explanation. Interesting that they already had this deep an understanding of the workings of the human mind, more than two thousand years ago.

119:67 TEREM E'ENEH ANI SHOGEG VE ATAH IMRAT'CHA SHAMARTI

טֶרֶם אֶעֱנֶה אֲנִי שֹׁגֵג וְעַתָּה אִמְרָתְךָ שָׁמָרְתִּי

KJ: Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.

BN: Before, being poor in knowledge, I made bad choices; but now I observe your word.

SHOGEG: The present tense of the verb that gave us SHEGIGAH in several of the early Psalms. See verses 10 and 21. Note that the KJ translation still places the blame on sin, rather than ignorance.

119:68 TOV ATAH U METIYV LAMDENI CHUKEYCHA

טוֹב אַתָּה וּמֵטִיב לַמְּדֵנִי חֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes.

BN: You are good, and you do good; teach me your statutes.

Once again the Psalmist has chosen to repeat the same word - in this case TOV = "good" - rather than seek out others with the same initial letter; and again he has made grammatical variations on the same word too (TUV in verse 66). So we have to start assuming that this is a deliberate part of the schema as well. So we have to start seeking explanations for it. So we may be wrong.

119:69 TAPHLU ALAI SHEKER ZEDIM ANI BE CHOL LEV ETSOR PIKUDEYCHA

טָפְלוּ עָלַי שֶׁקֶר זֵדִים אֲנִי בְּכָל לֵב אֱצֹּר פִּקּוּדֶיךָ

KJ: The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.

BN: The proud have forged a lie against me; but I with my whole heart will keep your precepts.

119:70 TAPHASH KA CHELEV LIBAM ANI TORAT'CHA SHI'ASHA'TI

טָפַשׁ כַּחֵלֶב לִבָּם אֲנִי תּוֹרָתְךָ שִׁעֲשָׁעְתִּי

KJ: Their heart is as fat as grease; but I delight in thy law.

BN: Their hearts are gross like grease; but I delight in your law.

LIBAM: But even if my note at verse 66 is correct, it is still the "heart", not yet the "brain", which was regarded as the locus of thinking, so the "fat hearts" here are not physical obesity, but intellectual.

119:71 TOV LI CHI UNEYTI LEMA'AN ELMAD CHUKEYCHA

טוֹב לִי כִי עֻנֵּיתִי לְמַעַן אֶלְמַד חֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.

BN (somewhat commentarial translation): It has turned out that intellectual poverty was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it made it a necessity to learn your statutes.

My commentary based on personal experience, at schools, both primary and secondary, which taught no Science, no Art, no Music, and were therefore unable to inculcate their predetermined insistencies upon me, leaving me to educate myself in each of them when I reached adulthood. I have reaped the benefit ever since.

119:72 TOV LI TORAT PIYCHA ME ALPHEY ZAHAV VA CHASEPH

טוֹב לִי תוֹרַת פִּיךָ מֵאַלְפֵי זָהָב וָכָסֶף

KJ: The law of thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver.

BN: The Torah from your mouth is better for me than thousands in gold and silver. {P}

This octet is built around TOV LI and LAMDENI, paraphrased in my note to verse 71.

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10: Yud (י)

119:73 YADEYCHA ASUNI VA YECHONENUNI HAVIYNENI VE ELMEDAH MITSVOTEYCHA

יָדֶיךָ עָשׂוּנִי וַיְכוֹנְנוּנִי הֲבִינֵנִי וְאֶלְמְדָה מִצְוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: JOD. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me: give me understanding, that I may learn thy commandments.

BN: Your hands made me and fashioned me; give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.

YECHONENUNI: Go back to Genesis 1 where I have explained all the different words used for the multiple genres of Creation. YECHONENUNI is not one of them, but "fashioned" as an accurate translation is. The root is KUN, which means "firm", "established", and, in the modern Ivrit, NACHON, "correct". So we also have a surprisingly early understanding of "Nature and Nurture".

119:74 YER'E'EYCHA YIR'UNI VE YISMACHU KI LIDVARCHA YICHALTI

יְרֵאֶיךָ יִרְאוּנִי וְיִשְׂמָחוּ כִּי לִדְבָרְךָ יִחָלְתִּי

KJ: They that fear thee will be glad when they see me; because I have hoped in thy word.

BN: Those who fear you will see me and be glad, because I have hope in your Word.

LIDVARCHA: KIDVARECHA in verse 9, 25, 28, 65... Yet another piece of repetition with variation. But why is it not LIDVARECHA, with a segol?

