2:10 For wisdom will enter your heart, 1
and moral knowledge 2 will be attractive 3 to you. 4
22:18 For it is pleasing if 5 you keep these sayings 6 within you,
and 7 they are ready on your lips. 8
19:10 They are of greater value 9 than gold,
than even a great amount of pure gold;
they bring greater delight 10 than honey,
than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.
19:11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; 11
those who obey them receive a rich reward. 12
63:3 Because 13 experiencing 14 your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
63:4 For this reason 15 I will praise you while I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands. 16
63:5 As if with choice meat 17 you satisfy my soul. 18
My mouth joyfully praises you, 19
112:1 Praise the Lord!
How blessed is the one 21 who obeys 22 the Lord,
who takes great delight in keeping his commands. 23
119:14 I rejoice in the lifestyle prescribed by your rules 24
as if 25 they were riches of all kinds. 26
119:47 I will find delight in your commands,
which I love.
119:103 Your words are sweeter
in my mouth than honey! 27
119:174 I long for your deliverance, O Lord;
I find delight in your law.
1 tn The noun לֵב (lev, “heart”) functions as a metonymy of association for “mind” and “thoughts” (BDB 524 s.v. 3). It represents the center of the inner life where the volition and emotions join to bring about actions. It is used here in parallelism with נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “soul”), for which see note.
2 tn Heb “knowledge.” For the noun דַּעַת (da’at), see the note on 1:7.
3 tn Heb “pleasant.” The verb יִנְעָם (yin’am, “to be pleasant”) describes what is attractive. It is used of being physically attracted to one’s lover (Song 7:7) or to a close friendship (2 Sam 1:26). Here wisdom becomes attractive to the righteous, that is, the righteous desires to acquire it.
4 tn Heb “your soul.” The term נַפְשְׁךָ (nafshÿkha, “your soul”) functions as a synecdoche of part (= soul) for the whole person (= you); see BDB 660 s.v. 4.a.2. It also might function as a metonymy of association for emotions and passions (BDB 660 s.v. 6) or mental cognition (BDB 660 s.v. 7).
5 tn Or “when” (so NIV).
6 tn Heb “keep them,” referring to the words of the wise expressed in these sayings. The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn The term “and” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation.
8 sn If the teachings are preserved in the heart/mind of the disciple, then that individual will always be ready to speak what was retained.
9 tn Heb “more desirable.”
10 tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).
11 tn Heb “moreover your servant is warned by them.”
12 tn Heb “in the keeping of them [there is] a great reward.”
13 tn This line is understood as giving the basis for the praise promised in the following line. Another option is to take the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) as asseverative/emphasizing, “Indeed, your loyal love is better” (cf. NEB, which leaves the particle untranslated).
14 tn The word “experiencing” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist does not speak here of divine loyal love in some abstract sense, but of loyal love revealed and experienced.
15 tn Or perhaps “then.”
16 sn I will lift up my hands. Lifting up one’s hands toward God was a gesture of prayer (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19) or respect (Ps 119:48).
17 tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”
18 tn Or “me.”
19 tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”
20 sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
21 tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.
22 tn Heb “fears.”
23 tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.
24 tn Heb “in the way of your rules.”
25 tn Heb “as upon,” meaning “as if” (see 2 Chr 32:19).
26 tn Heb “all wealth.” The phrase refers to all kinds of wealth and riches. See Prov 1:13; 6:31; 24:4; Ezek 27:12, 18.
27 tn Heb “How smooth they are to my palate, your word, more than honey to my mouth.” A few medieval Hebrew
28 sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers.