Pearls of the Word

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Happy is he who murmurs the Torah of God

by Jean-Louis Coraboeuf

"But (happy is he) who finds his pleasure in the Almighty’s Torah, and who murmurs [hagah] it day and night" (Psalm 1:2 Interlinear).

The Hebrew word hegeh means sound and the verb hagah, which has the same root, means to pronounce, to enunciate, to murmur, to meditate. Meditation is a deep reflection which can be transformed into a soft murmur of God’s Word. Thus our faith is strengthened by what we hear (Romans 10:17).

Then our tongue will not speak [hagah] anything false (Job 27:4), but will celebrate [hagah] God’s justice (Psalm 35:28), will announce [hagah] His wisdom (Psalm 37:30), proclaim His truth (Proverbs 8:7), and speak [hagah] of His works (Psalm 77:12). And we will not associate with people who murmur [hagah translated by vain thoughts] against the Almighty and His Messiah (Psalm 2:1-2). That is why David can say to God: "Favourably receive the thoughts [higaion, derived from hagah] of my heart! (Psalm 19:14).