25:4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord!
Teach me your paths! 1
38:9 O Lord, you understand my heart’s desire; 2
my groaning is not hidden from you.
49:20 Wealthy people do not understand; 3
they are like animals 4 that perish. 5
92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;
the fool does not understand this. 6
94:8 Take notice of this, 7 you ignorant people! 8
You fools, when will you ever understand?
119:27 Help me to understand what your precepts mean! 9
Then I can meditate 10 on your marvelous teachings. 11
119:125 I am your servant. Give me insight,
so that I can understand 12 your rules.
1 sn Teach me your paths. In this context the
2 tn Heb “O Lord, before you [is] all my desire.”
3 tn Heb “mankind in honor does not understand.” The Hebrew term יְקָר (yÿqar, “honor”) probably refers here to the wealth mentioned in the preceding context. The imperfect verbal form draws attention to what is characteristically true. Some emend יָבִין (yavin, “understands”) to יָלִין (yalin, “remains”), but this is an unnecessary accommodation to the wording of v. 12.
4 tn Or “cattle.”
5 tn The Hebrew verb is derived from דָּמָה (damah, “cease, destroy”; BDB 198 s.v.). Another option is to derive the verb from דָּמָה (damah, “be silent”; see HALOT 225 s.v. II דמה, which sees two homonymic roots [I דָּמַה, “be silent,” and II דָּמַה, “destroy”] rather than a single root) and translate, “they are like dumb beasts.” This makes particularly good sense here, where the preceding line focuses on mankind’s lack of understanding.
6 tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).
7 tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.
8 tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”
9 tn Heb “the way of your precepts make me understand.”
10 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.
11 tn Heb “your amazing things,” which refers here to the teachings of the law (see v. 18).
12 tn or “know.” The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.