How many times does "mind" occur in Psalms?

It has been said that all the books of the Bible consist of God speaking to man. Only the Psalms is characterized by man speaking to God -- in worship and praise.

Now, in all 150 psalms, the word mind is mentioned ...

... just once (in KJV translation).

And it is not a flattering use of the word: the psalmist is fretting that he is "like a dead man forgotten out of mind."

Think of it: the book of the Bible that records worship and praise offered back up to God ... and the word "mind" occurs ONCE in it.

There are many Hebrew words translated "mind" in English versions. Those original words (nephesh, lav, lavav, ruwach, peh) mean a wide variety of things:

soul / creature / person / appetite / living being / desire / emotion / passions / inclination / relfection / memory / conscience / seat of the appetites / seat of emotions and passions / to breathe / to perspire / mouth / resolution / determination of will / seat of courage / plan / purpose

Here is the conclusion I come to: the Hebrew worldview did not have a concise concept of (what we would call) mind. Put another way, praise of God in the Old Testament worldview was always a whole-person activity. It would have been unthinkable in that worldview to praise God any other way.

Then here's this:

Perhaps the most telling example of whole-person worship in the Old Testament is the famous passage called the Shmah in the Torah -- but here let's consider how Jesus quotes it by the time of the New Testament. Here is the Shmah in the King James Version of Deuteronomy:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

So the whole person, in the Old Testament, involved heart, soul and might. But when asked what is the greatest commandment, Jesus, clearly quoting the Shmah, answered with this:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Mind. This is the Greek word διάνοια, which means "by the mind," where mind (νοῦς) means the intellectual faculty; the understanding.

So when Jesus, a Jewish man, but a Jewish man living in the Greek / Hellenistic culture of the New Testament, quoted the Shmah, he added "with all thy mind." Jesus' point, of course, was also that worship of God must be whole-person worship of God. This much did not change.

But by the time of the New Testament, the whole-person included the mind.

We can go on from here to discuss profound implications of how culture affects Scriptural revelation -- to the extent that even when Jesus, the God-man, cited the Old Testament ... he cited it in context of the cultural worldview of his day.

And it is all the Word of God.

Two points come to me (or, perhaps, come to mind):

1. If the word "mind" occurs only once in the Psalms, perhaps we over-estimate how much the mind -- that is to say, intellectual prowess -- is needed in our worship of God. Perhaps intellectual sophistication is a hindrance to worship.

2. Don't try what Jesus did on your own; instead, cite Scripture passages precisely.

Logos2Go

Psalm 31.12 I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

Deuteronomy 6.4-5 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Matthew 22.37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

Note: the NIV translates Hebrew words as "mind" four times in the Psalms: at 26.2 / 64.6 / 83.5 / 110.4. The ESV uses "mind" 3 times in Psalms (the same as the NIV, but leaving out 83.5). In the KJV, 26.2 renders it "heart" / 64.6 is also "heart" / 83.5 renders it "with one consent" / and in 110.4, while the NIV and ESV has "will not change his mind" the KJV renders it "will not repent."