What Does Psalm 119:39 Mean?
Carry away the taunt I tremble at, for your judgments are good.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.THE KEY
The verse places the feared reproach in motion: it can pass away because the LORD’s judgments are good.
THE MEANING
You bring the reproach you fear before the LORD, whose judgments are good. The verse names your fear without making it your final verdict: the reproach can pass away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that the reproach you fear must remain over you as the truest verdict about you.
THE ROOT
הַעֲבֵר
haʿavēr
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿavar
To pass over or cross; in this form, to cause something to pass.
“Carry away” in this verse is haʿavēr. The Hebrew asks for the reproach to be made to pass away. It gives the feared shame movement: it is not fixed in place as the final word over you.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: Pass or cross
עָבַר
The basic verb makes the movement in “turn away” visible: something passes from one side to another.
maʿavār: Passage or crossing
מַעֲבָר
This noun from the same root evokes a way across, deepening the sense that reproach can be passed beyond.
מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ
mishpāṭeḵā
GROWS FROM
שפט
shāphaṭ
To judge, decide, or administer justice.
The word for “judgments” belongs to the same root as the one who judges. The verse rests its plea on the character of that judging: it is good, not a verdict that traps you in reproach.
ALSO GROWS
shōphēṭ: Judge
שֹׁפֵט
The judge is the one who carries out the act named by the root.
mishpāṭ: Judgment or justice
מִשְׁפָּט
This is the judgment itself, the word whose goodness grounds the prayer.
טוֹבִים
ṭōvīm
GROWS FROM
טוב
ṭōv
Good, beneficial, or pleasing.
“Good” here describes the judgments on which the plea depends. The root also forms a verb for doing good, so goodness can be heard as active benefit, not only a favorable label.
ALSO GROWS
ṭōvāh: Goodness or benefit
טוֹבָה
This noun from the same root names the quality the verse ascribes to the LORD’s judgments.
hēṭīv: Do good or benefit
הֵיטִיב
This verb gives the root an active sense: goodness can be expressed through what is done.
THE PATTERN
A feared shame can be named without becoming the final verdict over the person who trusts in God.
My God, in you I lean my full weight. Let me not be ashamed, nor let my enemies leap in triumph over me.Do not fear, for you will not be put to shame. Do not be brought low, for you will not be disgraced. You will forget the shame of your youth, and will not remember the taunt of your widowhood any longer.Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Jesus the Anointed One, who walk not after the flesh, but after the breath.THE THREAD
Who is a God like you, who lifts away crookedness and passes over the rebellion of the remnant of his inheritance? He does not grip his anger for the ages, for he delights in faithful love.The Hebrew behind “turn away” and “passeth by” comes from עבר (ʿavar, pass or cross). Psalm 119 asks for feared reproach to pass away; Micah uses the same root as it speaks of transgression being passed by.
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