שִׁית

From the study of Psalm 141:3

Range of meaning

To put, set, place, appoint, station, or make something into something.

Against the English

'Set' is accurate in every version. What English cannot show is the lengthened -â ending (shîtâ), which gives the command an earnest, pleading tone.

Used elsewhere in the period

It is used for appointing or stationing: Genesis 41:33 (Pharaoh should 'set' a wise man over Egypt) and Psalm 140:5 (Heb. 6; 'they have set snares for me'). The enemies in the neighbouring psalm 'set' traps. Here the psalmist asks God to 'set' a guard.

From the study of Psalm 101:3

Range of meaning

The verb shit means put, set, place, appoint or station. With 'heart' it means to pay attention or consider (Exod 7:23; Prov 24:32, 'I set my heart', meaning 'I reflected'). With 'before (someone)' it means to place something where it is kept in view and reckoned with. Ps 90:8 uses the same verb and preposition of God: 'You have set our iniquities before you'. Related idioms with a different verb are Ps 16:8, 'I have set the LORD always before me', and Ps 54:3 / 86:14, 'they have not set God before them', meaning they do not reckon with him.

Against the English

The literal 'set before my eyes' (KJV, ESV, BSB, NASB) keeps the image but can sound like 'look at' or 'watch'. The NIV's 'look with approval on' captures the sense of regard and favour but loses the deliberate act of placing. The NLT's 'refuse to look at' narrows it to seeing.

How it drifted

Modern readers hear 'eyes' mainly as a matter of vision, and in devotional use the line has become a motto about what one watches. That is an extension from the Hebrew idiom, which is about what one takes as an aim, standard or accepted matter.

Used elsewhere in the period

Ps 90:8; Ps 16:8; Ps 54:3; 86:14. Within Psalm 101 itself, the king's 'eyes' recur as the organ of favour and rejection: v. 5 'haughty eyes' he will not tolerate, and v. 6 'my eyes are on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me'.

From the study of Isaiah 26:1

Range of meaning

To put, set, place, appoint. With two objects it means "to make X into Y" or "to set X as Y".

Against the English

KJV and WEB supply "God" as subject ("salvation will [God] appoint for walls"; "God appoints salvation"). BSB turns it into a passive ("salvation is established as its walls"), which drops the active agent. ESV and NIV keep "he" or "God" as subject.

Used elsewhere in the period

Isa 5:6, "I will make it (’ăšîtēhû) a waste"; Ps 21:6 (Heb. 21:7), "you make him blessings". In both, šît takes two objects and means "make into".