Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Holidays
At the crack of dawn tomorrow, my wife and I head to New York. While there we will hear the second year of our daughter's conducting of the St Thomas' summer choir school for girls. We will also see a performance of South Pacific and then take off to Newfoundland for 10 days. So no blogging on the psalms - I am not even carrying a book. And no groanings from my alter-bloggo for a few weeks.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Sketch of structure
Beginning to sketch a structural map. Anyone who sees good structural ideas in papers on psalms - please let me know.
Update: added the acrostics - the next set of obvious connections - though each of them is unique. Around these markers do you think the remaining psalms will form recognizable patterns?
Labels:
structure
Friday, July 25, 2008
God obeys the great commandment
Psalm 8
- what is man, lost man, that thou shouldst be so mindful of him?
- led me to
Psalm 144
- what is this humus that you know it?
Here is the answer - in a word, God loves us as God loves God. (HT Mike Higton)
I am working my way for a second time through the whole Psalter - both ends towards the middle. To follow the thread begin here and come forward in time. (Other earlier notes on structure are here and here.)
Psalms 40 and 90 by my soundex measure - sharing three consecutive consonants - have some relationship to 144 (I really need to refine the algorithm - some of the connections are quite comical).
In actual same-word connections, the psalms are both prayers invoking .אֲדֹנָי Adonai is less than common in the Psalms. Both speak of pride (a unique reading - hapax - in both psalms) and loving kindness חַסְדֶּךָ and both use other words common in the psalms.
Psalm 40
For the leader of David A Psalm
but poor am I and needy
O Lord hurry to me my helper and my deliverer
you my God will not delay
- what is man, lost man, that thou shouldst be so mindful of him?
- led me to
Psalm 144
- what is this humus that you know it?
Here is the answer - in a word, God loves us as God loves God. (HT Mike Higton)
I am working my way for a second time through the whole Psalter - both ends towards the middle. To follow the thread begin here and come forward in time. (Other earlier notes on structure are here and here.)
Psalms 40 and 90 by my soundex measure - sharing three consecutive consonants - have some relationship to 144 (I really need to refine the algorithm - some of the connections are quite comical).
In actual same-word connections, the psalms are both prayers invoking .אֲדֹנָי Adonai is less than common in the Psalms. Both speak of pride (a unique reading - hapax - in both psalms) and loving kindness חַסְדֶּךָ and both use other words common in the psalms.
Psalm 40 | Psalm 90 | ||||
to the proud | אֶל רְהָבִים | their pride is but labor and trouble | וְרָהְבָּם | ||
establishing my steps | כּוֹנֵן | establish the work of our hands | כּוֹנְנָה | ||
my iniquities | עֲוֹנֹתַי | our iniquities | עֲוֹנֹתֵינוּ | ||
let them be glad | וְיִשְׂמְחוּ | and we will be glad | שַׂמְּחֵנוּ |
Psalm 40
For the leader of David A Psalm
waiting I await יְהוָה
and he bowed to me
and he heard my cry
he brought me up from a pit of tumult
from clinging muck
and set my feet on a rock
establishing my steps
and he gave my mouth a new song
praise to our God
many will see and will fear
and will trust in יְהוָה
happy the man who makes יְהוָה his trust
and does not turn to the proud
falling away to a lie
many things you have done
you יְהוָה my God
your wonders and your plans for us
there is nothing to compare to you
I will make them known and I will speak
they are too numerous to count
in sacrifice and offering you did not delight
ears you have dug for me
burnt offering and sin offering you did not require
then I said Here I come
in the roll of the writing is inscribed of me
to do your will my God I delighted
and your law in the midst of my loins
I have published righteousness
in the great congregation
here my lips I did not restrain
יְהוָה you know
your righteousness I did not hide within my heart
of your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken
I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth
in the great congregation
you יְהוָה will not restrain your tender mercies from me
your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me
for evils surrounded me without number
my iniquities they held me and I had no power to see
numerous as the hairs of my head
so my heart abandons me
be pleased יְהוָה to deliver me
יְהוָה hurry to help me
let them be ashamed and disconcerted together
for seeking my life to destroy it
let them be driven back and be humiliated
that delight in my hurt
let them be desolate with consequence in their shame
those saying to me, hah! hah!
let all those seeking you sing and let them be glad in you
and let those loving your salvation say continually
great is יְהוָה
and he bowed to me
and he heard my cry
he brought me up from a pit of tumult
from clinging muck
and set my feet on a rock
establishing my steps
and he gave my mouth a new song
praise to our God
many will see and will fear
and will trust in יְהוָה
happy the man who makes יְהוָה his trust
and does not turn to the proud
falling away to a lie
many things you have done
you יְהוָה my God
your wonders and your plans for us
there is nothing to compare to you
I will make them known and I will speak
they are too numerous to count
in sacrifice and offering you did not delight
ears you have dug for me
burnt offering and sin offering you did not require
then I said Here I come
in the roll of the writing is inscribed of me
to do your will my God I delighted
and your law in the midst of my loins
I have published righteousness
in the great congregation
here my lips I did not restrain
יְהוָה you know
your righteousness I did not hide within my heart
of your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken
I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth
in the great congregation
you יְהוָה will not restrain your tender mercies from me
your loving kindness and your truth continually preserve me
for evils surrounded me without number
my iniquities they held me and I had no power to see
numerous as the hairs of my head
so my heart abandons me
be pleased יְהוָה to deliver me
יְהוָה hurry to help me
let them be ashamed and disconcerted together
for seeking my life to destroy it
let them be driven back and be humiliated
that delight in my hurt
let them be desolate with consequence in their shame
those saying to me, hah! hah!