119:75 YADA'TI YHVH KI TSEDEK MISHPATEYCHA VE EMUNAH INIYTANI

יָדַעְתִּי יְהוָה כִּי צֶדֶק מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ וֶאֱמוּנָה עִנִּיתָנִי

KJ: I know, O LORD, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.

BN: I knew, YHVH, that your judgments were righteous, and that in good faith you had afflicted me.

TSEDEK: We cannot translate this as "right", which would have to have been NACHON in the Yehudit, and the Psalmist has not made that variation (see verse 73). TSEDEK means"righteous", which is similar, but not the same thing.

YADA'TI: past tense, which in English requires a pluperfect; Yehudit does not have a pluperfect, or not formally anyway; clearly it has one informally here.

EMUNAH: See my note to verse 66. And then my note at verse 71, again.

INIYTANI: At verse 71 I declined to translate this as "afflicted", and I remain reluctant to do so now, because ignorance is not an affliction, rather it is the starting-point of every human being, and only those who are indeed "afflicted", whether with autism or some other type of educational obstacle, are unable to transcend it. Nevertheless the Yehudit word does mean "afflicted".

119:76 YEHI NA CHASDECHA LE NACHAMENI KE IMRAT'CHA LE AVDECHA

יְהִי נָא חַסְדְּךָ לְנַחֲמֵנִי כְּאִמְרָתְךָ לְעַבְדֶּךָ

KJ: Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant.

BN: Please prepare your lovingkindness for comforting me, according to your promise to your worshipper.

AVDECHA: Once again we have to question whether the Habiru were indeed "slaves" in Egypt. In the synagogue, AVODAH is the act of worship (and worship is one, though only one, of the means of "serving" the deity and the Torah).

119:77 YEVO'UNI RACHAMEYCHA VE ECHEYEH KI TORAT'CHA SHA'ASHU'AI

יְבֹאוּנִי רַחֲמֶיךָ וְאֶחְיֶה כִּי תוֹרָתְךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי

KJ: Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law is my delight.

BN: Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.

119:78 YEVOSHU ZEDIM KI SHEKER IVTUNI ANI ASIYACH BE PHIKUDEYCHA

יֵבֹשׁוּ זֵדִים כִּי שֶׁקֶר עִוְּתוּנִי אֲנִי אָשִׂיחַ בְּפִקּוּדֶיךָ

KJ: Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: but I will meditate in thy precepts.

BN: Let the proud be put to shame, for they have distorted my cause with lies; but I will meditate on your precepts.

119:79 YASHUVU LI YER'E'EYCHA VE YAD'U EDOTEYCHA

יָשׁוּבוּ לִי יְרֵאֶיךָ וְיָדְעוּ עֵדֹתֶיךָ

KJ: Let those that fear thee turn unto me, and those that have known thy testimonies.

BN: Let those who fear you return to me, and those who know your precepts.

Does he simply mean the "proud people" who have stopped being his friends because they think his beliefs are foolish, but who he now has the knowledge with which to persuade them. And if not: who is this "me", and what is this "returning"? Are they not "friends" so much as "followers", and himself a half-way house to deity: the local priest; the Kohen Gadol; the priest-king; the Prophet; a mere common-man who leads by example; a school-teacher? This needs some theological investigation, if only to assist me in getting my translation accurate.

119:80 YEHI LIBI TAMIM BE CHUKEYCHA LEMA'AN LO EVOSH

יְהִי לִבִּי תָמִים בְּחֻקֶּיךָ לְמַעַן לֹא אֵבוֹשׁ

KJ: Let my heart be sound in thy statutes; that I be not ashamed.

BN: Let my heart be pure in your statutes, in order that I may not be put to shame. {P}

TAMIM: Weren't No'ach and Iyov singled out for being TAMIM (Genesis 6:9 and Job 1:1? So this is a very big request.

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11: Kaph (כ)

119:81 KALTAH LIT'SHU'AT'CHA NAPHSHI LIDVARCHA YICHALTI

כָּלְתָה לִתְשׁוּעָתְךָ נַפְשִׁי לִדְבָרְךָ יִחָלְתִּי

KJ: CAPH. My soul fainteth for thy salvation: but I hope in thy word.

BN: My soul pines for your salvation; my hope rests in your Word.

LIT'SHU'AT'CHA: The poet in me hears this word, which is complex to the point of awkwardness, and wonders why the Psalmist has compounded it: appearing to use the Hit'pa'el for intellectual purposes, driving the salvation back to the petitioner, making him find it for himself through this process of study. But that makes me think of TESHUVAH, which is the process of spiritual return, and that too has been described in this Psalm - just two verses ago indeed, at verse 79. Two very different words - and yet, are they not both present, homophonously, in the awkward compound?

