The Meaning of תּוֹרָה in Ps 119

Back to Psalm 119.

Exegetical issues for Psalm 119:

The Meaning of תּוֹרָה in Ps 119

The Grammar and Meaning of Ps. 119:126

The Cohesion of Ps. 119:41-48

Introduction

A major organizing principle of Psalm 119 is the frequent repetition of eight "Torah words." A number of scholars have noticed the preeminence of the word תּוֹרָה among the rest, due to its privileged position in the very first verse and having the highest number of appearances throughout the psalm (25; the others range from 19 to 23). This understanding also maintains a semantic distinction between the eight words, which all uniquely contribute to the message of the psalm, despite untenable claims of synonymity by some scholars. If תּוֹרָה provides such a central theme to Psalm 119, we must carefully determine its intended denotation, which, judging by the English gloss selected, may very well differ among translations:

• Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! (ESV)
• Happy are those whose way is blameless, who follow the teaching of the LORD (NJPS)

Of course, the definition of a lexeme involves both a real-world conceptual denotation and the nominal sense, that is, how a word is defined by other words either in the source language or a foreign language. Furthermore, the lexeme itself serves as the tip of the iceberg of a much richer encyclopedic understanding of the lexeme's concept. Although it is impossible to determine precisely what conceptualization different translators brought to the word law or instruction, some have explicitly argued that "All of these eight words are synonyms; they all refer to God’s Law as contained in the Mosaic legislation recorded in the first five books of the Scriptures" (Bratcher & Reyburn 1991, 996). In order to evaluate the translations above, notice the cultural connotations typically involved in law and instruction:

In the discussion below, we attempt to supply the cognitive-cultural data regarding the encyclopedic knowledge activated by each from the Hebrew Bible itself, that is, the denotation plausibly involved in the meaning of law and instruction in English, both of which fall within the semantic range of the dictionary definition of תּוֹרָה.

Let us now consider the merits of translating תּוֹרָה in Psalm 119 as either law or instruction with their respective denotations.

Argument Maps

Torah is Law

Translating תּוֹרָה as law most naturally activates the frame of the Sinai event and the transmission of legislation related in Exodus 20-23, Leviticus and reiterated in Deuteronomy, so the denotation in each instance would be this body of legislation.

