bible-study:

Weekly Bible Study - November 2, 2026

Welcome to our weekly study! Each week, our reading plan will take us through three different parts of the Bible: a psalm, a passage from Proverbs, and a few chapters from another book as we journey through the entire bible.

These notes aren't meant to be an exhaustive commentary. Think of them as a friendly guide to get you started. My hope is to provide a little context, point out interesting literary details you might not notice, and highlight key themes—all to help enrich your own reading and our conversation together. (AI helps me write these notes.)

Bible passages for this week:

Psalm 23

Six Paragraphs of Interestingness

1. It is much smaller and stranger than its reputation. In Hebrew the whole psalm is only about fifty-five words. Verse 1 is four words: YHWH ro'i lo echsar, "The LORD my shepherd, I lack not." There is no verb "is" at all, just two nominal pieces set side by side. The famous English sweetness is partly the product of translation. The Hebrew is spare, abrupt, and slightly menacing, with ravines, predators, and enemies all present.

2. "Restores my soul" is a more Greek-sounding phrase than a Hebrew one. In verse 3, nafshi yeshovev uses nefesh, which in the Hebrew Bible is a throat, an appetite, a life-force, a whole living self. It is not an immaterial inner essence. The verb shuv ("turn, return") with the intensive stem means something like "he brings my life back" or "he revives me." Then in verse 6 the Masoretic text reads veshavti, which can be taken as "I will return" (from shuv) or "I will dwell" (from yashav). Psalm 27:4 has nearly the same phrase with shivti, "that I may dwell," which supports "dwell." The ear, however, hears the shuv sound twice, so the psalm begins with God turning the speaker back and ends with the speaker's settled return.

3. The poem is full of motion. God leads (yenahaleni), guides (yancheni), and the speaker walks ('elekh). In verse 6 something startling happens. The verb radaf means "pursue, chase, hunt down," and is ordinarily used of enemies. The KJV's "follow me" tames it. Here the pursuers are "goodness and covenant loyalty" (tov vachesed). The enemies of verse 5 are replaced by hounds of grace. A reader who knows Hebrew hears that reversal.

4. The most important word is a pronoun. In verses 1-3 the psalmist speaks about YHWH in the third person. In verse 4 he suddenly speaks to him: ki 'attah 'immadi, "for you are with me." The poetic form 'immadi is somewhat weightier than the plain 'immi. Fear of "evil" (lo ira ra') is answered not by a promise of safety but by a promise of presence, a theology of "with" that runs from Genesis through Immanuel.

5. The shepherd quietly becomes a host. In verse 5 the imagery shifts to a table (shulchan), anointing (dishanta, literally "you have made fat/rich"), and a cup of "saturation" (revayah, an extremely rare word whose only other occurrence is Ps 66:12). Whether this is one metaphor or two is debated. Possible settings include royal hospitality, a sacrificial thanksgiving meal, or the sanctuary as a place of refuge. Either way, it is eaten "in front of my enemies," so the poem never pretends threat has vanished.

6. The Greek Bible heard the cup differently. The Septuagint renders the cup as intoxicating, "your cup methyskon me as most excellent," which later fed sacramental readings.

Structural Features

Here are the main observations:

Inclusio: YHWH opens the psalm (v. 1) and "the house of YHWH" closes it (v. 6). "I shall not lack" (v. 1) is answered by "goodness" (v. 6).
Person shift: third person in vv. 1-3, second person in vv. 4-5 ("you"), and a return to third person in v. 6 ("the house of YHWH"). Verse 4 is the pivot.
Alternating agency: God is the subject of most verbs in vv. 1-3 and 5, while the speaker acts in v. 4 (walking, not fearing) and v. 6 (dwelling).

Hebrew

Ambiguous particles: 'ak in v. 6 can be asseverative ("surely") or restrictive ("only"). "Only goodness" is an intriguing possibility.
Cruxes: tsalmavet (v. 4) is traditionally "shadow of death" but is probably tsalmut, "deep darkness," used as a superlative. ma'gelei tsedeq (v. 3) are literally "tracks" or "ruts" that are "right," so "right paths" is safer than a heavily moral "righteousness." le'orekh yamim is "for length of days," not necessarily "forever."
Tool-words: shevet (a club or rod for defense) and mish'enet (a leaning staff) are both used.
Verb aspect: the habitual imperfects of vv. 1-3, the perfect dishanta in v. 5, and the ambiguous veshavti in v. 6 give the poem a shifting sense of time.

New Testament Connections

There is no explicit quotation of Psalm 23 by Jesus or the New Testament writers, which a careful reader should state plainly. The echoes are strong. In John 10 Jesus says, "I am the good shepherd" (vv. 11, 14), the sheep hear his voice and are called by name (vv. 3-4), and he gives life abundantly (v. 10). The background there is primarily Ezekiel 34 as well as Ps 23. Matt 9:36 has "sheep without a shepherd." Heb 13:20 ("great shepherd"), 1 Pet 2:25, and 1 Pet 5:4 ("chief Shepherd") use the title. Rev 7:17 is the closest: the Lamb "will be their shepherd and guide them to springs of living water."

Proverbs 5

Nothing really to say. It's a good chapter.

Genesis (Week 3 of 10)

We will spend 10 weeks in Genesis, feel free to read at your own pace. Over these weeks ome might have the opportunity to read them once, others might have time to read them 7 times.

But if you really want a minimum reading plan here it is:

Week 1, 1-5, Creation, the Fall, Cain and Abel, Adam's line
Week 2, 6-11, Noah and the flood, Babel
Week 3, 12-17, Abraham's call and God's covenant
Week 4, 18-24, Sodom, Isaac's birth, the binding of Isaac, Rebekah
Week 5, 25-29, Jacob and Esau, Bethel, Leah and Rachel
Week 6, 30-36, Jacob in Haran, wrestling at Peniel, Dinah, Esau's line
Week 7, 37-40, Joseph sold, Judah and Tamar, Potiphar, prison
Week 8, 41-44, Pharaoh's dreams, the brothers' first trips to Egypt
Week 9, 45-48, Joseph's reveal, Israel moves to Egypt
Week 10, 49-50, Jacob's blessings, Joseph's death, plus review