I have found so very many new and interesting ways to look at the Word of God since I learned how to do word studies, revealing a more in-depth understanding of what is actually being said! One of the interesting things that I have found is that translators would sometimes add small connecting words that they felt would help clarify some verses for people. There are many times, however, when reading the Word exactly as it was written reveals something even more powerful than was previously thought! One example of this is found in today's reading in Psalm 107:1-2:
1 O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy. KJV
In Strong's Concordance, when a word is added, the numerical value given is '9999'. There is no word to look up in either the Hebrew or Greek because this particular word was added. In the KJV Bible you can find these as words printed in italics! If you want to have some fun with this, check out some of these italicized words and see what you find! When we look at verse 1 above WITHOUT the added words, it says this:
O give thanks to the Lord for good, for mercy, forever.
It is actually saying to give thanks (yadah: laud, praise) to the Lord for good (towb: benefit, welfare, prosperity, happiness), for mercy (checed: goodness, kindness, faithfulness) forever (owlam: time out of mind, eternity, everlasting, perpetual)! The LORD is the One Who gives us all good things (James 1:17), and these are GOOD things! AMEN! We are to be thanking Him for each, and every, GOOD thing, and we are to do it FOREVER! Throughout all eternity, we will be praising and thanking HIM! HALLELUJAH! Now on to verse 2! Have you ever had someone respond to hearing "Let the redeemed of the Lord say so", but saying "So"? I have! 'So' is another '9999' word! It is NOT actually in there! We are NOT supposed to say "so", and we are not being instructed here to tell others that we are redeemed. Instead, this instruction is to SAY what verse 1 says! Let's look at Young's Literal Translation to get a better idea:
'Give ye thanks to Jehovah, For good, for to the age His kindness:' 2 Let the redeemed of Jehovah say, Whom He redeemed from the hand of an adversary. YLT
The redeemed of the Lord are to say (amar: to say, to speak, to utter, to BOAST) "Give thanks to the Lord, for good, for mercy, forever"! We are to forever be telling of the great goodness of our GOD! WE are to make HIM famous! AMEN! I hope that you enjoyed digging deeper into the Word! I'll try to do more of this as we continue with this daily teaching blog! Here is Hillsong again with that older song called "Shout Your Fame":
Shalom in Him!
