QIDpu'ghachmey - Wounds

QIDpu'ghachmey - Wounds

ghaH heals the ghorta' Daq tIq, je binds Dung chaj QIDpu'ghachmey.
He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

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Here is what I think of as an anchor verse - one of those rocks in Scripture that stand out with a strong word of promise - a word that we need to hear. It comes as part of a promise to the Israelites in exile and, as the great British preacher Spurgeon notes, it shows us the tender side of God:

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. This the Holy Spirit mentions as a part of the glory of God, and a reason for our declaring his praise: the Lord is not only a Builder, but a Healer; he restores broken hearts as well as broken walls

But to benefit from such a promise - well - to benefit, you need to admit that you REQUIRE healing.

ropchoHbe' tlhInganpu'

That's a quaint Klingon expression that means "Klingons do not get sick."

Now, of COURSE they DO get sick - but it isn't in the Klingon culture to admit it. Especially in a military situation, where the ship's doctor could declare you unfit for battle. A Klingon does NOT want to be in such a position - they'd rather fight hurt than accept their weakness, to admit the need for healing.

That is why verse from Psalm 147 may not be easy for a Klingon to understand - for it zeroes in on the tender care that God offers when he comes to us as the Great Physician.

And - when you get down to it - how often and how readily do humans admit when we need help? How easy it is to pretend our heart is not broken, that we have no wounds we need healed.

ghaH heals the ghorta' Daq tIq, je binds Dung chaj QIDpu'ghachmey.
He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3

QIDpu'ghachmey is the word I used here to represent 'atstsebeth - a rare word, only appearing about five times in the Bible, based on a word for "engraving" - think CUT. The Klingon word is formed from the verb QID (to wound), with the intensifier -pu' and then made into a noun with the -ghach suffix. Finally I made it plural with -mey: QIDpu'ghachmey. In our survey of the alphabet, this is the word starting with capital-Q. Since it translates Hebrew words and Greek across the whole Bible you'll find it more frequently (29 times currently) in the KLV.


What wounds have you suffered? In a world filled with loss - from loved ones, to jobs, to physical injury, no one is a stranger to the broken heart - that is why this short verse is such a treasure. As Spurgeon explains:

Behold, the Most High has to do with the sick and the sorry, with the wretched and the wounded! He walks the hospitals as the good Physician! His deep sympathy with mourners is a special mark of his goodness. Few will associate with the despondent, but Jehovah chooses their company, and abides with them till he has healed them by his comforts. He deigns to handle and heal broken hearts: he himself lays on the ointment of grace, and the soft bandages of love, and thus binds up the bleeding wounds of those convinced of sin. This is compassion like a God. Well may those praise him to whom he has acted o gracious a part. The Lord is always healing and binding: this is no new work to him, he has done it of old; and it is not a thing of the past of which he is now weary, for he is still healing and still binding, as the original hath it. Come, broken hearts, come to the Physician who never fails to heal: uncover your wounds to him who so tenderly binds them up!

ghaH heals the ghorta' Daq tIq, je binds Dung chaj QIDpu'ghachmey.
He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3