Gleanings From a Trip to Lowe's....

We made our annual trek yesterday morning….to purchase the summer flowers.....for the whiskey barrel, for the planters by the mailbox (tricky getting anything to do well there because they bake in the blistering sun all day long) a few other assorted planters and some hanging baskets for a couple of hooks located here and there, high and low.

At Keith's urging I finally got around to buying a fuschia.  I've always loved fuschias...ever since I first marveled at their intricate, delicate bell shaped flowers during my two summer stint working for my dad at his nursery and greenhouse.  I just never actually purchase one.  This year we did...along with nearly $110 of other summer annuals.  This summer, a fuschia is hanging out on the back porch.

After our flowers were purchased and loaded in the van, I rolled down the windows and waited outside while Keith went into Lowe’s to buy a few other items. While I waited, I read a bit from the book I grabbed in passing....off the shelf on my way out the door. It was the Concordant Version of the Psalms.

Interesting translation.

I am going to share a few of the snippets from a few of the Psalms I read. Nothing profound….just some stuff that interested me…and that will hopefully interest any readers.

Okay…here goes.

Throughout several of the Psalms I read, there was an odd word used…. benignity (and benign) I know this was the Concordant Version….Similar to the Young’s or Rotherham’s Emphasized translation. The word combinations in these versions just don't flow off the tongue like regular speech…..but still. The word benign not only makes me think of a tumor (as in malignant or benign) it also conjures up words like inept, ineffective etc. Perhaps that is just my personal misunderstanding of the word??? So, I looked it up on Wordsmyth. Definition follows…..

Part of Speech adjective

Pronunciation bE nain

Definition 1. of a kind or gentle nature.

Crossref. Syn. kind , gentle , benevolent

Definition 2. favorable or beneficial.

Example a benign climate for people with asthma.

Crossref. Syn. beneficial

It goes on to give the medical definition of benign too...you know..non malignant tumor...etc..

So there you have it, I learned something while sitting with the petunias in the Lowe’s parking lot…

Some of the verses that use this (still seemingly) odd word…..

Psalm 89

1)Of the beningnity of Yaweh will I sing for the eon.

Doesn’t quite have that melodic “I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever” ring to it, does it? (I will sing, I will sing…..)

Another verse…..same Psalm….

2) For I have said Eonian benignity shall be built; You shall establish your faithfulness in the heavens themselves.

In King James lingo that is…..

For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens

These are just two examples.  It is throughout the Psalms in this translation. 

And what does the Strong's have to say???

_____Strongs_____

H2617 checed kheh'-sed

from H2616;

kindness; by implication (towards God) piety: rarely (by opposition) reproof,

or (subject.) beauty:--favour, good deed(-liness, -ness), kindly, (loving-)

kindness, merciful (kindness), mercy, pity, reproach, wicked thing.

Something there that also piques the interest….

Why amongst all the other definitions like favour, good deed, kindly, mercy…..do we find reproach and wicked thing included?

Hmmmmm. This post is already too long. So I will end it here. Any ideas?