Psalm 119 is about loving God’s Torah, His statutes, commands and precepts. It is broken up into sections with strange looking words or letters which are the Hebrew alphabet. In the Hebrew Scriptures, each line of each section starts with a word beginning with this letter. This is called an acrostic poem. Each Hebrew letter also has a word picture associated with it giving greater meaning and symbolism to each line of the specific letter-ed section.
א Alef – Ox
First, Strength
“Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the Torah of the Lord. Blessed are those who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart – they do no wrong but follow his ways. You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed. Oh, that my ways were steadfast in obeying your decrees! Then I would not be put to shame when I consider all your commands. I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous Torah. I will obey your decrees; do not utterly forsake me.”
Those who walk according to the Torah are blessed, most especially are those who keep the Torah and seek Adonai with all their hearts. God gave us His precepts because He desired that we obey them; of course, we are not always ‘steadfast’ in our obedience. This is how David felt when he sinned with Bathsheba and prayed that God would not take His Holy Spirit from him (Psalm 51:11). Yet, we can still praise God for His redemption in Yeshua and walk with upright hearts, doing no wrong, and most importantly, spend our lives learning His righteous Torah. Torah is ‘what is first’ and what gives us ‘strength,’ as we follow Yeshua as his disciples.
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I recently came across your website and started reading through Ps 119… Because of the help you are giving, I had to start Ps 119 again. Thanks for the help.
Can you direct me to an English Bible translation that provides an accurate account of the Scriptures (word order, use of terms/words that more closely match the original words both in Hebrew and Greek that are not defined by doctrinal positions)?
Looking forward to your reply.
You’re welcome, Bob. I’m glad my studies are giving you insight into the Psalm. Praise the LORD! As for your question, I honestly don’t know of one specific Bible. I like the Complete Jewish Bible and even sometimes on Bible Gateway, I use the Orthodox Jewish Bible for Hebrew. You could look into the Delitch version for the Gospels. It is published by First Fruits of Zion. My go-to is always my Concordance along with a Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Hebrew and Greek Words.
I have asked someone I trust with your question and here’s his response: “‘The Interlinear Bible’ by Hendrickson (the one volume Blue edition vs. the brown cover set) is a literal Greek/Hebrew/English interlinear with a side-translation and keyed to Strongs. It can be purchased used on Amazon for a reasonable price. For phones: My-Sword (Android and I think iOs too) is very nice if you download all the add-on’s and it is free. For Windows: I useTheWord with all the add-on’s and it is very good. For the Biblical-Aramaic Peshitta, I recommend The Aramaic English N.T. by Andrew Roth though I don’t agree with some of the commentary. You can also download the MNV Study Bible in the download section of my web-site, in several different formats: http://www.tshuvah.weebly.com.”
Bob, there is a link to Andrew Roth’s Aramaic English Bible on this site in the Book Nosh.
Blessings!