TheBibleNet: Psalm 119b - verses 89-176

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

12: Lamed (ל)

119:89 LE OLAM YHVH DEVARCHA NITSAV BA SHAMAYIM

לְעוֹלָם יְהוָה דְּבָרְךָ נִצָּב בַּשָּׁמָיִם

KJ (King James translation): LAMED. For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

BN (BibleNet translation): Eternally, YHVH, is your Word embedded in the heavens.

DEVARCHA: Why is this DEVARCHA when elsewhere it is usually DEVARECHA?

[As per my note at the beginning of this Psalm, you will see that I have given the word "Word" a capital letter; this is to distinguish DEVARCHA from IMRAT'CHA; explanation of the distinction will will be given in context as they arise.]

119:90 LE DOR VA DOR EMUNATECHA KONANTA ERETS VA TA'AMOD

לְדֹר וָדֹר אֱמוּנָתֶךָ כּוֹנַנְתָּ אֶרֶץ וַתַּעֲמֹד

KJ: Thy faithfulness is unto all generations: thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.

BN: Your fidelity is from generation to generation; you established the Earth, and it endures.

119:91 LE MISHPATEYCHA AMDU HA YOM KI HA KOL AVADEYCHA

לְמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ עָמְדוּ הַיּוֹם כִּי הַכֹּל עֲבָדֶיךָ

KJ: They continue this day according to thine ordinances: for all are thy servants.

BN: They stand this day according to your instructions; for all things are your servants.

The verb AMDU is plural, but where is the plural subject that it refers to? LE MISHPATEYCHA is plural, but LE renders this the object, not the subject. "Generations" in the KJ tanslation of the previous verse might be considered; but KJ is actually a mistranslation, and LE DOR VA DOR is not a noun anyway. There is no plural noun in the previous verse that might be enjambed into this one as a continuing sentence. I am perplexed.

However, if we read EMUNATECHA in the previous verse as EMUNOTECHA, that one and only letter-change being perfectly plausible in the unpointed text, that now becomes the plural we have been seeking. What exactly it means as a plural now becomes the next subject for perplexity, but this time I do not have a suggestion to offer.

119:92 LULEY TORAT'CHA SHA'ASHU'AI AZ AVADETI VE ANYIY

לוּלֵי תוֹרָתְךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי אָז אָבַדְתִּי בְעָנְיִי

KJ: Unless thy law had been my delights, I should then have perished in mine affliction.

BN: If your Torah had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

LULEY: See my note to verse 57. This is as near as Yehudit gets to a conditional mode.

ANYIY: See my note to verse 75.

119:93 LE OLAM LO ESHKACH PIKUDEYCHA KI VAM CHIYIYTANI

לְעוֹלָם לֹא אֶשְׁכַּח פִּקּוּדֶיךָ כִּי בָם חִיִּיתָנִי

KJ: I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

BN: I will never forget your instructions, for with them you have quickened me.

PIKUDEYCHA: Generally KJ translates this as "precepts", but I cannot echo it, because I regard that as being an "EDUT" (see my note at Psalm 78:5, though the word also occurred earlier in this Psalm - verse 86). A PIKUD is an official position, in the army especially, but also in the civil institutions and the places of worship, the kinds of people who are trained to follow rules, traditional ways of doing things, established rites and ceremonies. However, the repeated usage of the word in this Psalm seems to vary between the transitive and the intransitive, between the "instructions" that are given, and the "responsibility" taken on to execute them, which is why I will sometimes render this as "instructions", but sometimes as "responsibilities". See my note at Psalm 19:9

119:94 LECHA ANI HOSHIY'ENI KI PHIKUDEYCHA DARASHTI

לְךָ אֲנִי הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי כִּי פִקּוּדֶיךָ דָרָשְׁתִּי

KJ: I am thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.

BN: I am yours - save me, for I have sought your precepts.

This is beginning to have the sense of Samuel Beckett's "Try. Fail. Try again. Fail better".

119:95 LI KIVU RESHA'IM LE ABDENI EDOTEYCHA ETBONAN

לִי קִוּוּ רְשָׁעִים לְאַבְּדֵנִי עֵדֹתֶיךָ אֶתְבּוֹנָן

KJ: The wicked have waited for me to destroy me: but I will consider thy testimonies.

BN: The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me; but I will stick to your precepts.

ETBONAN: As per my Beckett comment. "I will consider them". Consider? Ten verses ago your eyes were blistered from studying them so intensely. A dozen times you have expressed your total commitment, fully established. I will "consider" them!

KIVU: Why does Prashker go on and on about these tiny nuances of pointing? A matter of pronunciation for when you are singing or reciting, but also a question of meaning. The problem is that Yehudit is written without vowels, so there is intrinsic ambivalence, and sometimes the pointing helps, sometimes clarifies, occasionally confuses even more. And the pointing itself is not a perfect system. So, here - I have noted repeatedly these double-Vavs, but never one quite so dramatically complex as this, because they are absolutely identical, and yet completely different. Both have a dagesh (the dot on the left of the straight line which is the consonant itself). The first Vav-dagesh can only be a hard sound, unvocalised: nothing but a V. The second Vav is softened by its dagesh, to the point that only the dagesh is pronounced, the consonant completely silent - U (as in oo). And the impact of that is that the second Vav-dagesh is actually redundant, because we get exactly the same result with it or without it. But how would you know that, if you didn't have an understanding of the rules - for which, if you haven't already, click here?

119:96 LE CHOL TICHLAH RA'IYTI KETS RECHAVAH MITSVAT'CHA ME'OD

לְכָל תִּכְלָה רָאִיתִי קֵץ רְחָבָה מִצְוָתְךָ מְאֹד

KJ: I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.

BN: I have seen an end to every purpose; but your commandment is exceedingly broad. {P}

And now he's criticising! You have to know them very well to be able to justify criticising them. And the complaint? That they are not narrow enough, which in this case means, I think, precise enough - a complaint of Bible scholars from the start of the Babylonian Talmud by way of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah, to the Beit Midrash closest to you today. See my essay on Rabbi Yishmael's Laws of Hermeneutics in "A Myrtle Among Reeds".

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13: Mem (מ)

119:97 MAH AHAVTI TORATECHA KOL HA YOM HI SIYCHATI

מָה אָהַבְתִּי תוֹרָתֶךָ כָּל הַיּוֹם הִיא שִׂיחָתִי

KJ: MEM. O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day.

BN: O how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long.

Then let us take the opportunity to do the same!

Ironically first - by wondering what it must be like to spend all day reflecting, say, on the law that deals with accusations of adultery against women (Numbers 5:12 ff), or the stoning of male homosexuals (Leviticus 18:22 ff), or some of the complex matters of employment law (far too many texts to link; click here). Lawyers really do love this kind of work.

Meditatively next: what if the divine law isn't these clauses of Torah legislation (IMRATECHA) but the bigger picture (DEVARECHA), the Law of Relativity, say, or the Second Law of ThermoDynamics - Life, Nature and the Workings of the Comsos? Why, just walking down your home street and enjoying the sushine and the blossom on the trees and the first crocuses just budding in the suburban front-gardens, and thinking how good life is now that the spring has sprung...

And, probably, the intention here is both.

