12 votes
Accepted

How can God draw near to us (James 4:8) if He is already wherever we are (Psalm 139:7-12)?

Psalm 139:7-12 means that there is nowhere one can go to escape God's presence. This represents distance. While it may seem paradoxical, they are not speaking of the same type of nearness. Drawing ...
Jason_'s user avatar
  • 3,395
7 votes

What is the grammatical basis for understanding אלי in Psalm 2:7 differently than Psalm 22:1?

It's like "Wind the clock" and "The wind blows" in English, where the appropriate word is automatically understood from the context, despite having the same spelling. In Hebrew, &...
Ray Butterworth's user avatar
6 votes

What does "atoned" mean in "Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity". Psalm 78:38?

The English word atone in the context of the Psalm does not mean to make amends or reparation, nor does it mean that practically anywhere in the Bible. The word never actually meant this until ...
user33515's user avatar
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5 votes
Accepted

Does the Fool say "There is no God" or "No to God" in Psalm 14:1

Please note: יש is how you say there is in Hebrew, and אין is how you say there is no/not. So, it is incorrect to say the translators supplied there is. Old Testament usage וְאִ֨ישׁ אֵ֤ין "and ...
Perry Webb's user avatar
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4 votes

Can 'everlasting' in Psalm 90:2 mean two different things?

The Meaning of עוֹלָם עוֹלָם simply means "a long, continued amount of time." Most of the time, that long amount of time will mean forever or into eternity: Cf. 1 Ch 16:34, 16:41, 2 Ch 5:13,...
Epimanes's user avatar
  • 2,283
4 votes

How did Jesus complete the sign of Jonah?

There are several intriguing similarities between the Jonah account and what happened to Jesus, though it is understood that Jonah was initially disobedient to God, while Christ never was. However, ...
Anne's user avatar
  • 23.3k
3 votes

Did Hermann Gunkel believe that cultic poetry and Psalms were the same genre?

Yes, Gunkel is saying that Psalms are cultic poetry. However it should be understood that the adjective "cultic" here means relating to organized religion and public worship and not to a ...
Dan Fefferman's user avatar
3 votes

What is the meaning of Psalm 91 and is it a failed promise?

You should take a vision sub specie aeternitatis, that is to say, from the eternal perspective; then any “plague”, or “affliction”, or “wound” can be regarded as such if and only if it refers to harm ...
Levan Gigineishvili's user avatar
3 votes

How are we to understand the earth does not move?

Not so fast - even today we say the "sun rises" despite the fact everyone knows that it is the earth's rotation that makes the sun appear to rise. We also talk about the rotation of the ...
Dottard's user avatar
  • 103k
3 votes

How did Jesus complete the sign of Jonah?

Background information: God commanded Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and warn its people that He was going to destroy it for its wickedness. Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh to warn them. ...
Lesley's user avatar
  • 8,862
3 votes

Does everyone born of a woman start with their name in God's Book of Life?

In Revelation 3:5, Jesus wrote to the church in Sardis, "The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but ...
Vincent Wong's user avatar
  • 4,835
3 votes

How can God draw near to us (James 4:8) if He is already wherever we are (Psalm 139:7-12)?

Imagine you are a radio with a spoiled antenna and wish to listen to a broadcast of a beautiful music, say, Beatles' "Hey Jude". The radio-waves of this music are spread everywhere, but you ...
Levan Gigineishvili's user avatar
2 votes

In Psalm 22:20 is there a change to singular animals?

Actually, in Ps 22 the enemies of David are metaphorically given various titles that form a chiastic pattern: V12 - Bulls of Bashan (plural) V13 - - Lion (singular) V16a - - - Dogs (plural) V16b - - -...
Dottard's user avatar
  • 103k
2 votes

Is the Law eternal?

We could split hairs over whether the Psalm refers to "the Law" as being eternal and as such is problematic for Christians, but we should recall that Jesus taught: For verily I say unto ...
user33515's user avatar
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2 votes
Accepted

Psalm 16:10 - "See the pit" vs "see corruption"

Here are the simple facts: Hebrew The operative word in the Hebrew text is שַׁחַת (shachath) which is "pit", usually for trapping a wild animal or, the grave for the dead, eg, Job 33:22, 24, ...
Dottard's user avatar
  • 103k
2 votes

A question about Psalm 37:5

According to Young's Analytical Concordance, in Psalm 37:5 gālāl simply means "to roll". This would give the idea of rolling one's ways on to God, so the believer would roll his or her ways ...
Anne's user avatar
  • 23.3k
2 votes
Accepted

What are the strophes of Psalm 37?

