Hebrew Word Study – Poetic Vav – ו

Time Spent in God’s Word is Never Wasted 

Psalms 119:105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.”

I was listening to a rabbi on the internet today and he said something I had not heard for years. He spoke of a poetic Vav. I recall the poetic Vav from my days as a graduate student when my professor, Dr. Kalland who was on the executive committee for the translation of the New International Version of the Bible, discussed it briefly.  

Now after almost a half-century, I decided to see if modern translators of the Bible considered the poetic Vav in their translations.  I examined thirty different modern English translations of the Bible using Psalms 119:105 as a clear example of the poetic Vav and only one, the New International Version of the Bible actually translated this passage using the poetic Vav. 

Not that it makes any profound difference in the translation, I just thought it was curious that with such attention being paid to precision in grammar by our Western scholars there might have been a few who acknowledge the existence of the poetic Vav. Yeah, only one out of thirty translations applied the poetic Vav.

The Vav in Hebrew is used as a conjunction, or/and.  But this is not always the case.  In Hebrew poetry, the Vav could be used to show an opposition.  I used a couple of appositions so far in the little study.  For instance, I wrote, “My professor, Dr. Kalland…”  Professor and Dr. Kalland are one and the same but I wrote his name for clarification and put it between two commas.  We call that an apposition.  In English we use commas, Hebrew has no commas but this structure would be translated into English using commas. 

In Hebrew poetry, especially when you have parallelism (note another apposition), the Vav is not rendered as or/, and in fact, it is not rendered at all, it only directs you to the noun that is identifying another noun in a different way.  Psalms 119 is a perfect example of Hebrew poetry and the use of parallelism and for your consideration, I give you verse 105: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”  Grammatically it should read: “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path.”

Yes, it does make a slight difference if you put a light unto my path in apposition. What that difference is, is barely noticeable.  In fact, you probably will have to sit back and think this one over for a while to figure out what the difference really is and once you figured the difference out you will likely think, “what difference does it make?” 

While driving my disability bus this afternoon I spent considerable time thinking this one through and the only thing I can conclude is that if you do not consider the poetic Vav then you conclude the Word of God is two things, a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path. Where if you translate this correctly you learn that the Word of God is only one thing, a lamp unto your feet which is a light unto your path.  As far as I am concerned it means the same thing, The Word of God is a guide as I walk through the paths of life.  

But soft, that is pretty profound. As I walk through the paths of life I am stumbling, fumbling around, tripping up, making mistakes, and just making a plain fool of myself.  Yesterday I was traveling through a snowstorm on the Stevenson Expressway. The road was snow-covered and I could not see the lines dividing the lanes on the highway.  I did not know if I was traveling in the middle of a lane or if I was even in a lane.  Then I recalled an article I read just that morning on the internet that offered some tips when traveling on snow-covered roads and it shed light on my present problem that helped me navigate my way to my destination. Suddenly, with that knowledge, that light that was shed on my problem, my fears turned to confidence and I was able to relax.

So, too, the Word of God is a light for us as we walk through the darkness of this world. If we follow the Word of God we do not need to live in fear but we can live in confidence that God is our guide.

I know that you know that, but I personally need to be reminded of that. I was reminded of that because, in my attempts to understand the application of the poetic Vav, I ended up spending the day meditating on this familiar verse. 

You see that is what meditation is about. You look at a verse in different translations and then you begin to wonder if the difference in renderings or grammatical application changes anything. It may be so subtle you will say; “Ah, forget it.”  But don’t forget it.  Spend some time meditating on it and the Holy Spirit may reveal a truth that you would not pick up in just a quick read or the Holy Spirit may use that time of meditation to bring back a truth that you have long forgotten. 

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