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[Law]: "Torah" refers to the Sinaitic law (Bratcher & Reyburn 1991, 996 :C:).#dispreferred
 + <Ancient versions>: The ancient versions all consistently render the word "Torah" as their equivalent for "law".#dispreferred
  + [Ancient versions]: νόμος; ܢܡܘܣܐ; lex; אורייה.#dispreferred
 + <Pss 1 and 19>: In other so-called "Torah Psalms" (Mays 1987 :A:), תּוֹרָה refers to the Sinaitic law.#dispreferred
  + <The king's meditation>: Ps 1 describes the blessing of the model king's meditation on the law, as discussed in Deut 17:18-20, while Ps 19 is explicitly Davidic.#dispreferred
   + [Deut 17:18-20]: “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel." (ESV). #dispreferred
   <_ <Date of Ps 119>: Ps 119 is almost certainly post-exilic (Hurvitz 1972, 130-152 :M:; Freedman 1999, 90-91 :M:) – without a reigning Davidic king but with a larger written corpus of Scripture – and may very well have been the last psalm to be added to the final form of the Psalter, which already existed as a written collection (Hossfeld 2019, 1 :A:), so no model king meditating on the law (Deut 17:18-20) is in view.
    - <Model king>: For a model king to be desired, an existing, historical king is not necessary.#dispreferred
     - <Characteristic of Torah student>: The psalmist is aligned with "a young man" in v. 9 in the style of "a wisdom inquiry" (Kraus 1989, 415 :C:) and with "a simple person" in v. 130, as people in pursuit of wisdom (Zenger 2011, 280). Furthermore, the term "simple" פֶּתִי is found in parallel with דל in the literary context (Ps 116:6), highlighting the societal vulnerability of such people.
      + [Ps 116: 6]: שֹׁמֵ֣ר פְּתָאיִ֣ם יְהֹוָ֑ה דַּ֝לּוֹתִ֗י וְלִ֣י יְהוֹשִֽׁיעַ׃.
 + <Canonical Placement in Book 5>: If Ps 119 is intentionally placed where it is found in the Psalter (Hossfeld 2019, 1 :A:), it formed an intentional narrative between the Egyptian Hallel collection (≈ Exodus) and the Psalms of Ascent (≈ entry into the promised land), so historically represents Sinai (Zenger 1998, 101 :A:).#dispreferred
  - <The subcollection of Pss 117-119>: There is no scholarly consensus on the position of Ps 118 in the macrostructure of the Psalter – whether belonging to Pss 113-118, 118-119, or independently (Ho 2019, 31 :M:). Indeed, the Hallel Psalms have an inclusio of הַלְלוּ (Pss 113:1, 117:1), whereas Ps 118 begins with הוֹדוּ (cf. 107:1, 136:1).
 + <Torah's written nature>: The references to Torah in Ps 119 are most likely written (v. 18; cf. the use of שִׂיחָה ("meditation") throughout the psalm, particularly referring to תּוֹרָה in v. 97; Whybray 1997, 35 :A:), possessed (v. 29), and publicly known (v. 85).#dispreferred
  <_ <Torah's spoken nature>: One reference to Torah in Ps 119 is unambiguously spoken (v. 72), so cannot be limited to a written document, but more naturally includes also YHWH's spoken actions.
  <_ <The written content>: In v. 85, the term תוֹרָתֶֽךָ cannot refer to the Sinaitic law because the word שִׁיח֑וֹת, "pits" is not mentioned until an identical phrase is used in Jer 18:22.
   + [Ps 119:85; Jer 18:22]: Compare Ps 119:85: כָּֽרוּ־לִ֣י זֵדִ֣ים שִׁיח֑וֹת אֲ֝שֶׁ֗ר לֹ֣א כְתוֹרָתֶֽךָ; and Jer 18:22: כִּֽי־כָר֤וּ שִׁיחָה לְלָכְדֵ֔נִי.
 + <The Big Eight as legal terms>: The collection of the Big Eight words in the psalm are typical of legal and royal contexts.#dispreferred
  + [Other frequent legal terms]: See, for example חֹ֥ק וּמִשְׁפָּ֖ט in Josh 24:24; חֻקֹּתָ֤יו מִצְוֺתָיו֙ וּמִשְׁפָּטָ֣יו וְעֵדְוֺתָ֔יו in 1 Kgs 2:3; and כְּחֻקֹּתָם֙ וּכְמִשְׁפָּטָ֔ם וְכַתּוֹרָ֣ה וְכַמִּצְוָ֗ה in 2 Kgs 17:34.#dispreferred
  - <More than legal terms>: Two of the Big Eight are אִמְרָה and דָּבָר ("word," "speech," "promise"), which often go far beyond the contextual frame of legislation.
   + [More than legal terms]: YHWH promises, according to his דָּבָר (vv. 25, 28, 49, 107, etc.) and according to his אִמְרָה (vv. 38, 41, 76, etc.), while the psalmist trusts in YHWH's דָּבָר (vv. 42, 49, 74, 81, etc.).
 <_ <Post-exilic references to Torah>: Ps 119 is almost certainly post-exilic (Hurvitz 1972, 130-152 :M:; Freedman 1999, 90-91 :M:), at which time Sinaitic law specifically was typically referred to as the "Torah of Moses" and was explicitly referred to as "written in the book" and/or "by the hand of Moses" (e.g., Neh 8:14; 2 Chr 25:4, 34:14, 36:26), whereas Ps 119 speaks more generally of the "Torah of YHWH."
  <_ <Nehemiah 9:3>: Nehemiah 9:3 is an exception to this tendency.#dispreferred
   + [Nehemiah 9:3]: וַֽיִּקְרְא֗וּ בְּסֵ֨פֶר תּוֹרַ֧ת יְהוָ֛ה אֱלֹהֵיהֶ֖ם רְבִעִ֣ית הַיּ֑וֹם ("And they read in the book of the תּוֹרַת of YHWH their God for a quarter of the day").#dispreferred
  <_ <Post-exilic parallel terms>: The collection of the eight "Torah words" in the psalm are typical of legal and royal contexts and the term תּוֹרַת יְהוָה is explicitly found among other legal terms in the post-exilic text of Ezra 9:7.#dispreferred
   +[Post-exilic parallel terms]: עֶזְרָא֙ הֵכִ֣ין לְבָב֔וֹ לִדְר֛וֹשׁ אֶת־תּוֹרַ֥ת יְהוָ֖ה וְלַעֲשֹׂ֑ת וּלְלַמֵּ֥ד בְּיִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל חֹ֥ק וּמִשְׁפָּֽט (Ezra 9:7).#dispreferred
 - <Poetic function of Psalm 119>: One major poetic function of the psalm, caused by its length and repetition of the "Torah words," is its mimetic nature of the content of delighting in Torah merging with the act of delighting in Torah, such that the psalm itself comes to belong to the conception of Torah (Burt 2018, 688-89 :A:).
 - <Lack of mention of "covenant">: Somewhat surprisingly, Ps 119 never uses the term בְּרִית, which would naturally lead one to think of Sinai (Reynolds 2010, 130 :M:).
  + <v. 126>: v. 126 employs the verb פרר with תּוֹרָה, where בְּרִית is more naturally expected.
   + [v. 126]: הֵ֝פֵ֗רוּ תּוֹרָתֶֽךָ.
   + [פרר with covenant]: See, for example, Gen 17:14; Lev 26:15; 26:44; Deut 31:16, 20, Judg 2:1; 1 Kgs 15:19; Isa 24:5; 33:8; Jer 11:10; 14:21; 31:32; 33:20, 21; Ezek 16:59; 17:15, 16, 18; 44:7; Zech 11:10; 2 Chr 16:3.
 - <Contextual frame>: The contextual frame activated throughout Ps 119 goes beyond that of legislation and the understanding of Torah's scope should be informed by that.
  + [Contextual frame]: The text of Ps 119 includes mention of "establishing your promises" (v. 38), creation (v. 73, 89-91), "the explanation of your words" (v. 130), divine favour (vv. 132, 135), lament (v. 136), praise (v. 171), and many more.
  