19:98 ME OYEVAI TECHAKMENI MITSVOTECHA KI LE OLAM HI LI

מֵאֹיְבַי תְּחַכְּמֵנִי מִצְוֹתֶךָ כִּי לְעוֹלָם הִיא לִי

KJ: Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me.

BN: Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies; I keep them with me at all times.

HI LI: A copy of Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah" in paperback in the jacket pocket, or on the Kindle, Sefaria's Talmud section bookmarked on the computer. Easy enough! (Not so easy in the Psalmist's times; he would have had to do it by actually practicing, keeping, observing all the laws, and librarying them in his memory. Much harder!)

119:99 MI KOL MELAMDAI HISKALTI KI EDOTEYCHA SIYCHAH LI

מִכָּל מְלַמְּדַי הִשְׂכַּלְתִּי כִּי עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ שִׂיחָה לִי

KJ: I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation.

BN: I have more understanding than all my teachers; for your precepts are my meditation.

The second rather arrogant claim made by this particular writer - the other was in verse 70. Or am I misreading the intent behind this, and they are in fact statements of extreme humility? No, I think he is accusing his teachers of ignorance, precisely because they not teaching him Torah.

119:100 MI ZEKENIM ETBONAN KI PHIKUDEYCHA NATSARTI

מִזְּקֵנִים אֶתְבּוֹנָן כִּי פִקּוּדֶיךָ נָצָרְתִּי

KJ: I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.

BN: I have greater discernment than my elders, because I have kept your precepts.

Kabbalah: The Tree of Life
(the original! see also verse 34)

MI ZEKENIM: Or Mizkenim? Elders, as in the ones who sit on the tribal Board, who are regarded as being "the wise men"? A Zakan is also a beard, so there is a sense of "old men with beards" being regarded, usually quite falsely, as wise, purely as a consequence of longevity. The same delusion goes with that oft-repeated remark that surely such things aren't possible "in our epoch".

ETBONAN: Can't be translated as "understanding" if HISKALTI in the previous verse has been; two different words in Yehudit, requiring two different words in translation. The root yields BINAH, which is rather more "discernment" than "understanding" - the ability to look into things very closely, which doesn't automatically mean you will understand them (personally, I claim high levels of the former, very low levels of the latter).

All of which takes me back to the notes at verse 97, and makes me realise (different again from discernment or understanding) that I need the mystical response too; whence this illustration.

119:101 MI KOL ORACH RA KALI'TI RAGLAI LEMA'AN ESHMOR DEVARECHA

מִכָּל אֹרַח רָע כָּלִאתִי רַגְלָי לְמַעַן אֶשְׁמֹר דְּבָרֶךָ

KJ: I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.

BN: I have kept my feet off every evil path, in order that I might observe your Word.

119:102 MI MISHPATEYCHA LO SARTI KI ATAH HORETANI

מִמִּשְׁפָּטֶיךָ לֹא סָרְתִּי כִּי אַתָּה הוֹרֵתָנִי

KJ: I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me.

BN: I have not turned aside from your ordinances, for you have instructed me.

119:103 MAH NIMLETSU LE CHIKI IMRATECHA MI DEVASH LE PHI

מַה נִּמְלְצוּ לְחִכִּי אִמְרָתֶךָ מִדְּבַשׁ לְפִי

KJ: How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!

BN: How sweet are your words against my palate! sweeter than honey to my mouth!

119:104 MI PIKUDEYCHA ETBONAN AL KEN SANE'TI KOL ORACH SHAKER

מִפִּקּוּדֶיךָ אֶתְבּוֹנָן עַל כֵּן שָׂנֵאתִי כָּל אֹרַח שָׁקֶר

KJ: Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

BN: From your instructions I obtain discernment; therefore I hate every false way. {P}

Given that Maskil, Mitsvot and Mishpatim are all Mem words, and key words in this Psalm, and the fact that all Pi'el and most Hiph'il verbs require a first letter Mem when conjugated, it is rather disappointing to find this octet acrostuck (is that the past tense of "to acrostic"?) only with Mis and Mahs and Mehs.

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14: Nun (נ)

119:105 NER LE RAGLAI DEVARECHA VE OR LINTIYVATI

נֵר לְרַגְלִי דְבָרֶךָ וְאוֹר לִנְתִיבָתִי

KJ: NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

BN: Your Word is a lamp for my feet, and a light for my path.

RAGLAI: Definitely "feet" on this occasion. I say this because there is a very famous legend of Rabbi Hillel, which gets attributed to Jesus in the Gospels, of a Jew who tells him that he doesn't have time to study the law, what with his business commitments, family, et cetera, and so please Rabbi tell me "be regel echad" what I need to do to be a good Jew. To which Hillel replies, quoting Leviticus 19:18, "love your neighbour as yourself". The story is always told with Hillel "standing on one leg", which is an entirely valid translation of "be regel echad"; but what the man asked for was "in one rule", and that was what the Leviticus quote provided.

The other half of the Jesus version is also implicit in this line. "I am the Light, I am the Way" (John 8:12 or 14:16). The Way, as we have noted above, is HALACHAH. The light is an electric bulb, made by the company known as Mazda - click here, and then here, though actually they are the same.

119:106 NISHBA'TI VA AKAYEMAH LISHMOR MISHPETEY TSIDKECHA

נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי וָאֲקַיֵּמָה לִשְׁמֹר מִשְׁפְּטֵי צִדְקֶךָ

KJ: I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

BN: I have sworn, and hereby confirm it, to observe your righteous ordinances.

119:107 NA'ANEYTI AD ME'OD YHVH CHAYENI CHIDVARECHA

נַעֲנֵיתִי עַד מְאֹד יְהוָה חַיֵּנִי כִדְבָרֶךָ

KJ: I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.

BN: I am afflicted very much; quicken me, YHVH, according to your Word.

I am beginning to be concerned for this poor man, who appears to be suffering from a severe form of manic depression, one minute hyperhigh with religious exaltation, at the next "afflicted" to a point that he needs his spiritual battery recharging with divine jump-leads. Perhaps it's just the inevitable consequence of taking on a full alphabetical acrostic, in octets noch, when surely quartets could have achieved the same objectives.

119:108 NIDVOT PI RETSEH NA YHVH U MISHPATEYCHA LAMDENI

נִדְבוֹת פִּי רְצֵה נָא יְהוָה וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ לַמְּדֵנִי

KJ: Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O LORD, and teach me thy judgments.

BN: Accept, I beg you, the freewill-offerings of my mouth, YHVH, and teach me your ordinances.

But you have them in text form in front of you (see verse...), and you have been meditating on them day and night (see verse...), to the point that you have already obtained more wisdom knowledge discernment and understanding even than your teachers (see verse...) or your elders (see verse...). And still you want more, still you moan and complain... isn't that in itself a proof that you haven't been doing all the homework you are claiming, that you don't have the "hope" and "certainty" that you keep insisting you have already acquired?

119:109 NAPHSHI VE CHAPI TAMID VE TORAT'CHA LO SHACHACHTI

נַפְשִׁי בְכַפִּי תָמִיד וְתוֹרָתְךָ לֹא שָׁכָחְתִּ

KJ: My soul is continually in my hand: yet do I not forget thy law.

BN: My soul is continually in my hand, and I have not forgotten your law.

