Psalm 119 has two words that English renders alike as "word." One is davar, the weightier term, a word that is also a matter, a thing, an event. The other is imrah, from amar, simply to say. Imrah is the said thing, the utterance, and it carries a warmth that davar does not always carry.

It is the word underneath the verse most people know: "in my heart I have treasured your imrah, that I might not sin against you" (Psalm 119:11). Not a statute filed away. A saying from Someone, held close.

And again: "how sweet are your imrah to my palate, sweeter than honey to my mouth" (119:103). You do not say that about a legal code. You say it about words from a mouth you love. English flattens both terms to "word," and the distinction goes, and the tenderness goes with it.