let all those seeking you sing and let them be glad in you
and let those loving your salvation say continually
great is יְהוָה
but poor am I and needy
O Lord hurry to me my helper and my deliverer
you my God will not delay
Psalm 90
A prayer of Moses the man of God
A prayer of Moses the man of God
Lord, you have become our habitation from age to age
before the mountains were born
or earth and the world writhed
even from everlasting to everlasting you are God
you turn a human to dust and you say
Turn children of humus
for a thousand years in your eyes is like a recent day
for it is past and a watch in the night
you flood them, sleep they become
in the morning like grass they grow up
in the morning it flourishes and grows up
in the evening it is cut down and withers
for we are consumed in your anger
and in your wrath we are troubled
you put our iniquities in front of you
our secret in the light of your face
for all our days turn away from your fury
we complete our years as a groan
days of our years, in them seventy years
and if in strength eighty years
but their pride is labor and trouble for it is cut off soon
and we flutter away
Who knows the power of your anger
and for your fear your fury
To number our days so teach
and we will come to a heart of wisdom
Turn יְהוָה , how long? And sigh over your servants
sustain us in the morning - your loving kindness - and we will rejoice
and be glad all our days
Make us glad for days you afflicted us years we have seen evil
Let your work appear to your servants
and your honor to their children
And let be the beauty of the Lord our God on us
and the work of our hands establish on us
and the work of our hands establish
before the mountains were born
or earth and the world writhed
even from everlasting to everlasting you are God
you turn a human to dust and you say
Turn children of humus
for a thousand years in your eyes is like a recent day
for it is past and a watch in the night
you flood them, sleep they become
in the morning like grass they grow up
in the morning it flourishes and grows up
in the evening it is cut down and withers
for we are consumed in your anger
and in your wrath we are troubled
you put our iniquities in front of you
our secret in the light of your face
for all our days turn away from your fury
we complete our years as a groan
days of our years, in them seventy years
and if in strength eighty years
but their pride is labor and trouble for it is cut off soon
and we flutter away
Who knows the power of your anger
and for your fear your fury
To number our days so teach
and we will come to a heart of wisdom
Turn יְהוָה , how long? And sigh over your servants
sustain us in the morning - your loving kindness - and we will rejoice
and be glad all our days
Make us glad for days you afflicted us years we have seen evil
Let your work appear to your servants
and your honor to their children
And let be the beauty of the Lord our God on us
and the work of our hands establish on us
and the work of our hands establish
Labels:
detail translation
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Psalm 144
Psalm 144 has a take-off on Psalm 8's question. Rather than the awe of creation and confidence in the created being, this psalm has a reversal of the words of Psalm 8 and yet a set of verbs that value God's attention in spite of the following cola concerning the request for deliverance from the children of the alien.
מָה-אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי-תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ; וּבֶן-אָדָם, כִּי תִפְקְדֶנּוּ. Psalm 8
remember, visit
יְהוָה--מָה-אָדָם, וַתֵּדָעֵהוּ: בֶּן-אֱנוֹשׁ, וַתְּחַשְּׁבֵהוּ. Psalm 144
know, take account
Do you think there is significance to this allusion to Psalm 8 at the end of the Psalter?
What is the sense of the verb sequence? (I note that Psalm 49 contains both beni-adam and beni-enosh together).
Since I am pairing psalms to see if there are structural aspects to this cathedral of prayer, I am wondering...
Of David
מָה-אֱנוֹשׁ כִּי-תִזְכְּרֶנּוּ; וּבֶן-אָדָם, כִּי תִפְקְדֶנּוּ. Psalm 8
remember, visit
יְהוָה--מָה-אָדָם, וַתֵּדָעֵהוּ: בֶּן-אֱנוֹשׁ, וַתְּחַשְּׁבֵהוּ. Psalm 144
know, take account
Do you think there is significance to this allusion to Psalm 8 at the end of the Psalter?
What is the sense of the verb sequence? (I note that Psalm 49 contains both beni-adam and beni-enosh together).
Since I am pairing psalms to see if there are structural aspects to this cathedral of prayer, I am wondering...