My cup of coffee, double-expresso, is continually in my hand, to help me stay awake through the all-night study-session. This I can discern, understand, rationalise, and believe. But does his claim not require some physical forensics by way of evidence? And if not, does my claim that YHVH too is really just a metaphor...

119:110 NATNU RESHA'IM PACH LI U MI PIKUDEYCHA LO TA'IYTI

נָתְנוּ רְשָׁעִים פַּח לִי וּמִפִּקּוּדֶיךָ לֹא תָעִיתִי

KJ: The wicked have laid a snare for me: yet I erred not from thy precepts.

BN: The wicked laid a snare for me, yet I did not abrogate my responsibilities.

119:111 NACHALTI EDOTEYCHA LE OLAM KI SESON LIBI HEMAH

נָחַלְתִּי עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ לְעוֹלָם כִּי שְׂשׂוֹן לִבִּי הֵמָּה

KJ: Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.

BN: I have taken your precepts as an inheritance for ever; for they are what make my heart rejoice.

119:112 NATIYTI LIBI LA'ASOT CHUKEYCHA LE OLAM EKEV

נָטִיתִי לִבִּי לַעֲשׂוֹת חֻקֶּיךָ לְעוֹלָם עֵקֶב

KJ: I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.

BN: I have inclined my heart to perform your statutes, for ever, at every step. {P}

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15: Samech (ס)

119:113 SE'APHIM SANE'TI VE TORAT'CHA AHAVTI

סֵעֲפִים שָׂנֵאתִי וְתוֹרָתְךָ אָהָבְתִּי

KJ: SAMECH. I hate vain thoughts: but thy law do I love.

BN: I have always hated fence-sitters; but your law I have always loved.

SE'APHIM: I have gone for "fence-sitters", because the root can be either the brain, and people who can't make their minds up, or the heart, and people who do things but without really caring that much what the outcome is: half-hearted or two-minded.

And just because I happened to notice this, the root is SA'APH (סעף), which just happens to be three consecutive letters of the alphabet; not many languages can do that (English can't - I looked it up: lots of twos, but two are easy, anyone able to read should hopefully, should definitely... no, wait a moment! Bookkeeper, by the way, is the only word in English with three consecutive double letters, and spoonfeed, but you have to take it in reverse, is the longest in perfect alphabetical order... after 113 verses of serious effort, weren't you just so grateful for that chance to turn your mind elsewhere for a moment!)

SANE'TI...AHAVTI: And just as there is no conditional, and no pluperfect, in Yehudit, so there is no equivalent of what we can do in English, which is to use the perfect tense in an imperfect form, and thereby render it continuous; usually achieved by doing is what is being done here, which is to throw in a past tense amidst the presents. So my addition of the word "always".

Is there a pattern in the repetition of TORATCHA, CHUKEYCHA, MISHPATECHA, DEVARECHA, etc? I think I may have asked that once before.

119:114 SITRI U MAGINI ATAH LIDVARCHA YICHALTI

סִתְרִי וּמָגִנִּי אָתָּה לִדְבָרְךָ יִחָלְתִּי

KJ: Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word.

BN: You are my refuge and my shield; in your Word do I place my hope.

SITRI: Doesn't "hiding-place" rather suggest religion as a form of escapism? And that may well be the case (many SE'APHIM would say so, in the modern sense of SE'APHIM, which is "sceptics"), but it isn't the Kavanah, the "sincere intention" of this Psalm.

119:115 SURU MIMENI MERE'IM VE ETSRAH MITSVOT ELOHAI

סוּרוּ מִמֶּנִּי מְרֵעִים וְאֶצְּרָה מִצְוֹת אֱלֹהָי

KJ: Depart from me, ye evildoers: for I will keep the commandments of my God.

BN: Get away from me, you evil-doers, that I may keep the commandments of my gods.

I wonder if this is what Jesus was quoting in Matthew 4:10, and again in Matthew 16:23, but the gospel-writers didn't know their scriptures anything like as well as he did, so they simply rendered it in Geeek translation?

ELOHAI: plural.

119:16 SAMCHENI CHE IMRAT'CHA VE ECH'YEH VE AL TEVIYSHENI MI SIVRI

סָמְכֵנִי כְאִמְרָתְךָ וְאֶחְיֶה וְאַל תְּבִישֵׁנִי מִשִּׂבְרִי

KJ: Uphold me according unto thy word, that I may live: and let me not be ashamed of my hope.

BN: Sustain me according to your words, that I may live, and do not put me to shame in my expectation.

SIVRI: Hope is TIKVAH; this is "expectation". Translating it as "hope" imposes an element of doubt, if not actual scepticism, in this verse: why would a person "of perfect faith" ever feel ashamed of being so? He expects, because there is a covenant, and gods keep their covenants.

119:17 SE'ADENI VE IVASHE'AH VE ESH'AH VE CHUKEYCHA TAMID

סְעָדֵנִי וְאִוָּשֵׁעָה וְאֶשְׁעָה בְחֻקֶּיךָ תָמִיד

KJ: Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe: and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.

BN: Support me, and I shall be saved; then I will occupy myself with your statutes continually.

Wait a moment. Are you bartering or worshipping? I thought you'd already given yourself unequivocally and eternally to these statutes.

So we note how the mood changes, almost verse by verse: doubt, faith, certainty, less than total certainty, hope, hopelessness, a constant ebb and flow. So, in truth, it probably should be, because that is how Nature helixes, and human life as well.

119:118 SALIYTA KOL SHOGIM ME CHUKEYCHA KI SHEKER TARMIYTAM

סָלִיתָ כָּל שׁוֹגִים מֵחֻקֶּיךָ כִּי שֶׁקֶר תַּרְמִיתָם

KJ: Thou hast trodden down all them that err from thy statutes: for their deceit is falsehood.

BN: You have silenced all those who turned aside from your statutes; for their deceit is vain.

SALIYTA: From the root SELAH - which really requires me to take a pause, play some music, and then resume... because, yes, this is the same word that gives us that pause-symbol no less than seventy-one times in these Psalms. Its meaning? Literally "rest" or "silence". You can also find it in the book of the Prophet Chavakuk (Habbakuk), at chapter 3:3, 3:9 and 3:13, and worth looking at verse 1 as well when you get there, because his song too is connected to the word SHOGIM in our verse.

119:19 SIGIM HISHBATA CHOL RISH'EY ARETS LACHEN AHAVTI EDOTEYCHA

סִגִים הִשְׁבַּתָּ כָל רִשְׁעֵי אָרֶץ לָכֵן אָהַבְתִּי עֵדֹתֶיךָ

KJ: Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.

BN: You put away all the wicked of the Earth like the scrapings from the anvil; that is why I love your testimonies.

SIGIM: "Dross" sounds like the scrapings from the cow-shed after the milking-round, and this is not its meaning. The term is very precise - cf Ezekiel 22:18, Proverbs 25:4, Isaiah 1:22.

119:20 SAMAR MI PACHDECHA VESARI U MI MISHPATEYCHA YARE'TI

סָמַר מִפַּחְדְּךָ בְשָׂרִי וּמִמִּשְׁפָּטֶיךָ יָרֵאתִי

KJ: My flesh trembleth for fear of thee; and I am afraid of thy judgments.