LIDVARCHA: DAVAR this time, not IMRAT.

120:82 KALU EYNAI LE IMRATECHA LE'MOR MATAI TENACHAMENI

כָּלוּ עֵינַי לְאִמְרָתֶךָ לֵאמֹר מָתַי תְּנַחֲמֵנִי

KJ: Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me?

BN: My eyes fail for your word, saying: "When will you comfort me?"

KALU: Is the point that he has been studying text? Late into the night, by candlelight (see verses 55 and 62) ... and they hadn't yet invented prescription reading-glasses!

119:83 KI HAYIYTI KE NOD BE KIYTOR CHUKEYCHA LO SHACHACHTI

כִּי הָיִיתִי כְּנֹאד בְּקִיטוֹר חֻקֶּיךָ לֹא שָׁכָחְתִּי

KJ: For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.

BN: For I have become like a wine-skin in the smoke; yet I did not forget your statutes.

KE NOD BE KIYTOR: Needs some etymological work. Did Kayin wander in the land of wine-skins, and none of us ever realised it before? See below.

NOD: I am not happy with my transliteration here, precisely because it fails to recognise the second-letter Aleph (א) and therefore is easily confused with that other Nod, the one in which Kayin was indeed sent to wander in Genesis 4:16. No Aleph there, but no place for an apostrophe here either; they are two completely different, unconnected words.

KIYTOR: And surely the smoking is one of the necessary phases of the making of the wine-skin, officially called tanning (these would have been leather flagons, they hadn't discovered or invented glass bottles yet). Click here.

119:84 KAMAH YEMEY AVDECHA MATAI TA'ASEH VE RODPHAI MISHPAT

כַּמָּה יְמֵי עַבְדֶּךָ מָתַי תַּעֲשֶׂה בְרֹדְפַי מִשְׁפָּט

KJ: How many are the days of thy servant? when wilt thou execute judgment on them that persecute me?

BN: How many are the days of your servant? When will you carry out judgment on those who persecute me?

KAMAH YEMEY AVDECHA: The answer to that question can be found at Psalm 90:10.

119:85 KARU LI ZEDIM SHIYCHOT ASHER LO CHE TORATECHA

כָּרוּ לִי זֵדִים שִׁיחוֹת אֲשֶׁר לֹא כְתוֹרָתֶךָ

KJ: The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.

BN: The proud have dug pits for me, which is not according to your law.

The ZEDIM seem to get at least one mention in every octet - need to check that.

SHIYCHOT: Playing a word/idea game with ASIYCHAH, which has also occurred repeatedly.

119:86 KOL MITSVOTEYCHA EMUNAH SHEKER REDAPHUNI AZRENI

כָּל מִצְוֹתֶיךָ אֱמוּנָה שֶׁקֶר רְדָפוּנִי עָזְרֵנִי

KJ: All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.

BN: All your commandments are in good faith; they persecute me for nothing; help me.

EMUNAH: see my note to verse 66 (but I am beginning to wonder if the word doesn't in fact mean "plausible" or "credible", rather than the rather more nebulous "faithful" - people are mocking him for his beliefs, but he finds them "credible".

EDUT: And then the Edut, which are translated as "testimonies", or by me as "precepts", become rather more like "forensic evidence"; except that, being theology, it lacks the forensic. See my note on this at Psalm 78:5.

119:87 KIM'AT KILUNI VA ARETS VA ANI LO AZAVTI PIKUVDEYCHA

כִּמְעַט כִּלּוּנִי בָאָרֶץ וַאֲנִי לֹא עָזַבְתִּי פִקֻּודֶיךָ

KJ: They had almost consumed me upon earth; but I forsook not thy precepts.

BN: They had almost consumed me upon Earth; but I, I did not forsake your precepts.

PIKUVDEYCHA: Is that Vav in the middle not an error, given that we have the qubuts (the dot-triplet) under the Kaf?

119:88 KE CHASDECHA CHAYENI VE ESHMERAH EDUT PIYCHA

כְּחַסְדְּךָ חַיֵּנִי וְאֶשְׁמְרָה עֵדוּת פִּיךָ

KJ: Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth.

BN: Quicken me according to your lovingkindness; so shall I observe the evidence of your mouth.

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One thing I have not yet done with this Psalm is to list the eight accrostical words from each octet, to see if perhaps they make a sentence themselves, and thereby add a further layer of meaning to the text. I suspect that they don't, that they are just random words that were chosen because they fitted the theme and happened to start with the right letter, but it may be worth setting this as a homework exercise for Middle School students, or older - deepen their reading and thereby their understanding, even if doesn't lead to a firm conclusion.

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Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41