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Thread: Psalm 37:34-36 contains wonderful repeated consonants in Hebrew.

Though Hebrew words are short, 15 words in a row contain the letter R (ר).

Why?
The clue is the Psalm’s theme word ‘wicked’ (rasha’ רשע) beginning with the letter R.

It starts by telling you to wait for the Lord (wait begins with Q, the letter before R).

As it tells you to ‘watch his way’, Rs begin.

With more Rs it tells you he will exalt you to inherit.
With more Rs it tells you that you will see when the wicked (who begin with R) are cut off.

But despite this the Rs are not cut off.

To his horror the Psalmist says (with Rs) ‘I saw the wicked, ruthless spreading like a lush native tree’ (v. 35)

Aargh!

Then...
‘...he passed away’.

With the last letter of this word the Rs stop.

So does the wicked man.

‘And behold he was no more’.

Look. Neither the wicked nor the letter R anywhere to be seen.
‘I sought him/it, and he/it was not to be found’ applies equally to the wicked and the letter R.

The poetry matches the message. The whole Psalm is about not worrying when evildoers prosper.
Moral 1:

As it says in v. 34

Wait for God, even if the wicked seem to be doing well for a while.

Like the letter R, wickedness won’t last.

Moral 2: it’s worth learning Hebrew if you get the chance.

Moral 3: at least use stepbible.org

RT if you learned something.
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