BN: My flesh shudders for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. {P}

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16: Ayin (ע)

119:121 ASIYTI MISHPAT VA TSEDEK BAL TANIYCHENI LE OSHKAI

עָשִׂיתִי מִשְׁפָּט וָצֶדֶק בַּל תַּנִּיחֵנִי לְעֹשְׁקָי

KJ: AIN. I have done judgment and justice: leave me not to mine oppressors.

BN: I have acted with justice and righteousness; do not abandon me to my oppressors.

119:122 AROV AVDECHA LE TOV ALO YA'ASHKUNI ZEDIM

עֲרֹב עַבְדְּךָ לְטוֹב אַל יַעַשְׁקֻנִי זֵדִים

KJ: Be surety for thy servant for good: let not the proud oppress me.

BN: Stand surety for your servant in perpetuity; do not allow the proud to oppress me.

ARAV: One of the most complex of all words in Yehudit, and its ambivalences much played with in the texts. Joshua and Judges in particular use it, placing "crows" in the trees, at "evening", while "ambushers" are moved to the hills beside the town-under-siege, and then the city-gate attacked, but a retreat as soon as the city-army came out to attack, and the "ambushers" then creep down like "crows" to take the town in the "evening". ARAV, EREV and OREV, and each one of those has at least two different meanings. So which is it here? None of them! Nor is the word for an Arab, though that is also ARAV in Yehudit, and spelled this way. This is the ARAV that was used in Genesis 44:32, when Yehudah offered himself as human collateral, "surety" against anything happening to Bin-Yamin when they took him down to Mitsrayim. And as it is a legal term, I have gone for "in perpetuity" for LE TOV, though I recognise that I have thereby lost the double meaning of "for good".

119:123 EYNAI KALU LIYSHU'ATECHA U LE IMRAT TSIDKECHA

עֵינַי כָּלוּ לִישׁוּעָתֶךָ וּלְאִמְרַת צִדְקֶךָ

KJ: Mine eyes fail for thy salvation, and for the word of thy righteousness.

BN: My eyes are spent, seeking your salvation, and your righteous word.

I am not certain how this verse works physically, unless it means he's been studying late into the night again (it is IMRAT here, not DAVAR, so it does mean text, not life).

119:124 ASEH IM AVDECHA CHE CHASDECHA VE CHUKEYCHA LAMDENI

עֲשֵׂה עִם עַבְדְּךָ כְחַסְדֶּךָ וְחֻקֶּיךָ לַמְּדֵנִי

KJ: Deal with thy servant according unto thy mercy, and teach me thy statutes.

BN: Deal with your servant according to your loving-kindness, and teach me your statutes.

Which seems to endorse my reading of the previous verse.

119:125 AVDECHA ANI HAVIYENI VE ED'AH EDOTEYCHA

עַבְדְּךָ אָנִי הֲבִינֵנִי וְאֵדְעָה עֵדֹתֶיךָ

KJ: I am thy servant; give me understanding, that I may know thy testimonies.

BN: I am your worshipper; grant me understanding, that I may know your precepts.

And this endorses it still further. But it also leads me to suggest that he takes a look at another text, Pirkei Avot 1:16 - though obviously he can't, because that text will not be written until several centuries later. But we can learn from it on his behalf, and not make his solitary error (and we can also note that the editor of Pirkei Avot did not place verse 17 after 16 by chance).

119:126 ET LA'ASOT LA YHVH HEPHERU TORATECHA

עֵת לַעֲשׂוֹת לַיהוָה הֵפֵרוּ תּוֹרָתֶךָ

KJ: It is time for thee, LORD, to work: for they have made void thy law.

BN: The time has come for YHVH to act; they have rendered your law void.

HEPHERU: And still one more of the double-letters: PARAR the root on this occasion.

119:127 AL KEN AHAVTI MITSVOTEYCHA MI ZAHAV U MI PAZ

עַל כֵּן אָהַבְתִּי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ מִזָּהָב וּמִפָּז

KJ: Therefore I love thy commandments above gold; yea, above fine gold.

BN: That is why I love your commandments above gold, even above fine gold.

ZAHAV...PAZ: The difference between gold, as it comes out of the rock in pure form and is simply melted (ZAHAV TAHOR in 2 Chronicles 9:17), and the gold plate or bullion or coin or jewel that is then separated and remodelled, nature versus human artefacting. The root of PAZ is, guess what, PAZAZ, yet another double-letter.

119:128 AL KEN KOL PIKUDEY CHOL YISHARTI KOL ORACH SHEKER SANE'TI

עַל כֵּן כָּל פִּקּוּדֵי כֹל יִשָּׁרְתִּי כָּל אֹרַח שֶׁקֶר שָׂנֵאתִי

KJ: Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way.

BN: That is why I esteem all your instructions concerning all things to be right; I hate every false path. {P}

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17: Pey (פ)

119:129 PELA'OT EDOTEYCHA AL KEN NETSARATAM NAPHSHI

פְּלָאוֹת עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ עַל כֵּן נְצָרָתַם נַפְשִׁי

KJ: PE. Thy testimonies are wonderful: therefore doth my soul keep them.

BN: Your precepts are wonderful; that is why soul keeps them.

119:130 PETACH DEVAREYCHA YA'IR MEVIYN PETAYIM

פֵּתַח דְּבָרֶיךָ יָאִיר מֵבִין פְּתָיִים

KJ: The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

BN: The opening of your Word illuminates; it bestows understanding on the simple.

How do words open? If they are the words of the sun-god, perhaps this is a poetical description of the dawn, or of the clouds passing on a rainy day. Verse 32 seems to endorse this likelihood. But given the extent of his studying, this can only be discernment kicking in, and we are witnessing that slow climbing of the pyramid, from useless, taught information, via assessment, evaluation, analysis, that leads to the summit of Bloom's Taxonomy.

119:131 PI PHA'ARTI VA ESH'APHAH KI LE MITSVOTEYCHA YA'AVTI

פִּי פָעַרְתִּי וָאֶשְׁאָפָה כִּי לְמִצְוֹתֶיךָ יָאָבְתִּי

KJ: I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy commandments.

BN: I opened my mouth wide, and panted; for I longed for your commandments.

Where the opening here is most definitely literal, physical. Funny that I should make an allusion to Bloom's Taxonomy, and then, in the very next verse, what do we find but Pavlov's Dog (same link).

119:132 PENEH ELAI VE CHANENI KE MISHPAT LE OHAVEY SHEMECHA

פְּנֵה אֵלַי וְחָנֵּנִי כְּמִשְׁפָּט לְאֹהֲבֵי שְׁמֶךָ

KJ: Look thou upon me, and be merciful unto me, as thou usest to do unto those that love thy name.

BN: Turn towards me, and empathise with me, as is your wont to do for those who love your name.

PENEH ELAI: The phrase we usually associate with the Yevarechecha; see my note to verse 130, but also see verse 135.

CHANENI: This however is not the phrase from the Yevarechecha, and so we really shouldn't translate it as "be gracious to me", though several of the translations that I have looked at do so, and it seems to be precisely what is intended here.

119:133 PE'AMAI HACHEN BE IMRATECHA VE AL TASHLET BI CHOL AVEN

פְּעָמַי הָכֵן בְּאִמְרָתֶךָ וְאַל תַּשְׁלֶט בִּי כָל אָוֶן

KJ: Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.