Of David
Blessed is יְהוָה my strength
teacher of my hands in battle, my fingers in war
My loving kindness and my fortress, my high tower
of me, for me, deliverer, my shield
and in him I have sheltered subduing my people under me
יְהוָה what is this humus that you know it
the children of humanity that you value them
the human is like a wind
its days as a shadow passing away
יְהוָה spread out the heavens and come down
Touch hills and they will smoke
Strike lightning and you will scatter them
let loose your arrows and you will trouble them
let loose your hands from above
Set me free and rescue me from the great seas
from the hand of the children of the alien
whose mouths speak emptiness
and their right hand a right hand of falsehood
O God, a song that is new I will sing to you
on lute, a ten-stringed harp, I will make music to you
giving salvation to kings
separating even David his servant from a sword of evil
Set me free and rescue me
from the hand of the children of the alien
whose mouths speak emptiness
and their right hand a hand of falsehood
so that our sons are as plants grown up in their youth
with our daughters as corner-stones carved
in the form of a palace
so our granaries are full furnished
from kind to kind our sheep fruitful by thousands
to ten thousands in our streets
our friends strong as oxen
without breach without sally
without complaint in our piazas
happy the people who are like this to him
happy the people who have יְהוָה as their God
teacher of my hands in battle, my fingers in war
My loving kindness and my fortress, my high tower
of me, for me, deliverer, my shield
and in him I have sheltered subduing my people under me
יְהוָה what is this humus that you know it
the children of humanity that you value them
the human is like a wind
its days as a shadow passing away
יְהוָה spread out the heavens and come down
Touch hills and they will smoke
Strike lightning and you will scatter them
let loose your arrows and you will trouble them
let loose your hands from above
Set me free and rescue me from the great seas
from the hand of the children of the alien
whose mouths speak emptiness
and their right hand a right hand of falsehood
O God, a song that is new I will sing to you
on lute, a ten-stringed harp, I will make music to you
giving salvation to kings
separating even David his servant from a sword of evil
Set me free and rescue me
from the hand of the children of the alien
whose mouths speak emptiness
and their right hand a hand of falsehood
so that our sons are as plants grown up in their youth
with our daughters as corner-stones carved
in the form of a palace
so our granaries are full furnished
from kind to kind our sheep fruitful by thousands
to ten thousands in our streets
our friends strong as oxen
without breach without sally
without complaint in our piazas
happy the people who are like this to him
happy the people who have יְהוָה as their God
Labels:
detail translation
Creation
Psalm 8 attends John's return from holidays with three posts beginning here.
Since it is almost next on my list along with 144 which alludes to 8 directly, here is psalm 8 in my rough hues. [update - see comments: weight does not work - conflicts with shkl, I kept adorning since majestic is already structurally in use in the poem so majesty is out, switched to the traditional crown rather than surround - I avoided honor but there are good reasons to keep the honor axis. Do you think Paul had this text in mind in 2 Cor 4 or is the allusion too distant?]
For the Leader while musing
A Psalm of David
Since it is almost next on my list along with 144 which alludes to 8 directly, here is psalm 8 in my rough hues. [update - see comments: weight does not work - conflicts with shkl, I kept adorning since majestic is already structurally in use in the poem so majesty is out, switched to the traditional crown rather than surround - I avoided honor but there are good reasons to keep the honor axis. Do you think Paul had this text in mind in 2 Cor 4 or is the allusion too distant?]
For the Leader while musing
A Psalm of David
יְהוָה our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth
your splendor chanted above the heavens
by the mouth of children and nurselings
You have set strength for the sake of your foes
that you might rest enemy and vengeance
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers
moon and stars which you have established
What is humanity? for you remember it!
and the child of the dust that you visit it?
Yet you make it just lower than gods
but with weight and adorning surround it
Yet you filled it less
your splendor chanted above the heavens
by the mouth of children and nurselings
You have set strength for the sake of your foes
that you might rest enemy and vengeance
When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers
moon and stars which you have established
What is humanity? for you remember it!
and the child of the dust that you visit it?
but with weight and adorning surround it
Yet you filled it less
just a little less than God
and with glory and majesty crown it
You give it reign over the works of your hands
all you put under its feet
flock and cattle, all of them and more
beasts of the field, bird of the heavens
and fish of the sea traversing seaways
יְהוָה our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth
and with glory and majesty crown it
You give it reign over the works of your hands
all you put under its feet
flock and cattle, all of them and more
beasts of the field, bird of the heavens
and fish of the sea traversing seaways
יְהוָה our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth
Labels:
detail translation
Sunday, July 20, 2008
This morning's psalm
Brilliantly sung by the Cathedral Choir, I assume to a chant for four part men by Matthew Larkin, a subset of Psalm 139 (1-11, 22-23) was the lectionary portion today.
I couldn't leave out the nastier bits - slay the wicked etc - so here is my worked over translation:
Note: for the leader (lamnatsa)- how did the LXX get its idea about the end (eis to telos) translated by NETS as regarding fulfillment?
For the leader or concerning fulfillment (LXX) / of David / A Psalm
I couldn't leave out the nastier bits - slay the wicked etc - so here is my worked over translation:
Note: for the leader (lamnatsa)- how did the LXX get its idea about the end (eis to telos) translated by NETS as regarding fulfillment?