Torah is instruction (preferred)

Translating תּוֹרָה as instruction is broad enough to encompass all of YHWH's communicative acts from creation to the time of the psalm's composition.

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[Instruction]: "Torah" refers to "instruction" in general in Psalm 119 (Freedman 1999, 90-91 :M:; TDOT, García-López & Fabry 2006, 631 :D:; Zenger 2011, 259-260 :C:; Procházková 2021, 36 :M:).
 + <Verbs of the same root>: Both instances of the verbal root ירה in Ps 119 (vv. 33 and 102) are unambiguously "teach." Even translations, both modern and ancient, which render תּוֹרָה as "law" throughout the psalm translate the verbal forms in vv. 33 and 102 as "teach". In other contexts where the nominal and verbal form occur together elsewhere the sense is also "teach."
  <_ <Exceptions>: Both the LXX and Jerome's Iuxta Hebraeos differ from "teach".#dispreferred
   + [Exceptions]: The LXX uses νομοθετέω "legislate" on both occasions, while Jerome has ostendere and inluminare (≈ reveal, show).#dispreferred
    <_ <LXX>: The LXX is wooden at best, nonsensical at worst.
     + [NETS]: v. 33: "Make the way of your statutes, O Lord, my law"; v. 102: "you legislated for me."
  + [Similar contexts]: See, for example, Isa 2:3: וְיֹרֵ֙נוּ֙ מִדְּרָכָ֔יו וְנֵלְכָ֖ה בְּאֹרְחֹתָ֑יו כִּ֤י מִצִּיּוֹן֙ תֵּצֵ֣א תוֹרָ֔ה וּדְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה מִירוּשָׁלִָֽם (ESV: that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem). 
 + <Torah's spoken nature in creation>: One reference to Torah in Ps 119 is unambiguously spoken (v. 72), so cannot be limited to a written document, but more naturally includes also YHWH's spoken actions, offering an allusion to the contextual domain of creation, the seven days of which plus the eighth for enjoying the creation already serves an iconic analogy to the eight repeated words throughout the psalm (Freedman 1999, 78 :M:).
  <_ <Other allusions>:The eight "Torah words" also have an iconic analogy to the establishment of both temples and the beginning of the levitical service (Lev 9:1; 1 Kgs 8:66; Neh 8:1-8; Zenger 2011, 257-258 :C:), which are all explicitly found within or extended from the cultural-cognitive frame of the Sinaitic covenant.#dispreferred
 + <Torah's spoken nature in the prophets>: One reference to Torah in Ps 119 is unambiguously spoken (v. 72), so cannot be limited to a written document, but more naturally includes also YHWH's spoken actions. The term "Torah" is found in parallel with דְבַר־יְהוָ֖ה in Isa 1:10; 2:3, the latter being a particularly important parallel verse for understanding Ps 119 (see, especially v. 46).
 + <First use of Torah>: The first use of the word "Torah" in the Bible appears long before Sinai, referring to the life of Abraham, whose intertextual presence is apparent from the very first verse of the psalm (Ḥakham 1979, 378).
  + [First use of Torah]: Gen 26:5: עֵ֕קֶב אֲשֶׁר־שָׁמַ֥ע אַבְרָהָ֖ם בְּקֹלִ֑י וַיִּשְׁמֹר֙ מִשְׁמַרְתִּ֔י מִצְוֺתַ֖י חֻקּוֹתַ֥י וְתוֹרֹתָֽי (ESV: because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws”).
  + [Abrahamic theme]: Compare הִתְהַלֵּ֥ךְ לְפָנַ֖י וֶהְיֵ֥ה תָמִֽים in Gen 17:1 and אַשְׁרֵ֥י תְמִֽימֵי־דָ֑רֶךְ הַֽ֝הֹלְכִ֗ים בְּתוֹרַ֥ת יְהוָֽה in Ps 119:1.