BN: Arrange my footsteps according to your words, and do not let any form of iniquity trip me up.

PE'AMEI: Remember, when these sometimes slightly odd metaphors come up, that this is all about HALACHAH, and so he is "walking the path", or straying from it, stumbling on it, tripping on it, etc.

119:134 PEDENI ME OSHEK ADAM VE ESHMERAH PIKUDEYCHA

פְּדֵנִי מֵעֹשֶׁק אָדָם וְאֶשְׁמְרָה פִּקּוּדֶיךָ

KJ: Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.

BN (incorrect translation): Deliver me from the busy-bodying of Humankind, and I will fulfill the responsibilities you have given me.

OSHEK: I mis-read it as OSEK, because in my unpointed version that could just as easily have been a SEEN as a SHEEN. And does busy-bodying not become oppressive, eventually?

BN (probably the correct translation): Deliver me from the violent and threatening behaviour of my fellow humans, and I will observe your precepts.

Which is a way of accepting Leviticus 19:18, but conditionally! (see verse 105)

119:135 PANEYCHA HA'ER BE AVDECHA VE LAMDENI ET CHUKEYCHA

פָּנֶיךָ הָאֵר בְּעַבְדֶּךָ וְלַמְּדֵנִי אֶת חֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.

BN: Make your face shine on your worshipper, and teach me your statutes.

As per my note at verse 132.

119:136 PALGEY MAYIM YARDU EYNAI AL LO SHAMRU TORATECHA

פַּלְגֵי מַיִם יָרְדוּ עֵינָי עַל לֹא שָׁמְרוּ תוֹרָתֶךָ

KJ: Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.

BN: My eyes pour streams of water, when they do not observe your law. {P}

AL LO: "Because" can't be right, based on the evidence above; but "when they" allows for the lapses and the moments of straying.

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18: Tsade (צ)

119:137 TSADIK ATAH YHVH VE YASHAR MISHPATEYCHA

צַדִּיק אַתָּה יְהוָה וְיָשָׁר מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ

KJ: TZADDI. Righteous art thou, O LORD, and upright are thy judgments.

BN: You are righteous, YHVH, and your judgments are sound.

TSADIK: Impossible to imagine an acrostical poem which reaches the letter Tsadi and does not choose the word Tsadik, especially in the context of the Psalm.

YASHAR: really means "straight", but in the context of IMRATECHA and DEVARECHA, I like the English pun of their being "sound".

119:138 TSIVIYTA TSEDEK EDOTEYCHA VE EMUNAH ME'OD

צִוִּיתָ צֶדֶק עֵדֹתֶיךָ וֶאֱמוּנָה מְאֹד

KJ: Thy testimonies that thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful.

BN: You issued your precepts justly, and with great fidelity.

119:139 TSIMTATNI KIN'ATI KI SHACHECHU DEVAREYCHA TSARAI

צִמְּתַתְנִי קִנְאָתִי כִּי שָׁכְחוּ דְבָרֶיךָ צָרָי

KJ: My zeal hath consumed me, because mine enemies have forgotten thy words.

BN: My zeal has reduced me to silence, because the causers of my troubles have forgotten your Word.

TSIMTATNI: Another of the ambivalents, but not, despite that second Tav, a double-letter root; the second Tav here is purely grammatical. In the Psalms it generally means "destroy" or "exterminate" (18:40, 54:5 et al), as it does as 2 Samuel 22:41, and clearly that is where KJ is going for parallels. But those are all First Temple era texts, and this is very much a Second Temple Psalm. I am more inclined to go to the Aramaic, which was the lingua prima of the time, and there it is all about the silence (which of course is what things become, once destroyed, so we can witness how the word evolved in its usage). And being reduced to silence makes a perfect word-play with the second half of the verse.

119:140 TSERUPHAH IMRAT'CHA ME'OD VE AVDECHA AHEVAH

צְרוּפָה אִמְרָתְךָ מְאֹד וְעַבְדְּךָ אֲהֵבָהּ

KJ: Thy word is very pure: therefore thy servant loveth it.

BN: Your words are as pure as natural mineral forged in the smithy, and thus your worshipper loves them.

TSERUPHAH: Once again we enter the forge, which we last visited at verse 127. There the purity was PAZAZ, here TSERUPHAH, but the process is more or less the same - smelting, in this instance. The refining of base human material, through the process of experiential education, which forges character, and manumits wisdom (but as a reality, not a forgery in the sense of counterfeit).

119:141 TSA'IR ANOCHI VE NIVZEH PIKUDEYCHA LO SHACHACHTI

צָעִיר אָנֹכִי וְנִבְזֶה פִּקֻּדֶיךָ לֹא שָׁכָחְתִּי

KJ: I am small and despised: yet do not I forget thy precepts.

BN: I am small and despised, yet I have not forgotten your instructions.

119:142 TSIDKAT'CHA TSEDEK LE OLAM VE TORAT'CHA EMET

צִדְקָתְךָ צֶדֶק לְעוֹלָם וְתוֹרָתְךָ אֱמֶת

KJ: Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth.

BN: Your righteousness is everlasting righteousness, and your Torah is truth.

Once again the explicit statement of religious belief as an intellectual position not a matter of blind faith; this verse is certainly reflected, may even be one of the sources for, Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of Faith, sung as the Yigdal in today's liturgy.

119:143 TSAR U MATSOK METSA'UNI MITSVOTEYCHA SHA'ASHU'AI

צַר וּמָצוֹק מְצָאוּנִי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי

KJ: Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments are my delights.

BN: Trouble and anguish have overtaken me; yet your commandments are my delight.

119:144 TSEDEK EDOTEYCHA LE OLAM HAVIYNENI VE ECHEYEH

צֶדֶק עֵדְוֹתֶיךָ לְעוֹלָם הֲבִינֵנִי וְאֶחְיֶה

KJ: The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live.

BN: Your laws will remain just for ever; give me understanding, and I shall live. {P}

TSEDEK: Generally I complain when the same word is used twice acrostically in the same octet; on this occasion, however, the intention is bookmarks, and linking TSEDEK ATAH at the start to TSEDEK EDOTEYCHA at the finish, provides the bridge from the source to the recipient, and confirms again the intellectual totality of this piece.

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19: Kuph (ק)

119:145 KARA'TI VE CHOL LEV ANENI YHVH CHUKEYCHA ETSORAH

קָרָאתִי בְכָל לֵב עֲנֵנִי יְהוָה חֻקֶּיךָ אֶצֹּרָה

KJ: KOPH. I cried with my whole heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes.

BN: I have called with my whole heart; answer me, YHVH; I will keep your statutes.

119:146 KERA'TIYCHA HOSHIY'ENI VE ESHMERAH EDOTEYCHA

קְרָאתִיךָ הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי וְאֶשְׁמְרָה עֵדֹתֶיךָ

KJ: I cried unto thee; save me, and I shall keep thy testimonies.

BN: I called out to you, "Save me, and I will observe your testimonies".

This endlessly repeated call for reciprocity is a problem that Judaism has never managed to deal with, and its sub-denominations Christianity and Islam likewise. "We have a covenant, YHVH, and I am fully prepared to study as hard as I can, to live as faithfully to your laws as possible - so how come you still go on sending the tsunamis, the hurricanes, the fleas, the rats, the cancers...?"