For the leader or concerning fulfillment (LXX) / of David / A Psalm
יְהוָה you have searched me and you know
You know my sitting and my rising
you understand my thought from afar
my path and my lying down you sift
and all my ways you know intimately
For there is not a word on my tongue
but יְהוָה knows all of it
behind and before you secure me
and you lay on me your palm
Wonderful - knowledge about me
high - I cannot accomplish it
where will I go from your spirit
and where from your presence flee
if I ascend into heaven, there you are
and spread out in Sheol, there you are again
I take the wings of the morning
I live in the farthest part of the sea
also there your hand leads me
and holds me
your right hand
and I say surely darkness will crush me
and the night be light about me
even darkness is not darkness with you
and night like day shines
as darkness as light
for you have captured my insides
you overshadowed me in the womb of my mother
I will thank you for fearfully I am separated
wonderful your doings as my life knows well
not hid are my bones from you
that were when I was made in secret
embroidered in the lowest parts of earth
your eyes saw my embryo
___________________
and in your book all of them were written
days were fashioned when not one was of them
to me how precious your thoughts, O God
how numerous their source
I count them more in number than sand
I awake and still I am with you
If you slay O God the wicked
so, mortals of blood, depart from me
who speak of you against discretion
and take to vanity your cities
these hating you יְהוָה I will hate
and those rising against you - I am grieved
a consummation of hatred - I hate them
enemies they are to me
Search me O God and know my heart
try me and know my ambivalence
and see if a way of trouble is in me
and lead me in the way that is everlasting
You know my sitting and my rising
you understand my thought from afar
my path and my lying down you sift
and all my ways you know intimately
For there is not a word on my tongue
but יְהוָה knows all of it
behind and before you secure me
and you lay on me your palm
Wonderful - knowledge about me
high - I cannot accomplish it
where will I go from your spirit
and where from your presence flee
if I ascend into heaven, there you are
and spread out in Sheol, there you are again
I take the wings of the morning
I live in the farthest part of the sea
also there your hand leads me
and holds me
your right hand
and I say surely darkness will crush me
and the night be light about me
even darkness is not darkness with you
and night like day shines
as darkness as light
for you have captured my insides
you overshadowed me in the womb of my mother
I will thank you for fearfully I am separated
wonderful your doings as my life knows well
not hid are my bones from you
embroidered in the lowest parts of earth
your eyes saw my embryo
___________________
and in your book all of them were written
days were fashioned when not one was of them
to me how precious your thoughts, O God
how numerous their source
I count them more in number than sand
I awake and still I am with you
If you slay O God the wicked
so, mortals of blood, depart from me
who speak of you against discretion
and take to vanity your cities
these hating you יְהוָה I will hate
and those rising against you - I am grieved
a consummation of hatred - I hate them
enemies they are to me
Search me O God and know my heart
try me and know my ambivalence
and see if a way of trouble is in me
and lead me in the way that is everlasting
What actions does יְהוָה take that convinces the Psalmist of God’s knowledge?
How would you relate this knowledge of יְהוָה to the New Covenant?
What then would you say about the experience of the individual in the Old Covenant?
Who can you put in the role of the speaker in this Psalm?
Who is the wicked (Hebrew is singular, LXX is plural)?
Who is the enemy (Hebrew is plural) and to whom?
Notes:
ambivalence, ‘troubled thoughts’, used only twice in the Old Testament, here and in Psalm 94:19 In the many divisions within me, your consolations delight my being
Re the sudden shift from singular to plural: ‘all of them were written’: the word for the plural ‘them’ has no antecedent. (Perhaps it is the bones / skeleton / substance / embryo combo - nonetheless, it is worth the pause for reflection) – is the antecedent ‘days’? – i.e. the pronoun occurring before its noun? The LXX has ‘In your book all [people] shall be written, in a day they shall be formed and no one is among them.’
Re thoughts: the LXX has friends ‘But your friends are very precious to me’ and this reading is followed by many early translations. The shift from singular to plural has caused many variations in interpretation for this part of the psalm. If we remove the second use of thoughts, the only use of this word in the whole Hebrew Bible remains in verse 2.
How would you relate this knowledge of יְהוָה to the New Covenant?
What then would you say about the experience of the individual in the Old Covenant?
Who can you put in the role of the speaker in this Psalm?
Who is the wicked (Hebrew is singular, LXX is plural)?
Who is the enemy (Hebrew is plural) and to whom?
Notes:
ambivalence, ‘troubled thoughts’, used only twice in the Old Testament, here and in Psalm 94:19 In the many divisions within me, your consolations delight my being
Re the sudden shift from singular to plural: ‘all of them were written’: the word for the plural ‘them’ has no antecedent. (Perhaps it is the bones / skeleton / substance / embryo combo - nonetheless, it is worth the pause for reflection) – is the antecedent ‘days’? – i.e. the pronoun occurring before its noun? The LXX has ‘In your book all [people] shall be written, in a day they shall be formed and no one is among them.’
Re thoughts: the LXX has friends ‘But your friends are very precious to me’ and this reading is followed by many early translations. The shift from singular to plural has caused many variations in interpretation for this part of the psalm. If we remove the second use of thoughts, the only use of this word in the whole Hebrew Bible remains in verse 2.
Labels:
detail translation
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Reeling
Here is Psalm 7. The work divides in four based on the usage of the invocation of the names.