Conclusion (A)

Despite the ancient translations' consistent use of law and the possible activation of regal and legal contextual frames by some of the Big Eight words in Psalm 119, we have seen that not all of the Big Eight are limited to the domain of legislation (see, e.g., דָּבָר and אִמְרָה) and the contextual frame of the psalm as a whole certainly goes beyond discussion of only legal matters. Furthermore, if a model king meditated on the law as defined by Sinaitic legislation (Deut 17:18-20), it is unlikely that this is in view in Ps 119 due to the post-exilic dating of the psalm. Post-exilic authors typically wrote of the "Torah of Moses" to refer to the Sinaitic law or else modified "Torah of YHWH" as "written in the book/by the hand of Moses," whereas Psalm 119 does neither. The intertextual references to other portions of the Hebrew Bible – particularly Abraham and Jeremiah in relation to תּוֹרָה – expand the denotation of תּוֹרָה beyond Sinai. This is supported by the verbal uses of the same root, ירה, in vv. 33 and 102 – both unambiguously intended as "teach." Nevertheless, the expansive view of instruction does not exclude the Sinaitic law. Indeed, a number of intertextual connections in the psalm are drawn from the Pentateuch, though none include the word תּוֹרָה (as do vv. 1 and 85 which include strong allusions to Abraham and Jeremiah, respectively).

In conclusion, when comparing the conceptual frames evoked by the English words law and instruction in the Venn diagrams above with the encyclopedic approach to the lexeme's concept in Psalm 119, the general term instruction is a much more appropriate translation for תּוֹרָה in Ps 119. Despite the claim that "Those who speak of 'law' point out that this term does not refer here to the laws of Moses or the Pentateuch in the strict sense, but to 'all divine revelation as the guide to life'" (TDOT, vol. 15, 628), we have already seen that not always to be the case (e.g., Bratcher & Reyburn 1991, 996). Furthermore, the English word law in a biblical context most naturally evokes the conceptual frame of Sinaitic legislation, which is only part of the concept of תּוֹרָה active in Psalm 119 and is thus misleading. The psalmist is meditating on and delighting in – and invites others to meditate on and delight in – all of YHWH's acts of communicative instruction both written and spoken from creation to the time of, and including the psalm's composition.

Research

Translations

We offer translations of Psalm 119:1 as an example.

Ancient

• Μακάριοι οἱ ἄμωμοι ἐν ὁδῷ οἱ πορευόμενοι ἐν νόμῳ κυρίου.
  • "Happy are the blameless in way, who walk in the Lord's law."