119:147 KIDAMTI VA NESHEPH VA ASHAV'E'AH LIDVAREYCHA YICHALTI

קִדַּמְתִּי בַנֶּשֶׁף וָאֲשַׁוֵּעָה לִדְבָרֶיךָ יִחָלְתִּי

KJ: I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word.

BN: I rose early at dawn, and cried; I placed my hope in your Word.

These two translations don't feel to me like they belong with this verse. Have I made a copying error? A fairly full list of variants for this verse can be found here.

Part of the problem is grammatical: KADAMTI at the dawn of this sentence is past tense, as is YICHALTI when the sentence sets, but the middle of its day is in the future tense - ASHAV'E'AH.

Another part of the problem is word-play: KEDEM is used now, as it was in ancient times (BE YAMEYNU KA KEDEM) to mean "old", though never of any individual person's age. KEDEMOT can be found at Deuteronomy 2:26, as well as Joshua 13:17ff and several others, as the name of a city in the territory of Cheshbon, a crucial moment in the conquest, so that mentioning it would be like mentioning the Alamo to an American or Agincourt to a Brit: the tale is told in the link to Cheshbon. But KEDEM is not only time and place, it is also direction, as in Genesis 2:8 where it compasses eastwards, and of course the east is the sunrise, and Jews are supposed to face it when they pray the dawn service (see my extensive notes on this at page 16 of "A Myrtle Among Reeds").

But none of this explains how KJ gets KADAMTI to mean "I prevented"; and in truth I am unable to offer more than I have, above.

VA NEPHESH VA ASHAV'E'AH: The first "VA" is a Bet, softened to a Vet, meaning "in"; the second is Vav, and serves as the conjunction "and". Why is it not VA NAPHSHI, with a personal pronoun suffixed?

119:148 KIDMU EYNAI ASHMUROT LASIYACH BE IMRATECHA

קִדְּמוּ עֵינַי אַשְׁמֻרוֹת לָשִׂיחַ בְּאִמְרָתֶךָ

KJ: Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word.

BN: My eyes forestalled the night-watchman, so that I could meditate on your word.

The translation of this verse appears to vindicate the rather unlikely KJ translation of the previous verse. Or is it simply that he's sitting there in the Yeshivah, studying, and the night-guard doing his final check has told him, "Time to leave, I'm locking up so the cleaners can go over the place before the frummies arrive for morning prayers"; but he gives the night-guard one of those stern looks, and he's left to carry on? Either way, the inference is that he has been up all night, studying.

119:149 KOLI SHIM'AH CHE CHASDECHA YHVH KE MISHPATECHA CHAYENI

קוֹלִי שִׁמְעָה כְחַסְדֶּךָ יְהוָה כְּמִשְׁפָּטֶךָ חַיֵּנִי

KJ: Hear my voice according unto thy lovingkindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.

BN: Hear my voice according to your loving-kindness; quicken me, YHVH, according to your judgement.

CHAYENI: The immense cleverness of this, and its theological significance, requires a re-reading of three essays, the ones on YHVH, YAH and CHAVAH (Eve), but essentially (and yes, I do mean that word), YHVH is the essential (second meaning of that word) source for the understanding he is seeking, but what he wants it for is so that his own essence, his own being, can become fully, existentially realised, to become manifest in its optimum form, and that requires CHAVAH.

119:150 KARVU RODPHEY ZIMAH MI TORAT'CHA RACHAKU

קָרְבוּ רֹדְפֵי זִמָּה מִתּוֹרָתְךָ רָחָקוּ

KJ: They draw nigh that follow after mischief: they are far from thy law.

BN: Let those who pursue wickedness approach; they are far from your law.

119:151 KAROV ATAH YHVH VE CHOL MITSVOTEYCHA EMET

קָרוֹב אַתָּה יְהוָה וְכָל מִצְוֹתֶיךָ אֱמֶת

KJ: Thou art near, O LORD; and all thy commandments are truth.

BN: You are near, YHVH; and all your commandments are true.

119:152 KEDEM YADA'TI ME EDOTEYCHA KI LE OLAM YESADETAM

קֶדֶם יָדַעְתִּי מֵעֵדֹתֶיךָ כִּי לְעוֹלָם יְסַדְתָּם

KJ: Concerning thy testimonies, I have known of old that thou hast founded them for ever.

BN: Of old I have known from your testimonies that you have established them for ever. {P}

KEDEM: Whereas, on this occasion, KEDEM can only mean the past... or can it? Now that we have reached this point of understanding, of knowledge, and the start of a new day, are we not ready to move forward to still deeper achievement? We are? Then avanti, forward... kadima!

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20: Reysh (ר)

119:153 RE'EH ANYIY VE CHALTSENI KI TORAT'CHA LO SHACHACHTI

רְאֵה עָנְיִי וְחַלְּצֵנִי כִּי תוֹרָתְךָ לֹא שָׁכָחְתִּ

KJ: RESH. Consider mine affliction, and deliver me: for I do not forget thy law.

BN: See my affliction, and rescue me; for I have not forgotten your law.

CHALTSENI: I would like to render this as "cure me", but that requires the "affliction" to be physical or mental, where it may very well be economic or the consequence of war, a matter of bullying...

119:154 RIYVAH RIYVI U GE'ALENI LE IMRAT'CHA CHAYENI

רִיבָה רִיבִי וּגְאָלֵנִי לְאִמְרָתְךָ חַיֵּנִי

KJ: Plead my cause, and deliver me: quicken me according to thy word.

BN: Plead my cause, and redeem me; quicken me according to your words.

GE'ALENI: From GO'EL, which is "redemption", not from MOSHI'A, which would "deliver" in the form of salvation - as in the very next verse. See my notes at Joshua 20:3.

RIYVAH RIYVI: Doubling the acrostic for musical effect, and only surprising that we have not encountered large numbers of these previously (or did I miss them?) More to follow in this Reysh octet: the very next verse indeed, and again in 156 and 157.

119:155 RACHOK ME RESHA'IM YESHU'AH KI CHUKEYCHA LO DARASHU

רָחוֹק מֵרְשָׁעִים יְשׁוּעָה כִּי חֻקֶּיךָ לֹא דָרָשׁוּ

KJ: Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not thy statutes.

BN: Salvation is far from the wicked, because they do not seek your statutes.

RESHA'IM YESHU'AH: Somewhat similar as words, those two distinctly opposite, indeed contradictory paradigms, both having a Sheen followed by an Ayin, but the first letter renders that similarity mere coincidence; a gift nonetheless for any poet anyway!

What of course is missing from all these verses, and the same applies elsewhere in the Psalms and other scriptures, is: what actually did these ancients mean by "salvation"? Something on Earth, in life, or afterwards? Something personal, such as the ironing out of their flaws, or something universal, bringing harmony to Humankind. It cannot be the last of these, because of the "distance" let alone the opposition or rank indifference to these laws of most of the remainder of humanity. Is this then something like the voice of Ari ben Aaron in "A Little Oil & Root", saying "I write to create a self that is whole enough that it no longer needs to write"? Only, in the case of this Psalm, "I study the law to..." The trouble is, you can reach an end of writing, or of studying, but not of needing.

