bible-study:

Weekly Bible Study - November 16, 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 31

Repeated Words

יְהוָה (YHWH) "LORD" ×10 (vv.1, 5, 6, 9, 14, 17, 21, 23, 23, 24)
"Let me never be put to shame" ×2 (vv.1, 17)
- בּוֹשׁ (bosh) "to be ashamed" ×3 (vv.1, 17, 17)
יָד (yad) "hand" ×4 (vv.5, 8, 15, 15)
Wordplay thread: Chasah, Chesed, Chasid:
- חָסָה (kh-s-h) "to take refuge" ×2 (vv. 1, 19)
- חֶסֶד (kh-s-d) "steadfast love / covenant loyalty" ×3 (vv. 7, 16, 21)
- חָסִיד (kh-s-d) "faithful/godly ones" [Plural: Chasidim] ×1 (v. 23)
Verse 2-4 repeat three things twice:
- v2. Tzur (Bedrock), Maʿoz (Strength/Refuge), Metsudah (Mountain Fortress)
- v3. Selaʿ (Elevated Crag/Rock), Metsudah (Mountain Fortress)
- v4. Maʿoz (Strength/Refuge)
שָׁמַע (shamaʿ) "to hear" ×2 (vv.13, 22)
אָמַר (ʾamar) "to say" ×2 (vv.14, 22)
הִצִּיל (hitsil) "to deliver" ×2 (vv.2, 15)
הוֹשִׁיעַ (hoshiaʿ) "to save" ×2 (vv.2, 16)
נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) "soul, life" ×3 (vv.7, 9, 13)

Other repeated words:

אֹיֵב (ʾoyev) "enemy" ×2 (vv.8, 15)
פָּנִים (panim) "face" ×2 (vv.16, 20)
עַיִן (ʿayin) "eye" ×2 (vv.9, 22)
לֵב / לֵבָב (lev/levav) "heart" ×2 (vv.12, 24)
גַּאֲוָה (gaʾavah) "pride" ×2 (vv.18, 23)
נֶגֶד (neged) "before, in the presence of" ×2 (vv.19, 22)
בָּטַח (batakh) "to trust" ×2 (vv.6, 14)
צָפַן (tsafan) "to hide, store up" ×2 (vv.19, 20)
עָשַׁשׁ (ʿashash) "to waste away" ×2 (vv.9, 10)
צרר (tsrr) "distress, adversary" ×3 (vv.7, 9, 11)
חנן (khnn) "grace, supplication" ×2 (vv.9, 22)
אמן (ʾmn) "truth, faithfulness" ×2 (vv.5, 23)
צדק (tsdq) "righteousness" ×2 (vv.1, 18)
סתר (str) "to hide" ×2 (v.20, 20)

Points of Interest

New Testament use. The psalm's most famous afterlife is Luke 23:46, where Jesus on the cross cries, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit," quoting Ps 31:5. Luke alone preserves this as Jesus' final word, and it replaces Mark's and Matthew's "Why have you forsaken me?" (a quotation of Ps 22:1). The effect is a movement from Psalm 22 to Psalm 31, from abandonment to trust. Notably, Jesus adds "Father," personalizing the psalm. Stephen's dying prayer in Acts 7:59 ("Lord Jesus, receive my spirit") echoes the same verse. Possible further echoes include the "terror on every side" and plotting against the righteous in the passion narratives, and Paul's use of the "never be put to shame" language in Romans 10:11 (though that more directly cites Isa 28:16). 1 Peter 4:19 ("entrust their souls to a faithful Creator") likely alludes to Ps 31:5 as well.

A textual intrigue. In v. 10, the Hebrew baʿăwōnî ("because of my iniquity") is read by the Septuagint and some other versions as "in poverty" or "in affliction" (bĕʿŏnî), which would remove the implication of sin from the sufferer. The Masoretic reading is retained by most English translations, and the question bears on whether the psalm should be read as a lament of the innocent or of one who acknowledges guilt.

Concrete spatial idiom. The psalm repeatedly encodes emotion in spatial terms more obvious in the Hebrew, for example (ṣar versus merḥāb), which the English "distress" and "broad place" only partly capture.

