Death by Drowning

Rescue me, God, for the waters have come up to my neck.  I have sunk in the slime of the deep, and there is no place to stand.  I have entered the watery depths, and the current has swept me away.  Psalm 69:2-3 [Hebrew Bible]  Robert Alter To stand – “Wade in the water” are…

A Change in Direction

Save me, O God, for the waters have threatened my life.  Psalm 69:1 NASB 1995 Save – Seventeen years ago I wrote something about this verse.  I’d like to correct some of that.  Here’s the original with some corrections and comments (in red): Free Me, Jesus “and you shall call his name Jesus, for he…

Moving the Dot

Then he took up his discourse and said, “The declaration of Balaam the son of Beor, and the declaration of the man whose eye is opened; the declaration of him who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of [f]the Almighty, falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered,  Numbers 24:3-4  NASB Is opened – Rabbi Shraga…

The Chasidic Soul (2)

And what is the portion of God from above, or the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?   Job 31:2  NASB Portion – Let’s continue with our discussion of the article on teshuvah from Chabad.org. “Teshuvah is therefore a spiritual repudiation of philosopher Will Durant’s statement: “We are what we repeatedly do.” Judaism teaches us otherwise. We…

The Chasidic Soul (1)

And what is the portion of God from above, or the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?   Job 31:2  NASB Portion – I recently received an insightful article from Chabad.org.  It is worth reading so I am pasting it here.  After you’ve read through it, I’ll have some comments. Repentance: Teshuvah (תשובה)   Return to the…

Walking before Talking

Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.  John 14:6 NASB Way – The Greek term, hodós, is used for both literal roads, streets, and pathways, and figuratively for the course of life.  In Greek mythology, hodós is connected to the choice between the…

A River Runs Through

Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.  John 14:6 NASB Truth – The apostolic writings have been handed down to us in Greek.  Of course, the writers were Jews so their Greek was really Jewish-Greek, what we call koine Greek.  That means we…

Backtracking

Regarding completion.  Among hymns.  Of understanding.  Pertaining to David.  Psalm 54:1  LXX Of understanding – Now that we’ve had a few days to investigate the differences between the Greek LXX and the MT, we need to back up.  You see, in the LXX, as in the Hebrew Bible, the first verse of a psalm is…

Meditation or Perspiration

Attend to me, and listen to me; I was vexed in my pondering and was troubled by the noise of an enemy and by the affliction of a sinner . . .  Psalm 54:3-4a  LXX Pondering – The Hebrew text of this verse uses the word śîaḥ, from a verb that means “meditate, muse, commune,…