יְהוָה my God begins the first and second verse
יְהוָה section follows (with one separated 'my God')
God section is in the middle - without the pronoun
יְהוָה section completes
A reel of David who sang to יְהוָה about the words of Cush of Benjamin
יְהוָה my God begins the first and second verse
יְהוָה section follows (with one separated 'my God')
God section is in the middle - without the pronoun
יְהוָה section completes
A reel of David who sang to יְהוָה about the words of Cush of Benjamin
יְהוָה my God in you I have sheltered
save me from all my persecutions and deliver me
or he will seize like a lion my throat
tearing apart and there is none rescuing
יְהוָה my God if I have done this
if there is injustice in the palm of my hand
If I have paid back evil to one who is at peace with me
and have withdrawn empty from one who troubles me
let an enemy persecute me and slit my throat
and take and trample my life on earth
and make my glory to dwell in the dust
save me from all my persecutions and deliver me
or he will seize like a lion my throat
tearing apart and there is none rescuing
יְהוָה my God if I have done this
if there is injustice in the palm of my hand
If I have paid back evil to one who is at peace with me
and have withdrawn empty from one who troubles me
let an enemy persecute me and slit my throat
and take and trample my life on earth
and make my glory to dwell in the dust
selah
Arise יְהוָה in your anger,
be lifted up in the outbursts of my foe
and awake my God
judgment you command
So a congregation of people encircle you
and for her to the heights return
יְהוָה shall judge the peoples
Judge me יְהוָה for my righteousness and my completeness in me
Mature, I pray, the evil of the wicked
and steady the righteous
and test hearts and vital centres
O God of righteousness
My shield is of God delivering the upright of heart
God judges right and God is indignant every day
If he will not turn he will sharpen his sword
his bow he bends and will aim
and for him he has prepared
consuming means of death
his arrow for burnings he will make
Behold he will bind sorrow and has conceived toil
and will bear falsehood
A pit he will dig and will explore it
and will fall into the depths that he worked
He will return his toil on his head
and on his scalp his violence will descend
I will praise יְהוָה for his righteousness
and I will sing the name of יְהוָה on high
be lifted up in the outbursts of my foe
and awake my God
judgment you command
So a congregation of people encircle you
and for her to the heights return
יְהוָה shall judge the peoples
Judge me יְהוָה for my righteousness and my completeness in me
Mature, I pray, the evil of the wicked
and steady the righteous
and test hearts and vital centres
O God of righteousness
My shield is of God delivering the upright of heart
God judges right and God is indignant every day
If he will not turn he will sharpen his sword
his bow he bends and will aim
and for him he has prepared
consuming means of death
his arrow for burnings he will make
Behold he will bind sorrow and has conceived toil
and will bear falsehood
A pit he will dig and will explore it
and will fall into the depths that he worked
He will return his toil on his head
and on his scalp his violence will descend
I will praise יְהוָה for his righteousness
and I will sing the name of יְהוָה on high
Labels:
detail translation
Posts with somewhat smoothed translations
It is still a long road to fluency but I search out the psalms for a more fluent English which can perhaps depend less on Hebrew word order and the enigmatic presence of the text of two languages - fun though that is.
These are the posts so far in the series:
Psalm 1, 2, and 149 The outer circle
Psalm 3, 4, 5 A left buttress for Psalm 6
Psalm 6 and 143 An inner circle
Psalm 140, 141, 142 A left buttress for Psalm 143
Psalm 42 and 86 Surrounding the Elohist Psalter
So it seems to me that there is a circular structure to the Psalter - with some eccentricity. The next pairing is Psalm 8 with 144. Psalm 144 also picks up themes from 40 and 90. Psalms 145-148, 150 provide completion on other grounds - of acrostic and praise. Psalm 7 is a trickier piece to place - unique as a reel (שִׁגָּיוֹן shiggaion), potentially in agreement with the wicked falling into their own net image of Psalm 141 - but with reservation as to who the subject of that verb is in Psalm 7. It is sufficiently ambiguous that it is feasible that God falls into the net that the wicked have set.
Addendum: why pair 144 with 8? - because 144:3 invokes it directly. Then 144 drags in 40-45-58-90 which by my rough measure are strongly related - scoring > 3.5 in my sounds-like measurement. Another set of pillars? Don't know yet.
Update - links to these psalms:
Psalm 7
Psalm 139
Psalm 8
Psalm 144
These are the posts so far in the series:
Psalm 1, 2, and 149 The outer circle
Psalm 3, 4, 5 A left buttress for Psalm 6
Psalm 6 and 143 An inner circle
Psalm 140, 141, 142 A left buttress for Psalm 143
Psalm 42 and 86 Surrounding the Elohist Psalter
So it seems to me that there is a circular structure to the Psalter - with some eccentricity. The next pairing is Psalm 8 with 144. Psalm 144 also picks up themes from 40 and 90. Psalms 145-148, 150 provide completion on other grounds - of acrostic and praise. Psalm 7 is a trickier piece to place - unique as a reel (שִׁגָּיוֹן shiggaion), potentially in agreement with the wicked falling into their own net image of Psalm 141 - but with reservation as to who the subject of that verb is in Psalm 7. It is sufficiently ambiguous that it is feasible that God falls into the net that the wicked have set.
Addendum: why pair 144 with 8? - because 144:3 invokes it directly. Then 144 drags in 40-45-58-90 which by my rough measure are strongly related - scoring > 3.5 in my sounds-like measurement. Another set of pillars? Don't know yet.
Update - links to these psalms:
Psalm 7
Psalm 139
Psalm 8
Psalm 144
Labels:
structure
Friday, July 18, 2008
Am I too Loud?
This blog's recent wordle profile has some curious shouting. ... or is it that I know someone named Will?
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Structural connection confirmed
Some time ago I thought I spotted a complex of pillars surrounding the psalms - I still think they are there - psalms 3-6 balance psalms 140-143 - personal, enemy and troubles oriented, and each group shares a sufficient language set that they might share a common author or final redactor.
