that's what its all about

vaD Daj muSHa'taH pung ghaH Dun toward maH.
For his loving kindness is great toward us. Psalm 117:2a

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"love, love, love - that's what it's all about..."

(don't worry - this isn't turning into a music podcast)

If you've done time in Sunday School (student or teacher) chances are you've heard that song.

Like the "Hokey Pokey" it purports to tell you what "it's all about" and as fun as the "Hokey Pokey" might be - I suspect that "love" is a better answer to that question.

Having heard this psalm tell us to praise God, now we hear why.

his loving kindness is great toward us.

Now. Klingons have a problem with "love." Or more precisely, tlhIngan Hol, the Klingon Language does. The word isn't in the dictionary. That's not a problem in the Biblical languages. Hebrew, and Greek have multiple words translated as forms of 'love' in English, one Hebrew word in particular is rendered "loving kindness" here.

Klingon has some nouns for "love" as in "one's beloved" - bang, or romantic love - parmaq. But there isn't an all encompassing (maybe too encompassing) word to match the English "love."
Two explanations for this come to mind. The obvious one - this tough, brutal race finds such a notion, well, alien, and don't have a word for it.

Yet they have words for peace as well as war - so I think that can't be it. I prefer to think (and this is just my theory) that they are so full of love (albeit a more ferocious type than weak humans understand) that they only need to express the lack of hate (muS) to express love. Lacking this verb, many Klingonists do use muSHa' (dis- or un- hate) to have a verb "to love."

So, muSHa'taH - on-going love is the word used here for lovingkindness in today's portion of Psalm 117.

vaD Daj muSHa'taH pung ghaH Dun toward maH.
For his loving kindness is great toward us. Psalm 117:2a

hesed, is the Hebrew word behind this "lovingkindness" - and it is a powerful term. Used more than 200 times in the Bible it goes a long way to explain why the author is so excited about God's "steadfast love" (another way hesed is translated).

God's loving kindness, his steadfast love is our bedrock. The psalmist cheers, and calls out to everyone near and far to celebrate the foundation of loving kindness, of steadfast love, with which God supports us, as another psalm reminds us of the encompassing power of God's hesed:

How precious is your loving kindness, God!
The children of men take refuge under the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36:7 WEB)

This is the value of Scripture. With the Word, and the living traditions of our faith, we learn how God has saved his people through the ages. Filled with promises for each day, the Bible helps us look forward to how God will continue to sustain us in his steadfast love.

muSHa'taH / on-going love / hesed

does not stop. We can look forward to what is to come - not always what we expect, or what WE think is best. But God will not fail.

vaD Daj muSHa'taH pung ghaH Dun toward maH.
For his loving kindness is great toward us. Psalm 117:2a