119:156 RACHAMEYCHA RABIM YHVH KE MISHPATEYCHA CHAYENI

רַחֲמֶיךָ רַבִּים יְהוָה כְּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ חַיֵּנִי

KJ: Great are thy tender mercies, O LORD: quicken me according to thy judgments.

BN: Your magnanimity is magnificent; rejuvenate me, YHVH, according to your judgement.

KE MISHPATEYCHA CHAYENI: At what point did this start to become a refrain? See verse 149, and then please explain to me why the Masoretes have added a Yud at 149, but left it out here?

I have pointed out the doubling of the acrostic letter at the start of several of the verses of this octet; here the ending also doubles, and does so using the CHET sound from the second syllable of the acrostic word: I wonder how this might have been sung, or set to music. (And again, worth getting students to go through the Psalm again and see if there are more examples of these poetici methodologies)

I have also attempted something similar in my translation.

119:157 RABIM RODPHAI VE TSA'ARAI ME EDOTEYCHA LO NATIYTI

רַבִּים רֹדְפַי וְצָרָי מֵעֵדְוֹתֶיךָ לֹא נָטִיתִי

KJ: Many are my persecutors and mine enemies; yet do I not decline from thy testimonies.

BN: My persecutors and my adversaries are many, yet I have not turned aside from your testimonies.

RODPHAI...TSA'ARAI: Once again achieving internal rhyme, but each verse a different poetic technique.

119:158 RA'IYTI VOGDIM VA ETKOTATAH ASHER IMRAT'CHA LO SHAMARU

רָאִיתִי בֹגְדִים וָאֶתְקוֹטָטָה אֲשֶׁר אִמְרָתְךָ לֹא שָׁמָרוּ

KJ: I beheld the transgressors, and was grieved; because they kept not thy word.

BN: I saw that they were deceivers, and strove with them; because they did not observe your word.

VOGDIM: The root is BAGAD, and BEGADIM are "clothes" - how does that work? Anything that is clothed is hiding its nakedness. So this must be about being "deceitful", but is not the same as SHEKER, which we will encounter again in verse 163.

ETKOTATAH: Yet one more double-letter, though none of the scholars are able to identify its source. Strong insists on KUT. but that only has one Tet (several other offerings at the same link; all hit the same wall). Gesenius ducks the issue altogether, simply inviting the student to go up three lines to KITRON, which only has one Tet, is the name of a town, and is rooted in KATER, which is the burning of incense; highly unlikely that this is the intended meaning of our verse even if the root were the same, which it isn't. RASHI in his commentary "quarrels" with them, which may well be correct, but adds a layer of unexplained ambivalence, because "quarreling" in Yehudit is normally the RIYVAH RIYVI of verse 154, but all scholars agree that RIYVAH RIYVI should be rendered here as "plead my cause".

SHAMARU: Why not SHAMRU?

119:159 RE'EH KI PHIKUDEYCHA AHAVTI YHVH KE CHASDECHA CHAYENI

רְאֵה כִּי פִקּוּדֶיךָ אָהָבְתִּי יְהוָה כְּחַסְדְּךָ חַיֵּנִי

KJ: Consider how I love thy precepts: quicken me, O LORD, according to thy lovingkindness.

BN: See how I love your instructions; quicken me, YHVH, according to your loving-kindness.

Again I have attempted to mirror the alliterations in my translation.

119:160 ROSH DEVARCHA EMET U LE OLAM KOL MISHPAT TSIDKECHA

רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת וּלְעוֹלָם כָּל מִשְׁפַּט צִדְקֶךָ

KJ: Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

BN: The beginning of your Word is truth, and all your righteous ordinance endures for ever. {P}

ROSH: The word-play here allows both my and KJ's translation: the point beginning that there never really was a beginning. If there had been, the Book of Genesis would begin with the word BEHATCHALAH; but it doesn't; it begins with the word BERESHIT - from ROSH, which is a fountainhead, a spring, a source.

And why was there no beginnng? Because LE OLAM, "forever", is infinity, and infinity must, by definition, go in every direction, both of time and space. Modern scientists seem not to be aware of this.

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21: SEEN (ש) but also SHEEN (ש)

For those who do not read the Yehudit/Ivrit aleph-bet, the Seen has a dot above the left end of the left fork, the Sheen has its dot above the right end of the right fork - but the dot will not be seen (or for that joking matter sheen) at all in standard texts; they are an addition for ease-of-reading by the Masoretes (click here for the dots). So you will see, below, that verses 161, 162 (which doubles the Seen) and 166 acrosticalise with a Seen, while verses 163, 164, 165, 167 and 168 do so with a Sheen.

119:161 SARIM REDAPHUNI CHINAM U MI DEVAREYCHA PACHAD LIBI

שָׂרִים רְדָפוּנִי חִנָּם וּמִדְּבָרֶיךָ פָּחַד לִבִּי

KJ: SCHIN. Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.

BN: Princes have persecuted me without a cause; but my heart stands in awe of your Word.

DEVAREYCHA: Is actually plural on this occasion (unless that Masoretic Yud is in error), but I am staying with my translation as "Word", singular, to ensure the distinction with IMRATECHA in the next verse.

119:162 SAS ANOCHI AL IMRATECHA KE MOTS'E SHALAL RAV

שָׂשׂ אָנֹכִי עַל אִמְרָתֶךָ כְּמוֹצֵא שָׁלָל רָב

KJ: I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil.

BN: I rejoice at your words, like a man who has stumbled upon great treasure.

119:163 SHEKER SANE'TI VA ATA'EVAH TORAT'CHA AHAVTI

שֶׁקֶר שָׂנֵאתִי וַאֲתַעֵבָה תּוֹרָתְךָ אָהָבְתִּי

KJ: I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.

BN: I have hated and abhorred falsehood; I have loved your law.

This verse simply cries out to be transferred to the present tense, as KJ has done, and thus to become a wonderfully concise and passionate statement of conviction: "I hate and abhor falsehood. I love your Torah." But it is in the past tense, and not even a Vav Consecutive to allow the alternate possibility.

119:164 SHEVA BA YOM HILALTIYCHA AL MISHPETEY TSIDKECHA

שֶׁבַע בַּיּוֹם הִלַּלְתִּיךָ עַל מִשְׁפְּטֵי צִדְקֶךָ

KJ: Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments.

BN: Seven times a day do I praise you, because of your righteous ordinances.

SHEVA BA YOM: Seven being the sacred number of YHVH. It is an oddity nonetheless, because in Temple times, as today, services of worship took place only three times daily, with the reciting of a Shema when you rise, and another as you settle down for the night, because the Shema gives that instruction. But that still only makes five. There are then hundreds of blessings that may be recited during the day, but none that specifically bring the total of praises to seven. In the Moslem world namaz is made five times. In the monastic world there are likewise seven acts of daily worship, based on this verse, plus a special midnight service, based on Psalm 119:62 (not to be confused with the Novena, which are nine days of special prayers, though Nones, the prayer at the 9th hour after dawn, is one of the seven.

Is it possible that, at some phase of Judaic development, there were seven ceremonies of worship at the Temple on any given day, and that this verse is the confirmation of it?

119:165 SHALOM RAV LE OHAVEY TORATECHA VE EYN LAMO MICHSHOL

שָׁלוֹם רָב לְאֹהֲבֵי תוֹרָתֶךָ וְאֵין לָמוֹ מִכְשׁוֹל

KJ: Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.