Whether one calls them a "strophe", "stanza" or "verse", etc, is a matter of taste. Acrostic poems based on the letters of the Hebrew alphabet are common on OT ...
Dottard's user avatar
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2 votes

Can we know how or why the Septuagint renders "forever" in Psalm 102:28? No other translation has this

Here is the verse from the LXX: “σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ, καὶ τὰ ἔτη σου οὐκ ἐκλείψουσιν.” (Psalm 101:28 LXXS-T) "And you, yourself, are he; And your years will not give out." (translation mine) ...
Epimanes's user avatar
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2 votes
Accepted

What does "atoned" mean in "Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity". Psalm 78:38?

The Hebrew means that God "dealt with" their sin by covering it over (but not covering it up - on the contrary, it has to be exposed). The means he used to demonstrate this was via ...
Anne's user avatar
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2 votes

Does the Fool say "There is no God" or "No to God" in Psalm 14:1

The Hebrew of Ps 14:1 is as stark as it is simple. The relevant phrase is just: אֵ֣ין אֱלֹהִ֑ים = "no God". The Cambridge commentary is quite correct when it observes: There is no God Cp....
Dottard's user avatar
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2 votes

What does "atoned" mean in "Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity". Psalm 78:38?

The verb כָּפַר (kaphar) literally means "to cover over". For example: Gen 6:14 - Make for yourself an ark of gopher wood; you shall make the ark with compartments, and cover it inside and ...
Dottard's user avatar
  • 103k
2 votes
Accepted

Who does "his" refer to in "for he sees that his day is coming", Psalm 37:13?

This is a Psalm I have long loved, and I thought I was familiar with it, until this intriguing question was posed! The verse in question could, indeed, refer equally to the day of the Lord, or the day ...
Anne's user avatar
  • 23.3k
2 votes

Does the Fool say, " There is no God!" because he doesn't know, or he ignores General Revelation? Psalm 14:1

This is an instance where fully quoting the relevant text would be helpful. Psalm 14:1 actually says: "The fool hath said in his heart, '[There is] no God'." A.V. ['God is not' - Y.L.T.] [...
Anne's user avatar
  • 23.3k
2 votes

What is the meaning of Psalm 91 and is it a failed promise?

When everyone around you meet a calamity, Christian have to meet it too. Psalm 91 does not say Christian are exclusive, for example; 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the ...
Vincent Wong's user avatar
  • 4,835
2 votes

Psalm 74:8 feast of God or God's meeting place!

The operative word in Ps 74:8 is מוֹעֵד (mo'ed) can mean the following (see BDB) appointed time, eg, Genesis 18:14; Exodus 13:10 (J), Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18; Joshua 8:14 appointed meeting, eg, ...
Dottard's user avatar
  • 103k
2 votes
Accepted

Is Psalm 5:3 referring to prayer or sacrifice?

I was about to offer my literal translation of Ps 5:3 and noticed that the NASB produced a very similar result: In the morning, LORD, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will present to You and ...
Dottard's user avatar
  • 103k
2 votes

Is Psalm 5:3 referring to prayer or sacrifice?

The Hebrew line in question is "בֹּקֶר אֶעֱרׇךְ־לְךָ" — literally, "in the morning I shall arrange to You". No Jewish interpretation of this Hebrew that I can find talks at all ...
AAM111's user avatar
  • 123
2 votes

What is the significance of Psalm 119:168 having נֶגְדֶּֽךָ (before you) instead of לְפָנֶ֥יךָ (before you) as in Psalm 102:28?

There is very little difference between the two words in practice. BDB lists this passage specifically: a. locally (rather stronger and distincter than לִפְנֵי), (a) Gn 31:32 נֶגֶד אַחֵינוּ הַכֶּר־...
Epimanes's user avatar
  • 2,283
2 votes

Psalm 50(51):4 when Thou art judged (referring to God)

Let us take this in three steps about the last half of Ps 51:4: The Hebrew Text לְ֭מַעַן תִּצְדַּ֥ק בְּדָבְרֶ֗ךָ תִּזְכֶּ֥ה בְשָׁפְטֶֽךָ = that [you] are justified/vindicated when you speak and ...
Dottard's user avatar
  • 103k
2 votes

Masoretic apparatus in Psalm 89 of the Stuttgartensia

This is the minor Masorah, which is a collection of notes by the Masoretes. They correspond to the words in the verse which have the little circle above them. The ל here is an abbreviation of the word ...
ShmuelBenFredricks's user avatar

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