Archaic KJV Word
Law
Modern equivalent: rules
What Was Lost
The parental instruction metaphor. Torah comes from yarah, 'to throw/cast/point the direction.' Torah was a father taking his child's hand and pointing: 'go this way, not that way, because I love you and know the path.' The psalmist delighted in torah as a beloved gift, not a legal burden.
Closest Survivor in Modern English
Torah (increasingly used untranslated because 'law' is so misleading)
Peak Usage (1611)
KJV Psalm 19:7 -- 'The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul'; Romans 7:12 -- 'The law is holy'
Died still used but legalized (~1600)
Hebrew torah ('instruction/teaching/guidance/direction from a loving father') was translated through Latin lex ('legal code') into English 'law,' converting a father's teaching into a judge's regulations.
What Replaced It
“rules”
Impersonal regulations; torah was personal instruction from a loving God to His children
“commandments”
One component; torah included stories, poems, wisdom, and narrative alongside commands
“legal code”
Rigid and punitive; torah meant 'direction' -- like a parent pointing the way