Psalm 140
from violent individuals protect me
who devise evils by heart
every day they are gathered for battle
they have sharpened their tongues as a serpent
poison of an adder under their lipsSelah
attend to my call when I cry to you
let my prayer be established as incense in your presence
a lifting up of my palms, the offerings of evening
set יְהוָה a guard on my mouth
keep the gate of my lips
do not give my heart to a word of evil
to practise practices in wickedness with men, workers of iniquity
and let me not partake in their delights
let the righteous strike me with a kindness
let him rebuke me as oil on a head
my head will not hinder
for continuous is my prayer in their evils
when those judging them are felled by hands of stone
then they will hear my words for they are sweet
as one ploughs and digs on the earth
dispersed are our bones to the mouth of the pit
for to you יְהוָה my Lord are my eyes
in you I seek refuge
do not expose my being
keep me from the hands of the trap they have set for me
and the snares of the workers of iniquity
let the wicked fall into their own nets
as one I still escapePsalm 142
my voice to יְהוָה I will seek favour
I will pour out in his presence my complaint
my troubles in his presence I will announce
when my spirit is disabled within me
and you knew my path in this road I walk
they hid a trap for me
Look right and see
there is not for me one who knows
refuge failed for me
there is none searching my being
I called to you יְהוָה
I said you are my shelter
my portion in the land of the living
Listen to my cry for distressed am I greatly
Deliver me from my persecutors
for they are stronger than I
Bring from prison my being
to praise + your name
with me surround the righteous
for you will mature me
Psalm 140
For the leader, A Psalm Of David
Deliver me יְהוָה from human evilfrom violent individuals protect me
who devise evils by heart
every day they are gathered for battle
they have sharpened their tongues as a serpent
poison of an adder under their lips
Keep me יְהוָה from hands of wickedness
from violent individuals protect me
who devise stumblings of my step
proud they hide a trap for me
and bindings they have spread
a handy net from a trench
snares they set for me
Selahfrom violent individuals protect me
who devise stumblings of my step
proud they hide a trap for me
and bindings they have spread
a handy net from a trench
snares they set for me
I said to יְהוָה you are my God
hear יְהוָה, the voice of my supplication
יְהוָה the Lord of the strength of my salvation
you covered my head in the day of assault
Do not permit יְהוָה cravings of wickedness
his plans do not promote
Let them exalt themselves
Selahhear יְהוָה, the voice of my supplication
יְהוָה the Lord of the strength of my salvation
you covered my head in the day of assault
Do not permit יְהוָה cravings of wickedness
his plans do not promote
Let them exalt themselves
the head of those around me
trouble of their lips
let it cover them
let burning coals fall on them
in the fire let them be cast
into watery pits so they will not rise
let not a slanderer be established in the earth
evil will hunt to push on a violent individual
I know יְהוָה will mark the plea of the afflicted
the judgment of the poor
surely the righteous will praise your name
the upright will dwell in your presence
Psalm 141trouble of their lips
let it cover them
let burning coals fall on them
in the fire let them be cast
into watery pits so they will not rise
let not a slanderer be established in the earth
evil will hunt to push on a violent individual
I know יְהוָה will mark the plea of the afflicted
the judgment of the poor
surely the righteous will praise your name
the upright will dwell in your presence
A Psalm Of David
יְהוָה I cry to you Hurry to meattend to my call when I cry to you
let my prayer be established as incense in your presence
a lifting up of my palms, the offerings of evening
set יְהוָה a guard on my mouth
keep the gate of my lips
do not give my heart to a word of evil
to practise practices in wickedness with men, workers of iniquity
and let me not partake in their delights
let the righteous strike me with a kindness
let him rebuke me as oil on a head
my head will not hinder
for continuous is my prayer in their evils
when those judging them are felled by hands of stone
then they will hear my words for they are sweet
as one ploughs and digs on the earth
dispersed are our bones to the mouth of the pit
for to you יְהוָה my Lord are my eyes
in you I seek refuge
do not expose my being
keep me from the hands of the trap they have set for me
and the snares of the workers of iniquity
let the wicked fall into their own nets
as one I still escape
An insight Of David when he was in the cave
A prayer
My voice to יְהוָה I will callmy voice to יְהוָה I will seek favour
I will pour out in his presence my complaint
my troubles in his presence I will announce
when my spirit is disabled within me
and you knew my path in this road I walk
they hid a trap for me
Look right and see
there is not for me one who knows
refuge failed for me
there is none searching my being
I called to you יְהוָה
I said you are my shelter
my portion in the land of the living
Listen to my cry for distressed am I greatly
Deliver me from my persecutors
for they are stronger than I
Bring from prison my being
to praise + your name
with me surround the righteous
for you will mature me
Labels:
detail translation
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Collecting posts
Recent posts on the use of the Psalms in the NT -
BBB on Romans 3:4 (Psalm 51:4)
and on Hebrews 2:7 - see also this (Psalm 8:5)
More later:
Psalm 93 and Mark 4:35-41 here
Psalm 8:6(5) continuing here
Psalm 95 in Hebrews (see Bibliography)
I must follow these up and collect thoughts as they happen - I think this is not a short term project.
There is a book at the UVIC library on Greek words and Hebrew Meanings - I am not quite up to it yet but I think it will contribute to the next year's work.