BN: May those who love your law receive peace and harmony in abundance, and let there be no cause for them to stumble.

SHALOM RAV: The title of one of the best known prayers in the Yom Kippur liturgy, recited immediately before the Selichot, the prayers for forgiveness, in the morning (see my notes at page 64 of "Day of Atonement". But this is not the same Shalom Rav. There you will recite:

שָׁלוֹם רָב עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמְּךָ תָּשִׂים לְעוֹלָם
Shalom rav al Yisra-El amcha tasim le olam
May you grant abundant peace to your people Yisra-El forever

כִּי אַתָּה הוּא מֶלֶךְ אָדוֹן לְכָל הַשָּׁלוֹם
Ki ata hu melech adon le chol ha shalom
For you are Sovereign, Master of all peace

וְטוֹב בְּעֵינֶיךָ לְבָרֵךְ אֶת עַמְּךָ יִשְׂרָאֵל
Ve tov be eynecha levarech et amcha Yisra-El
May it be pleasing in your sight to bless your people Yisra-El

119:166 SIBARTI LIYSHU'AT'CHA YHVH U MITSVOTEYCHA ASIYTI

שִׂבַּרְתִּי לִישׁוּעָתְךָ יְהוָה וּמִצְוֹתֶיךָ עָשִׂיתִי

KJ: LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments.

BN: I have hoped for your salvation, YHVH, and I have carried out your commandments.

119:167 SHAMRAH NAPHSHI EDOTEYCHA VA OHAVEM ME'OD

שָׁמְרָה נַפְשִׁי עֵדֹתֶיךָ וָאֹהֲבֵם מְאֹד

KJ: My soul hath kept thy testimonies; and I love them exceedingly.

BN: My soul has observed your precepts, and I love them very much.

119:168 SHAMARTI PHIKUDEYCHA VE EDOTEYCHA KI CHOL DERACHAI NEGDECHA

שָׁמַרְתִּי פִקּוּדֶיךָ וְעֵדֹתֶיךָ כִּי כָל דְּרָכַי נֶגְדֶּךָ

KJ: I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies: for all my ways are before thee.

BN: I have observed your instructions and your precepts, for my entire road leads to you. {P}

NEGDECHA could of course be translated as "against you"! But the intention here is the same as my attempt to define EDOTEYCHA at verse 2: "let everything I have done stand as witness-testimony and evidence".

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22: Tav (ת)

119:169 TIKRAV RINATI LEPHANEYCHA YHVH KIDVARCHA HAVIYNENI

תִּקְרַב רִנָּתִי לְפָנֶיךָ יְהוָה כִּדְבָרְךָ הֲבִינֵנִי

KJ: TAU. Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD: give me understanding according to thy word.

BN: Let my cry approach you, YHVH; help me to understand according to your Word.

KIDVARCHA: And again I am bewildered as to why this is not KIDVARECHA. The source quote is Numbers 14:20, and this is also how it appears in the Yom Kippur liturgy, in the short blesing that follows the Shelosh-Esrey Midot ha-Rachamim - The Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy (see page 69 in "Day of Atonement"):

119:170 TAVO TECHINATI LEPHANEYCHA KE IMRAT'CHA HATSIYLENI

תָּבוֹא תְּחִנָּתִי לְפָנֶיךָ כְּאִמְרָתְךָ הַצִּילֵנִי

KJ: Let my supplication come before thee: deliver me according to thy word.

BN: Let my supplication come before you; deliver me according to your word.

Prayer, by this stage of endless repetition, has become mantra, and I cannot imagine that any student is still paying diligent kavanah to the words - so the acrostical octet becomes self-defeating, and adds one more flaw, one more failing, to the list of supplications being brought here. "Lord, forgive my lapses of concentration as I make my way, somewhat trudgingly now, through the final verses of this Psalm."

119:171 TABA'NAH SEPHATAI TEHILAH KI TELAMDENI CHUKEYCHA

תַּבַּעְנָה שְׂפָתַי תְּהִלָּה כִּי תְלַמְּדֵנִי חֻקֶּיךָ

KJ: My lips shall utter praise, when thou hast taught me thy statutes.

BN: Let my lips utter praise, because you teach me your statutes.

KI = "because", not "when". And boy is the theological difference even greater!

119:172 TA'AN LESHONI IMRATECHA KI CHOL MITSVOTEYCHA TSEDEK

תַּעַן לְשׁוֹנִי אִמְרָתֶךָ כִּי כָל מִצְוֹתֶיךָ צֶּדֶק

KJ: My tongue shall speak of thy word: for all thy commandments are righteousness.

BN: Let my tongue sing your words, for all your commandments are righteous.

TA'AN: I wonder if this is an indication of another aspect of this text that we have not previously noticed; that each verse is recited by the chazan or the teacher, and then repeated by the choir or the students. This is not "speak of" your Word, as KJ translates it; this is "answering" your words, Response, if not fully Responsa.

But if it were recited responsively, it would endorse and even worsen my comment at verse 170. Unless the Psalm was never sung in its entirety at one rendition, but always broken down into one, or maybe just a few octets. Given the repetition of ideas, any single octet could actually cover the intent of the piece as a whole.

119:173 TEHI YADCHA LE AZRENI KI PHIKUDEYCHA VACHARTI

תְּהִי יָדְךָ לְעָזְרֵנִי כִּי פִקּוּדֶיךָ בָחָרְתִּי

KJ: Let thine hand help me; for I have chosen thy precepts.

BN: Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.

119:174 TA'AVTI LIYSHU'AT'CHA YHVH VE TORAT’CHA SHA'ASHU'AI

תָּאַבְתִּי לִישׁוּעָתְךָ יְהוָה וְתוֹרָתְךָ שַׁעֲשֻׁעָי

KJ: I have longed for thy salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.

BN: I have longed for your salvation, YHVH, and your law is my delight.

119:175 TECHI NAPHSHI U TEHALELECHA U MISHPATECHA YA'AZRUNI

תְּחִי נַפְשִׁי וּתְהַלְלֶךָּ וּמִשְׁפָּטֶךָ יַעֲזְרֻנִי

KJ: Let my soul live, and it shall praise thee; and let thy judgments help me.

BN: Let my soul live, and it will praise you; and let your ordinances help me.

119:176 TA'IYTI KE SEH OVED BAKESH AVDECHA KI MITSVOTEYCHA LO SHACHACHTI

תָּעִיתִי כְּשֶׂה אֹבֵד בַּקֵּשׁ עַבְדֶּךָ כִּי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ לֹא שָׁכָחְתִּי

KJ: I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments.

BN: I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant; {N} for I have not forgotten your commandments. {P}

And after all this study, meditation, study, meditation, oaths of allegiance, after all this... he's gone astray again! You have to feel sorry for YHVH if this is the best his chosen people can do!

By the end of this endless catalogue, I begin to wonder if that is what it is meant to be: a catalogue. Generously provided by the Kohanim and Rabbis, a complete list of one-verse phrases,collected as octets, available for your use at any convenient moment of spiritual need. Not even, necessarily, whole octets at any given time; just pick the verse most appropriate to your precise circumstances, and recite it slowly.

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Psalms:

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