Contemplative Bible Reading

Joshua 1:8 (New International Version)

Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

In this verse, God is instructing Joshua before Joshua leads the people into the promised land. I am intrigued by the first phrase of the verse. God tells Joshua to not let the Book of the Law depart from his mouth. That seems strange. I wouldn’t pause if the verse had written “don’t let the law depart from your heart” or “don’t let the law depart from your mind,” but “don’t let it depart from your mouth?”

I looked at half a dozen other translations. Almost all of them use the word “mouth” in a similar way here. A few don’t mention the mouth, but they don’t mention any other part of the body either. Where is the heart? Where is the mind?

Then I read the translation in Today’s New International Version:

Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

That figure of speech makes sense to me. To “keep something on my lips” means (to me) to keep saying or speaking it. God encourages Joshua to speak the words of the law, speak about the law, and (again for me) to think about and feel about the law daily.

God, help me to keep you on my lips, to think of you, your grace, your love daily, to feel your presence in my life, and to speak of you daily.