The hinge prayer of Psalm 119 (119:36). The verb is physical: to stretch, to bend, to pitch a tent by pulling it taut. David asks HaShem to bend his heart in a direction it will not bend on its own.
The full definition
"Hat libi to your testimonies, and not to unjust gain" (Psalm 119:36). English says "incline my heart" and it sounds gentle and abstract. The Hebrew verb natah is neither. It means to stretch out, to extend, to bend, to pitch a tent by driving stakes and pulling the fabric taut. It is a physical word about applying force to something so that it leans a new way.
Hear what that admits. David is not reporting that his heart already leans toward the testimonies. He is asking Someone else to bend it, because he has felt it pull the other way and could not stop it.
This is the hinge of the entire psalm, and it is the exact thing Yirmeyahu 31 answers. David asks HaShem to bend his heart from the outside. The new covenant is HaShem writing the instruction on the inside, so that the leaning is no longer forced but native.
Key passages
- Psalm 119:36
- Psalm 119:112
- Joshua 24:23
- 1 Kings 8:58