Beth

(Beginning and Home)

Did you know that Hebrew letters themselves carry meaning? Jewish scholars see value not just in studying the meaning of a word, but in studying the letters that make up that word. It’s like the study of root words in English, except much deeper because each individual letter holds its own nuance.  

The letter Beth has a complex history. To start with, it’s the first letter used in the Bible. “In the beginning” translates to “Bereshith” which begins with the letter Beth. 

Beth not only means beginning, but it also means home. Bethlehem was the “house of bread” and Bethel was the “house of God”. What a wonderful letter that could combine beginning with home! Let’s keep this duality in mind as we dive into this second section of Psalm 119.

The first statement is prefaced by a question: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to Your word” (Psalm 119:9). In the previous section, we learned that “derek” is used for path or way. In verse 3, we were told to walk in God’s ways, His derek. Here in verse 9, we are learning that in order to do that, we have to guard our ways, our derek according to God’s Word, His dabar. 

Dabar is a new word here in Psalm 119 - one that is very important. Dabar means God’s creative Word, His effectual Word, His concrete Word. It’s a Word that brings things into being, and we see it first in creation. God’s dabar is translated in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testiment) as Logos. That’s right. Does that ring a bell? “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3).

The Septuagint translation of Bereshith is en archē, the same two words used in John 1:1 for “In the beginning”. That’s right, if written in Hebrew, John 1:1 starts with Beth. It starts with the beginning. More specifically, it starts with en archē and Logos - Jesus at the beginning, Jesus at the Beth. Just like the beginning of Beth says that we must keep our paths in alignment with the Logos, with God’s Derek, so too does John 1:1 draw a parallel of Jesus in the beginning, God’s Derek enfolded into the onset of Beth!

So we see two parallel themes: Dabar and Logos - God’s Word that creates, a description of Jesus, the way to have a pure path or derek, and on the other hand, Beth and en archē - the beginning associated with Jesus, the Word of God. 

Remember how way is often translated as derek? Let’s take these considerations and apply them to Psalm 119:9. How can a young man keep his derek, his life path pure? He must keep it according to the Logos, according to what God has done and said, according to Jesus.

Moving on, David writes, “With my whole heart I seek You; let me not wander from Your commandments! I have stored up Your word in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:10-11).

You may see “word” again and be thinking of dabar and Logos, but that’s where our English translation does not always portray all the richness and depth of Psalm 119. This second “word” is a different Hebrew word entirely, my personal favorite synonym for the Word of God in all of Psalm 119. This word is Imra. Imra is beautiful, just like it sounds. Dabar sounds sturdy and concrete while Imra sounds more like a name, a thought, a love. Imra is often translated as a promise. It’s God’s direct revelation to an individual, or His promise to His people, or that still small voice guiding us. All those verses that we put onto fridge magnets and write in birthday cards - that’s Imra. Imra is encouragement and solace and hope based on what God has said.

We keep our ways according to God’s Derek, His working, living, moving Word. We store up His Imra in our hearts, those promises that speak better treasure than the alluring temptations of sin. By walking in the power of God’s active Word and meditating on the preciousness of His promises, we can have pure ways and steer away from sinning against God. As David wrote, “I have stored up Your Imra in my heart, that I might not sin against You” (Psalm 119:11).

How does God’s Imra keep us from sin? 2 Peter 1:3-4 says: “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us to His own glory and excellence, by which He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.”

The next few verses say: “Blessed are You, O LORD; teach me Your statutes! With my lips I declare all the rules of Your mouth. In the way of Your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches” (Psalm 119:12-14).

We have found the word “way” again, this time, God’s way, the way of His testimonies. The word testimonies is akin to witness. It actually translates to martyrion in the Septuagint which carries the root word martus, from which we get the word martyr - someone who testifies to the truth regardless of the cost. In Aleph, the first section of Psalm 119, testimony was translated as eda. Here, it is edut. The two are related and that is why most scholars won’t count them as separate words to get twelve synonyms for God’s Word throughout Psalm 119. They are slightly different though. Edut is is Strong’s 5715 and Eda is Strong’s 5713. (Strong’s is a Hebrew lexicon classification system used by many scholars. Its most user-friendly form is found in the Blue Letter Bible app which is a very fun and useful Bible study tool.)

