Psa. 37:3–4 — New Depths Discovered in Translation Differences

Psa. 37:3–4 — New Depths Discovered in Translation Differences

It’s quite interesting and also surprising for me sometimes to notice how differently the old Hebrew scriptures are translated. I think this is especially true of the Psalms. This might be confusing and you might start to fear that you’re missing important parts. (I generally believe you get the main points correct in most translations, and whatever a translation misses, the Holy Spirit will reveal, as we can’t really understand any of this correctly without revelation from Him.)But the Hebrew language being so rich and the text so difficult to understand, may also be considered a good thing, because those who search and dig will discover new depths. And a few days ago I found the verses 3-7 in Psalm 37 to be particularly interesting. In this post I will only dig into verses 3 and 4.

Let’s look at verse 3 first (all emphasis is mine):

HCSB:

Trust in the LORD and do what is good; **dwell** in the land and **live securely**.

NET:

Trust in the LORD and do what is right! **Settle** in the land and **maintain your integrity**!

NLT-SE:

Trust in the LORD and do good. **_Then_** you will **live safely** in the land **and prosper**.

NKJV:

Trust in the LORD, and do good; **Dwell** in the land, and **feed on His faithfulness**.

AMP:

Trust (lean on, rely on, and be confident) in the Lord and do good; **_so shall you_**** dwell** in the land and **feed surely on His faithfulness, and truly you shall be fed**.

YNG:

Trust in Jehovah, and do good, **Dwell** [in] the land, and **enjoy faithfulness**,

NAS95:

Trust in the LORD and do good; **Dwell** in the land and **cultivate faithfulness**.

It seems like New Living Translation and Amplified is the only two who says that the last part is a consequence of trusting in the Lord and doing good. So I guess you can’t always tell in Hebrew if something is a consequence of or in addition to something else.

An interesting root, making it challenging, is probably H7462 / “ra’a” which seems to have lots of different meanings:

to tend a flock; i.e. pasture it; intransitively, to graze (literally or figuratively); generally to rule; by extension, to associate with (as a friend): – x break, companion, keep company with, devour, eat up, evil entreat, feed, use as a friend, make friendship with, herdman, keep (sheep)(-er), pastor, + shearing house, shepherd, wander, waste.

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And then in verse 4:_

HCSB:

_Take delight in_ the LORD, and He will **give you your heart's desires**.

NET:

**_Then you will_** _take delight in_ the LORD, and **he will answer your prayers**.

AMP:

_Delight yourself also in_ the Lord, and He will **give you the desires and secret petitions of your heart**.

I find The NET Bible to be interesting here. It says that the answers to prayers is a result of verse 3. The NET translation has very useful notes, and this is explained in the notes to verse 4:

Following the imperatives of v. 3 the prefixed verbal forms with vav  in v. 4 indicate result. Faith and obedience (v. 3) will bring divine blessing (v. 4).