Article January 19, 1935 Issue

Bible Notes

"Unite my heart to fear thy name" (Ps. 86:11)—In the original Hebrew text, which consisted only of consonants, the form "YCHD" could be taken to mean either "unite" (as here), or "rejoice"; and the Septuagint translators chose the latter alternative, reading: "Let my heart rejoice, that I may fear thy name." Similarly Moffatt has: "May reverence for thee rejoice my heart" (cf. also Kittell: Biblia Hebraica).

"My doctrine shall drop as the rain" (Deut. 32:2)—The Hebrew noun "lekach," here rendered "doctrine," can also be translated "learning, instruction, knowledge" (Feyerabend: Hebrew Dictionary, p. 160). Moffatt has: "May my message drop like rain;" while the Septuagint renders: "Let my speech be looked for as the rain, and my words come down as dew."

"I will publish the name of the Lord" (Deut. 32:3)—Among the Jews, the term "shem" (name) was often used as equivalent to "character or nature" (Brown, Driver, Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 1030), somewhat as in English we speak of a man's name in the sense of his "reputed character, reputation" (Webster's). Moffatt suggests the rendering: "I proclaim what the Eternal is."

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