Psalms 95:6–7
Come, let us bow down: we are the people of his pasture
Study it word by word6Come in, let us bow down and bend low; let us kneel before YHWH our Maker.
7For he is our Elohim, and we the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. Today, if you hear his voice,
In its context
4in whose hand are the depths of the earth, and the peaks of the mountains are his.
5His is the sea, and he made it, and the dry land his hands formed.
…
8do not harden your heart as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness,
9when your fathers put me to the test; they examined me, though they had seen my work.
Its words in the original
- בֹּאוּbou· come, go in, bring
Come, arrive, go in, enter. In the causative form, "bring" or "carry in". "Go in to" a woman is to have marital relations with her.
- נִשְׁתַּחֲוֶהnishtachave· bow down, worship
Bow down: bend down to the ground. It was the gesture of respect before someone greater (a king, a visitor) and also the gesture of worshiping God.
- נִכְרָעָהnichraa· crouch, bow down
Crouch, kneel; bow down; sink.
- נִבְרְכָהnivrcha· bless, kneel
Bless. When God blesses, he gives good: life, children, fruit, prosperity. When a person "blesses God", he gives him nothing: he praises and thanks him. Between people, it is wishing the other the good that comes from God; also greet. The root also means kneel.
- פְנֵיfene· face, presence
Face. From there "surface" (the face of something) and "presence" (being before someone's face); with a preposition it means "before" or "in front of".
- יְהוָהyehva· YHWH
The personal name of the God of Israel, written in Hebrew with four letters, Y-H-W-H, without vowels. Out of reverence Jews stopped pronouncing it and read "Adonai" (Lord), so many Bibles put "the LORD" or "Jehovah". This translation keeps the four letters. The name is related to the verb "to be" (Exodus 3:14-15). He is not a god other than Elohim: "YHWH Elohim" is the same Creator God, called by his name.
- עֹשֵׂose· do, make
Do, make, in the widest sense: build, produce, carry out, keep (a command), prepare.
- אֱלֹהֵיelohe· Elohim, God, gods
The Hebrew word usually translated "God". This translation keeps "Elohim" when it speaks of the one true God, the Creator, the God of Israel. The word ends like a plural, but it does not mean several: for him the verb is singular ("Elohim created"); the plural form expresses greatness. The same word as a common noun names the "gods" of other peoples, and there it is a true plural, translated "gods". It is also used of mighty ones or judges.
- עַםam· people
People: a human group joined by kinship, history and destiny. "My people", said by God, is Israel. Also the people as a crowd, or troops.
- מַרְעִיתmarit· pasture; flock
Pasturing, pasture; also the flock that someone tends.
- צֹאןtson· flock
Flock of sheep and goats, small livestock; figuratively, a people led like a flock.
- יָדyad· hand, power
Hand. Figuratively, power or control ("into the hand of" = into the power of); also side, part, or share. Also a projecting piece, such as a tenon.
- יּוֹםyom· day
Day: the hours of light, or a whole day from one evening to the next. Also an indefinite time or age ("in the day that...", "in those days").
- קֹלkol· voice, sound
Voice or sound: what is heard, from a person, an animal or a thing (thunder, steps).
- תִשְׁמָעוּtishmau· hear, listen, obey
Hear, listen. In the Bible listening truly includes paying heed; so it often means "obey". In the causative form, make heard, proclaim.