Today’s Word
Ghost in the Shell
“Surely every man walks about as a phantom; surely they make an uproar for nothing; he amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.” Psalm 39:6 NASB Phantom– Perhaps we should credit David as the original author of “The Walking Dead.” Certainly he paints that picture. Men are but wisps of wind in the eternal night. Their lives amount…
The Prologue
“Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing in Your sight; surely every man at his best is a mere breath.” Selah. Psalm 39:5 NASB Ecclesiastes is a thorough examination of life from inside the box. The result: get it while you can! Most scholars believe that the epilogue, those last few verses that attempt to redeem the…
The Teacher
“Lord, make me to know my end and what is the extent of my days; let me know how transient I am.” Psalm 39:4 NASB Make me know – The Jewish Bible translates this opening phrase as “I would know when I will cease.” The verb is familiar, yādaʿ, used 944 times in the Tanakh for virtually every…
The Dam Breaks
My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue: Psalm 39:3 NASB Hot, musing, burned– The NASB translation of this psalm adds the title, “The Vanity of Life.” The choice is probably based on similarities between Ecclesiastes and the words in verses 5 and 6. But the title distracts…
Cultural Context
I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, and my sorrow grew worse; Psalm 39:2 NASB Grew worse – Let’s make sure we read this in a Hebraic context. In the Western world, sorrow is usually an internal, personal experience. It would probably be located in the “sad” dimension of the “feelings wheel,” right along with stupid, inferior,…
Poetic Aspects
I was mute and silent, I refrained even from good, and my sorrow grew worse; Psalm 39:2 NASB Refrained– David feels as if his voice is tied down. He wants to say something in the face of this evil, but he doesn’t know how. As a result, something even more debilitating happens. He discovers that when he doesn’t speak up…
Search more than 7000 word studies here
Recent Today’s Word
- Naples, Florida
- The Sage from Galilee (rewind)
- Conformity (The End of the Empire 6)
- Multiculturalism (The End of the Empire 5)
- Reasonable (The End of the Empire 4)
- Why WOKE Works (The End of the Empire 3)
- Original Sex (The End of the Empire 2)
- At Sea Near Panama
