Week 43 Psalm 81
The bible I’m reading says that those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him…
That phrase – pretend obedience – is already underlined in my bible so I know that on a previous reading I’ve wondered how pretending-to-be-obedient works.
I checked some other versions. A couple use similar expressions like: feign subjection or pretend submission. But many don’t use the idea of pretending or faking-it. They say that people will cower. Cringe. Bow. Be humbled. Shake with fear. Which sound different.
I spot a cross-reference that says …foreigners submit to me…. Even though the margin says ‘submit’ literally means ‘deceive me’ other versions use obey grovel cower or cringe.
And another reference says God’s enemies will give feigned obedience to (him) (the margin says ‘give feigned obedience’ literally means to ‘deceive’). But versions still say cringe. Come crawling. Cower. Submit.
I check ‘feigned’ in my word book and see it’s just used this once (in my version). I flip back to #3584 (the number assigned to ‘feigned’ in the Hebrew-Aramaic dictionary). It links ‘feigned’ to words like ‘disappoint’ & ‘deceive’ & ‘fail’. But #3584 is also translated cringe (Deuteronomy 33:29). Deceive (Zechariah 13:4). And pretend obedience (2 Samuel 22:45).
So I’m not sure where exactly to land. My simple take-away is that I need to be pretty cautious about some words in the bible. Words are versatile. And flexible enough that I can’t force them to carry more weight than they actually & definitionally can.
Note: quotes from Psalm 81:15 (NASB RGT HCSB) 18:44 (NASB) 66:3 (NASB)