The point is, eda and edut are different words. Eda speaks of the laws themselves, the testimonies of God, and it’s plural. Edut speaks of the physical copy of the law, the visual testimony of God like the Ten Commandments, and it’s usually singular and refers to an actual artifact.

The point is that there are two separate words, which is cool because the number twelve is significant and if we count eda and edut separately, we find twelve synonyms for God’s Word in Psalm 119. But even more important, both eda and edut mean God’s testimony or witness and as God writes His law on our hearts, we become a testimony and a witness to the world. The Septuagint Greek helps us grasp that as we get the root word for martyr and watch how God has written His testimony on the hearts of His children as a witness to the world.

When David writes, “In the way of Your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches,” he’s acknowledging that in the derek of God’s edut, the way of God’s testimony, is the most valuable thing imaginable. God’s witness is the path of life. We will dive deeper into this idea in the weeks to come.

The Beth section ends by declaring: “I will meditate on Your precepts and fix my eyes on Your ways. I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget Your word” (Psalm 119:15-16).

Remember how ways is translated as derek? Let’s buckle up for another Hebrew curveball. In verse 15, “ways” is not translated as derek. Here we have a brand new word: orah. Because derek and orah are so complex in their nuances, we’re not going to dive very deep this time. If you count all twelve synonyms then it’s important to acknowledge the distinction between derek and orah, but if you want to truly understand their meanings, you need to go down some linguistic bunny trails beyond the scope of what I can relay. The clearest way I could hope to bring clarity is to say that derek is more general and orah is more specific. In the journey of life, a derek is a path while an orah is a tiny trail, but depending on which scholar you listen to, you’ll hear a lot of different ideas.

What really matters for us as we read Beth is to understand that the derek in verse fourteen and the orah in verse 15 create parallelism. Parallelism is a literary device where two similar ideas are put side by side in order to make a point stronger. God’s derek way is delightful AND we fix our eyes on His orah way. Using different words that mean the same thing is a technique used in poetry all the time to make it even more beautiful. There are also Hebrew scholars that think the letter Beth has a numerical value of two and represents dualism or parallelism, so David might have added this parallelism here for fun as an impressive literary scavenger hunt, so to speak. The point there would be that this is a magnificently crafted Psalm, more than we will ever know in English.

Do you remember how Beth not only means beginning, but also means house? There’s something neat about the idea of a home in this Beth section of Psalm 119. The first verse talked about guarding our ways, our derek, according to God’s dabar, His effectual Word, His Logos. The ending line concludes also with dabar, saying, “I will not forget Your Word”. Starting and ending with the same word, the same Logos, the same derek, Beth has a subtle focus to it. Dabar is the beginning and the end of Beth and with all the emphasis on derek and orah, the paths of God, we have to wonder, what is the point? Why do we need God’s dabar and imra keeping on the derek and orah? In English terms, why do we need the Word to keep us on the path? Paths are not aimless. They lead somewhere. God’s path leads us home. 

Psalm 23:6 says, “and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever”. The word “house” in this verse is the word bayit which is transliterated as Beth - basically, it’s the same word. So the Beth - the beginning - starts with God’s Word keeping us on His path, and the ending of the path is also Beth - our home with God forever. It all starts and ends with God and that’s all wrapped up in the letter Beth.

Works Cited:

1. "A New English Translation of the Septuagint. 01 Genesis." Oxford University Press, ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/01-gen-nets.pdf. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.

2. Google AI Overview. "What Is the Difference between Strongs 5713 and 5715." Google, www.google.com/search?q=what+is+the+difference+between+strongs+5713+and+5715&rlz=1CAJQUA_enCA917&oq=what+is+the+difference+between+strongs+5713+and+5715&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQABjvBTIKCAIQABiABBiiBDIKCAMQABiABBiiBDIHCAQQABjvBTIHCAUQABjvBdIBCTQ3MzE1ajBqN6gCALACAA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.

3. Levy, Gabriele. "The Letter Bet." ALEFBET, gabrielelevy.com/pages/the-letter-bet. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.

4. Parsons, John J. "Bayit - House Hebrew Word of the Week." Hebrew4Christians.Com, www.hebrew4christians.com/Glossary/Word_of_the_Week/Archived/Bayit/bayit.html. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.

5. Raskin, Rabbi Aaron L. "Bet (Vet) The Second Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet." Chabad.Org, www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/137074/jewish/Bet-Vet.htm. Accessed 23 Jul. 2026.