BBB on Romans 3:4 (Psalm 51:4)
and on Hebrews 2:7 - see also this (Psalm 8:5)
More later:
Psalm 93 and Mark 4:35-41 here
Psalm 8:6(5) continuing here
Psalm 95 in Hebrews (see Bibliography)
I must follow these up and collect thoughts as they happen - I think this is not a short term project.
There is a book at the UVIC library on Greek words and Hebrew Meanings - I am not quite up to it yet but I think it will contribute to the next year's work.
Monday, July 07, 2008
Gezerah shavah
This is no easy task - two weeks ago the Commentary on the weekly readings talks about some very strange hypertext associations in Torah - it's a good read. And as Rabbi Daniel Nevins says - "you need a stack of books" and a good memory to do the reading. That's what I have going slowly for my prior post - just beginning to take shape - the allusions to the psalms in the New Testament... When I finish the first pass, I will take each one selectively and tease out the associations - what is that word 'gezerah shavah' (variously spelled) - it means literally a comparison of equals.
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Raw Data - Psalm allusions in the NT
Update: hang on while I develop this further - a progressive continuously updated post... (July 8 and I am done for now - only a week of spare time plugging.)
This is part of my search for the Hebrew-Greek divide and the creative use of the text to translate culture and language to a new day. (See this post for the stimulus from BBB.)
Note - missing psalm 106:20 cited in Romans 1; maybe psalm 17:4 in the prayer of Jesus in John 17
This is one small step closer to trying to see how the NT authors used the Psalter. All to be examined in more detail - but first this possibly useful list (extracted from Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament: A Complete Survey by Gleason L. Archer and G.C. Chirichingo.) There are some errors and omissions in that text. I checked and added to the list from the references in the old Jerusalem Bible (1962). Anyone know of a good book on this subject?
I have listed 130 or so allusions depending on how you count them. Just over 60 of the Psalms are referenced or have a recognizable allusion in 15 of the books of the NT. Even on a first pass, some of them are questionable and I dropped them. And I have no doubt that even from these two 'authorities', I will differ and maybe see both more and less than they cite. And there are several I would have missed at least on a first pass. There must be a more determined method which I will try and discover.
Matthew (18)
Mark (8)
Luke (11)
John (8)
Acts (10)
Romans (17)
1-2 Corinthians (4 /2)
Ephesians (4)
Hebrews (25)
1-2 Timothy (1 /1)
1-2 Peter (8 / 1)
Revelation (12)
Romans, Hebrews, and 1 Peter seem to have the highest concentration.
Verses may be off by 1, since I have not been careful to avoid the confusion between Hebrew and English verse numbering. Blue - Royal; Red - Passion, Green Hebrews which seems to specialize in Psalm references.
This is part of my search for the Hebrew-Greek divide and the creative use of the text to translate culture and language to a new day. (See this post for the stimulus from BBB.)
Note - missing psalm 106:20 cited in Romans 1; maybe psalm 17:4 in the prayer of Jesus in John 17
This is one small step closer to trying to see how the NT authors used the Psalter. All to be examined in more detail - but first this possibly useful list (extracted from Old Testament Quotations in the New Testament: A Complete Survey by Gleason L. Archer and G.C. Chirichingo.) There are some errors and omissions in that text. I checked and added to the list from the references in the old Jerusalem Bible (1962). Anyone know of a good book on this subject?
I have listed 130 or so allusions depending on how you count them. Just over 60 of the Psalms are referenced or have a recognizable allusion in 15 of the books of the NT. Even on a first pass, some of them are questionable and I dropped them. And I have no doubt that even from these two 'authorities', I will differ and maybe see both more and less than they cite. And there are several I would have missed at least on a first pass. There must be a more determined method which I will try and discover.
Matthew (18)
Mark (8)
Luke (11)
John (8)
Acts (10)
Romans (17)
1-2 Corinthians (4 /2)
Ephesians (4)
Hebrews (25)
1-2 Timothy (1 /1)
1-2 Peter (8 / 1)
Revelation (12)
Romans, Hebrews, and 1 Peter seem to have the highest concentration.
Verses may be off by 1, since I have not been careful to avoid the confusion between Hebrew and English verse numbering. Blue - Royal; Red - Passion, Green Hebrews which seems to specialize in Psalm references.