Social death and the "broken vessel." The psalmist describes being a reproach among adversaries, a horror to neighbors, and an object of dread to acquaintances. Those who see him in the street flee (v. 11). Then comes the remarkable line of v. 12: "I have been forgotten like one who is dead; I have become like a broken vessel." The Hebrew niškeḥtî kĕmēt millēb ("forgotten as the dead from the heart") speaks of being erased from the community's memory. The "broken vessel" (kĕlî ʾōbēd) is literally a lost or perishing vessel, a discarded piece of pottery. The image prefigures Jeremiah's pottery oracles (Jer 18-19), and it is no coincidence that Jeremiah's phrase māgôr missābîb ("terror on every side") appears in v. 13. The connection between Psalm 31 and Jeremiah is among the most discussed intertextual links in the book.

Intertextual Links: Old Testament

Psalm 31 is a mosaic of other psalms. It opens with a block that appears almost verbatim in Psalm 71:1-3. And is loaded with other connections to the old testament: "in you, O LORD, I have taken refuge", "let me never be put to shame," "in your righteousness deliver me."

Jonah 2:2-9 Two links to Psalm 31 are especially tight:

Jonah 2:8, "those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their own mercy," matches Ps 31:6. The phrase is verbatim, and Jonah continues with chasdam ("their covenant loyalty"), echoing the chasdekha ("your steadfast love") of the next line in the psalm.
Jonah 2:4, "I am driven away from your sight" matches Ps 31:22, "I am cut off from your eyes". The differing verbs are garash and the rare garaz, which looks like a scribal variation, and the surrounding syntax is the same.
Also compare Jonah 2:2's "you heard my voice" with Ps 31:22, "you heard the voice of my pleas."

Jeremiah 20:10 and the "terror on every side" family Ps 31:13, "the whispering of many, terror on every side" (dibbat rabbim magor missaviv), is nearly identical to Jer 20:10. The phrase magor missaviv also occurs in Jer 6:25; 20:3; 46:5; 49:29, and Lam 2:22. Related: Jer 17:18, "let those who persecute me be put to shame, but let me not be put to shame," inverts Ps 31:1, 17.

Other connections to the Old Testament:

Ps 31:1-3, Ps 71:1-3 This is nearly verbatim: "In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness deliver me; incline your ear; be to me a rock of refuge... you are my rock and my fortress."
Ps 31:3, Ps 23:3. "For your name's sake you lead me".
Ps 31:3, Ps 18:2, 19, 2 Sam 22:2, 20. "My rock and my fortress" occurs in Ps 18:2; 31:3; 71:3; 91:2; 144:2, and "a broad place" occurs in Ps 31:8 and 18:19. Also see Ps 118:5.
Ps 31:9, Ps 69:17, Lam 1:20. "I am in distress". (tsar li) occurs
Ps 31:9-10, Ps 6:7. "My eye wastes away from grief". Also compare Job 17:7.
Ps 31:16, Ps 119:135, Num 6:25. "Make your face shine upon your servant". See also Ps 4:6; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; Dan 9:17.
Ps 31:21-22, Ps 28:6. "Blessed be the LORD, for he has heard the voice of my pleas" Also compare Ps 17:7, "wondrously show your steadfast love."
Ps 31:22, Ps 116:11. "I said in my alarm".
Ps 31:24, Ps 27:14. "Be strong, and let your heart take courage" and both close with "wait for the LORD." The wording echoes Deut 31:6-7, 23; Josh 1:6-9; 1 Chr 22:13; 28:20. Psalm 27:5 and 31:19-20 also share the "shelter/tent/booth" and hiding imagery.
The "not put to shame" cluster. Compare Ps 22:5; 25:2-3, 20; 71:1; 119:31, 46, 80; Isa 49:23; Joel 2:26-27.

Proverbs 7

Over the last week I have been compiling repeated words through chapters 1-9. Might be interesting.