• Beati inmaculati in via qui ambulant in lege Domini.
  • "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord."

• Peshitta: ܛܘܒܝܗܘܢ ܠܐܝܠܝܢ ܕܕܠܐ ܡܘܡ ܐܢܘܢ ܒܐܘܪܚܐ܂ ܘܡܗܠܟܝܢ ܒܢܡܘܣܗ ܕܡܪܝܐ.
  • "Blessed are those who are without blemish in the way and who walk in the law of the Lord."

• Targum: טוביהון דשלימי אורחא דמהלכין באוריתא דייי.
  • "Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord"

Modern

Law

• Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD! (ESV; cf. CEV, GNT, KJV, NABRE, NASB, NET, NIV, NJB, NRSV, REB, REV, RVR)
• Heureux ceux dont la conduite est intègre, ceux qui marchent suivant la loi de l’Eternel! (SG21; cf. TOB)
• Glücklich sind, die im Weg untadelig sind, die im Gesetz des HERRN wandeln (ELB; cf. Luther 2017)
• Bienaventurados los íntegros de camino, los que andan según la ley del SEÑOR. (RVA)

Instruction

• Happy are those whose way is blameless, who follow the teaching of the LORD (NJPS; cf. CEB, CSB, NLT)
• Selig, deren Weg ohne Tadel ist, die gehen nach der Weisung des HERRN (EÜ; cf. ZÜR)
• Felices los que se conducen sin tacha y siguen la enseñanza del Señor (DHH)

Secondary Literature

Bolinger, Dwight. 1977. Meaning and Form. London: Longman.

Bratcher, Robert G. & Reyburn, William, D. 1991. A Translator’s Handbook on the Book of Psalms, UBS Handbook Series. New York, NY: United Bible Societies.

Burt, Sean. 2018. "'Your Torah Is My Delight': Repetition and the Poetics of Immanence in Psalm 119." JBL 137, no. 3: 685-700.

Clark, David J. 2007. "Translating Psalm 119: Some Practical Suggestions." The Bible Translator 58, no. 4: 185-189.

Deissler, Alfons. 1955. Psalm 119 (118) und seine Theologie. Munich: Karl Zink Verlag.

Freedman, David N. 1999. Psalm 119: The Exaltation of Torah. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns.

Geeraerts, Dirk. 2010. Theories of Lexical Semantics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Ḥakham, Amos. 1979. ספר תהלים: ספרים ג–ה [Eng. The Book of Psalms: Books 3-5]. Jerusalem: Mossad Harav Kook.

Ho, P. C. W. 2019. The Design of the Psalter: A Macrostructural Analysis. Eugene, OR: Pickwick.

Hossfeld, Frank-Lothar. 2019. "The Connections of the Torah-Psalm 119 to the Fifth Psalter of David (Ps 138-145)." Verbum et Ecclesia 40, no. 1: 1-6.

Hurvitz, Avi. 1972. בין לשון ללשון: לתולדות לשון המקרא בימי בית שני [Eng. The Transition Period in Biblical Hebrew: A Study in Post-Exilic Hebrew and its Implications for the Dating of Psalms]. Jerusalem: Bialik Institute.

Kraus, H. J. 1989. Psalms 60-150: A Commentary. Translated by H. C. Oswald. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

Mays, J. L. 1987. "The Place of the Torah-Psalms in the Psalter." JBL 106, no, 1: 3-12.

Mel'čuk, Igor & Milićević, Jasmina. 2020. An Advanced Introduction to Semantics: A Meaning-Text Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Reynolds, Kent. 2010. Torah as Teacher: The Exemplary Torah Student in Psalm 119. Leiden: Brill.

Riemer, Nick. 2010. Introducing Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Whybray, Roger. N. 1997. "Psalm 119: Profile of a Psalmist." Pages 31-43 in Wisdom, You are my Sister: Studies in Honor of Roland E. Murphy, O. Carm., on the Occasion of His Eightieth Birthday. The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series. Edited by Michael L. Barré. Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association.

Zenger, Erich. 1998. "The Composition and Theology of the Fifth Book of Psalms, Psalms 107-145." JSOT 80: 77-102.

________. 2011. A Commentary on Psalms 101-150. Translated by Linda M. Maloney. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

References

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