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Tag: Psalms

  • Shin

    Shin

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

    Sin and Shin [Schin]

    161 Princes persecute me without cause,
    but my heart stands in awe of your words.

    Consider for a moment, authority; both legitimate and illegitimate. Government: leaders and those with power over other people. Explanation of “Princes,” used here holds complexity that could include many men and women of the world of many positions even in this day.

    שַׂר – sar – 

    prince, ruler, leader, chief, chieftain, official, captain

    from the root: From שָׂרַר (H8323)

    1. chieftain, leader
    2. vassal, noble, official (under king)
    3. captain, general, commander (military)
    4. chief, head, overseer (of other official classes)
    5. heads, princes (of religious office)
    6. elders (of representative leaders of people)
    7. merchant-princes (of rank and dignity)
    8. patron-angel
    9. Ruler of rulers (of God)
    10. warden

    Consider how many rule (lord it over) other men. What is the basis of their authority?

    Is it God, our Creator and LORD of all? Or have they no legitimate cause to lord it over anyone, least of all a righteous man?

    Further, consider the humility by which for your sin a righteous man would give the Princes and powers the authority to hang above His crucified body a sign proclaiming Him:

    Jesus, King of the Jews

    162 I rejoice at your word
    like one who finds great spoil.
    163 I hate and abhor falsehood,
    but I love your law.

    Surly the Princes are liars! Leaders who lie in wait to snare the righteous that they might reap the spoil of their meager wages.

    The Lord God will avenge the faithful, those who love His law.

    164 Seven times a day I praise you
    for your righteous rules.
    165 Great peace have those who love your law;
    nothing can make them stumble.

    Ezekiel 3:20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die.

    The Hand of God shall place before the evil ones the stumbling block of their fall and the snare of their demise.

    166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord,
    and I do your commandments.

    Yĕhovah sabar  yĕshuw`ah

    KJV – LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation

    167 My soul keeps your testimonies;
    I love them exceedingly.
    168 I keep your precepts and testimonies,
    for all my ways are before you.

  • Resh

    Resh

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

    Resh

    153 Look on my affliction and deliver me,
    for I do not forget your law.
    154 Plead my cause and redeem me;
    give me life according to your promise!

    Sickness is a terrible thing, is it not? Yet affliction is much more than just sickness.

    Exodus 3:7-8a Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…

    The Lord is my salvation and my redeemer. – [Psalm 27:1a, 19:14b]

    155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
    for they do not seek your statutes.

    רָשָׁע – rasha`

    When was the last time you heard a criminal called wicked? (Have you ever in this 21st century tolerance for the ways of the wicked?)

    Outline of Biblical Usage

    1. wicked, criminal

    • a. guilty one, one guilty of crime (subst)
    • b. wicked (hostile to God)
    • c. wicked, guilty of sin (against God or man)

    Job 21:17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
    That their calamity comes upon them?
    That God distributes pains in his anger?

    156 Great is your mercy, O Lord;
    give me life according to your rules.
    157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
    but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

    Do our persecutors not pursue us and tempt us to swerve from the straight path of the Lord? Do our adversaries not always attempt to back us into a corner of darkness away from the Lord?

    158 I look at the faithless with disgust,
    because they do not keep your commands.

    The NASB translates more pointedly:

    I behold the treacherous and loathe them,
    Because they do not keep Your word (promise).

    159 Consider how I love your precepts!
    Give me life according to your steadfast love.
    160 The sum of your word is truth,
    and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

    Psalm 119:160 KJV  Thy word is true from the beginning: and every one of thy righteous judgments endureth for ever.

    Matthew 5 KJV The Words of Christ Jesus on the Mount of Olives

    17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

    18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

    19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

    20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

  • Qoph

    Qoph

    HELP! Save me, O Lord!

    1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

    Habakkuk’s Complaint

    2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
    Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
    3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
    Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
    4 So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
    For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

    The prophets, the psalmists, the righteous men and righteous women of God cry out with our whole heart: Save me, O Lord!

    קָרָא

    qara’

    Cry out!

    Cry out in prayer to the Lord your God.

    Psalm 119

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet 

    Qoph [KOPH]

    145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
    I will keep your statutes.
    146 I call to you; save me,
    that I may observe your testimonies.

    I cried out with my whole heart. I cried out , “save me.” (Same Hebrew word: quara’) with a primitive root meaning: to encounter, whether accidentally or in a hostile manner.

    147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I hope in your words.
    148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.

    The KJV states: Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word. This, the same context as David’s song of deliverance in 2 Samuel 22.

    The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented H6923 me… They prevented H6923 me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay. – 2 Sam. 22:6,19

    149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
    O Lord, according to your justice give me life.

    150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
    they are far from your law.
    151 But you are near, O Lord,
    and all your commandments are true.

    152 Long have I known from your testimonies
    that you have founded them forever.

    The prayer is the Psalmist’s personal plea to the Living God, in whom we trust. And one more thing of the Lord, who IS near, nearer than our evil enemies who draw near to us:

    It is the Lord we ask to be our Savior.

    “Save me,” in Psalm 199:146 is the action of one who can save: a Savior.

    יָשַׁע – yasha`

    The place of those near is subtly different than the nearness of relationship, especially our relationship with God our Savior.

    Jesus IS Lord. Draw near to Him.