יְהוָה (YHWH) "LORD" ×19 (1:7; 1:29; 2:5; 2:6; 3:5; 3:7; 3:9; 3:11; 3:12; 3:19; 3:26; 3:32; 3:33; 5:21; 6:16; 8:13; 8:22; 8:35; 9:10)
- יִרְאַת יְהוָה (yirʾat YHWH) "fear of the LORD" ×5 (1:7; 1:29; 2:5; 8:13; 9:10)
בְּנִי (bĕnî) "my son" ×15 (1:8; 1:10; 1:15; 2:1; 3:1; 3:11; 3:21; 4:10; 4:20; 5:1; 5:20; 6:1; 6:3; 6:20; 7:1)
- בָּנִים (bānîm) "sons" ×4 (4:1; 5:7; 7:24; 8:32)

Proverbs 1:1-7 Vocabulary in Proverbs 1-9 ⭐

חָכְמָה (ḥokmâ) "wisdom" ×17 (1:2; 1:7; 2:2; 2:6; 2:10; 3:13; 3:19; 4:5; 4:7; 4:7; 4:11; 5:1; 7:4; 8:1; 8:11; 8:12; 9:10)
מוּסָר (mûsār) "discipline, instruction" ×13 (1:2; 1:3; 1:7; 1:8; 3:11; 4:1; 4:13; 5:12; 5:23; 6:23; 7:22*; 8:10; 8:33)
- *7:22 reads "the discipline of a fool," many translations emend it
בִּינָה (bînâ) "understanding" ×10 (1:2; 2:3; 3:5; 4:1; 4:5; 4:7; 7:4; 8:14; 9:6; 9:10)
בִּין (bîn) "to understand, discern" ×8 (1:2; 1:5; 1:6; 2:5; 2:9; 7:7; 8:5; 8:5; 8:9)
צֶדֶק (ṣedeq) "righteousness" ×5 (1:3; 2:9; 8:8; 8:15; 8:16)
צְדָקָה (ṣĕdāqâ) "righteousness" ×2 (8:18; 8:20)
צַדִּיק (ṣaddîq) "righteous (one)" ×4 (2:20; 3:33; 4:18; 9:9)
מִשְׁפָּט (mišpāṭ) "justice" ×4 (1:3; 2:8; 2:9; 8:20)
מֵישָׁרִים (mēšārîm) "equity, uprightness" ×3 (1:3; 2:9; 8:6)
עָרְמָה (ʿormâ) "prudence, shrewdness" ×3 (1:4; 8:5; 8:12)
דַּעַת (daʿat) "knowledge" ×13 (1:4; 1:7; 1:22; 1:29; 2:5; 2:6; 2:10; 3:20; 5:2; 8:9; 8:10; 8:12; 9:10)
מְזִמָּה (mĕzimmâ) "discretion, purposefulness" ×5 (1:4; 2:11; 3:21; 5:2; 8:12)
לֶקַח (leqaḥ) "learning, teaching" ×4 (1:5; 4:2; 7:21*; 9:9)
- *7:21 is usually translated as something like persuasions.

"Way" vocabulary

דֶּרֶךְ (derek) "way, road" (the general word for a way) ×28 (1:15; 1:31; 2:8; 2:12; 2:13; 2:20; 3:6; 3:17; 3:17; 3:23; 3:31; 4:11; 4:14; 4:19; 4:26; 5:8; 5:21; 6:6; 6:23; 7:8; 7:19; 7:25; 7:27; 8:2; 8:13; 8:22; 8:32; 9:6; 9:15)
אֹרַח (ʾōraḥ) "path" (a journey or course) ×12 (1:19; 2:8; 2:13; 2:15; 2:19; 2:20; 3:6; 4:14; 4:18; 5:6; 8:20; 9:15)
נְתִיבָה (nĕtîbâ) "pathway" (a trodden footpath) ×5 (1:15; 3:17; 7:25; 8:2; 8:20)
מַעְגָּל (maʿgāl) "track, course" (a wheel-worn track) ×7 (2:9; 2:15; 2:18; 4:11; 4:26; 5:6; 5:21)

Genesis (Week 5 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