Psalm | NT Reference | Comment & very rough reminder of text |
1:3 | Revelation 22:2 | like a tree, leaves for healing - see also Ezekiel 47:12, leaves do not wither then he shall be like a tree transplanted by streams of water that gives its fruit in its time and its leaf does not fade and in all that it does it shall prosper |
2:1-2 | Revelation 19:19, Acts 4:25-26 | Why such noise from nations And peoples muttering in vain |
2:7 | Acts 13:33, Hebrews 1:5, 5:5 | see also 2 Samuel 7:14 The LORD said to me My son are you I this day have brought you forth |
2:9 | Revelation 2:26-27, 12:5 19:15 | Note difference with LXX shepherd = Revelation 'rule' You will break them with sceptre of iron as vessel of a potter they will be shattered |
4:5 | Ephesians 4:26 | Be angry, but do not sin LXX has be angry Tremble and do not be missing the goal speak with your heart on your bed and be still |
5:10 | Romans 3:13 | For there is not in their mouth faithfulness their belly a chasm a sepulcre open their neck their tongue deceives |
6:9 | Matthew 7:23 | depart from me workers of evil... Leave me all workers of sorrow for heard has the LORD the voice of my weeping |
8:3 | Matthew 11:25, 21:16 | praise of children our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth that is chanted your splendour above the heavens by the mouth of children and nurselings |
8:5-7 | Hebrews 2:6-9, 1 Corinthians 15:27, Ephesians 1:22 | little lower than the angels What is humanity that you remember and a child of dust that you visit? You give it reign over the works of your hands all you put under its feet. |
10:7 | Romans 3:14 | his mouth full and treachery and oppression under his tongue mischief and emptiness |
14:1-3 | Romans 3:11-12 | Nothing doing good |
16:8-11 | Acts 2:25-28. 2:31, 13:26, 13:35 | not let your holy one see corruption for you will not abandon my life to the place of the dead You will not allow your righteous to see a pit |
17:15 | Revelation 22:4 | face to face I in righteousness will see your face I will be satisfied to awaken in your likeness |
18:50 | Romans 15:9 | see also 2 Samuel 22:50 therefore I will give you thanks among the nations O LORD and to your name I will sing praises |
19:5 | Romans 10:18 | praise among the nations but in all the earth has gone out their lineage and to the end of the world their utterance |
22:2 | Matthew 27:46, Mark 15:34 | My God My God Why have you abandoned me distant from my salvation words of my groaning |
22:8 | Matthew 27:43 | Trust in the LORD let him deliver him let him snatch him for he delights in him |
22:19 | John 19:24, Matthew 27:35, Mark 15:24, Luke 23:24 | they will part my clothing among them and on my garment they will cast lots |
22:23 | Hebrews 2:12 | I will declare your name to my kin in the midst of the congregation I will praise you (see also 35:18, 40:9, 149:1) |
24:1 | 1 Corinthians 10:26 | to the LORD the earth and her fullness |
27:5 | Revelation 7:15-16 | in a day of trouble he will hide me in a secret of his tent |
31:6 | Luke 23:46, Acts 7:59 | into your hands I will entrust my spirit you have redeemed me O LORD God of truth |
32:1-2 | Romans 4:7-8 | happy lifted up transgression covered sin happy human not will consider the LORD - to him iniquity |
34:9 | 1 Peter 2:3 | taste and see for good is the LORD |
34:13-17 | 1 Peter 3:10-12 | Man - who is it desiring life loving days to see good nip your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit stay from evil and do good seek peace and hunt for it eyes those of the LORD on the righteous and his ears on their cry for help face that of the LORD against those doing evil |
34:20 | John 19:36 | sheltering all his bones one from them not will be broken |
35:19 | John 15:25 | those hating me for nothing |
36:1 | Romans 3:18 | there is no fear of God before his eyes |
37:5 | 1 Peter 5:7, 1 Thessalonians 5:24 | the effectiveness of trust |
37:11 | Matthew 5:5 | the poor will inherit the earth |
37:18 | Matthew 6:8 | on the LORD knowing needs |
39:12 | 1 Peter 2:11 | for a stranger I am to you a dweller as all my ancestors look at me and I will smile before I go and there is no me |
40:6-8 | Hebrews 10:5-7 | sacrifice and offering you did not desire ears you have dug to me burnt offering and sin offering not did you desire then I said Here I come in the roll of the writing is inscribed of me to do your will my God |
41:10 | John 13:18 | even a man of my peace that I trusted in him eating my bread has magnified against me a heel |
42:6, 12, 43:5 | Matthew 26:38, Mark 14:34 | My soul is distressed - I think this is a bit of a stretch - more like a resonance than an allusion. |
44:23 | Romans 8:36 | all the day we are considered as sheep for slaughter |
45:7-8 | Hebrews 1:8-9 | your throne O God to the age and for ever a sceptre of equity the sceptre of your kingdom You have loved righteousness and hate wickedness therefore has anointed you God your God with oil of rejoicing with your companions |
49:8 | Matthew 16:26, Romans 3:24 | What can be offered in exchange for a life |
49:17 | 1 Timothy 6:7 | for not in his death will he take the all it will not descend after him his glory |
50:14 | Hebrews 13:15 | Offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving offer to God thanksgiving and pay to the Most High your vows |
50:17 | Romans 2:17-24 | Allusive only - not a citation what is it to you to recount my statutes and that you would take of my covenant in your mouth and you hate correction and cast my words behind you |
51:4 | Romans 3:4 | so you are right to speak you are clear to judge |
53:1-3 | Romans 3:11-12 | Nothing doing good - not a single one. |
55:7 | Revelation 12:6 | behold I will be far off to retreat and stay in the wilderness |
55:22 | 1 Peter 5:7 | Throw to the LORD your gift and he will contain you (these off the wall literalisms make you think - don't they!) |
56:11 | Hebrews 13:6 | I will trust I will not fear what does a human to me |
62:13 | Matthew 16:27, Romans 2:6, 2 Timothy 4:14 | and to you O Lord there is mercy for you complete a man according to his works see also Proverbs 24:12 |
68:19 | Ephesians 4:8-10 | you are gone up on high captives you have captured you have received gifts of humanity even the rebellious in the tent of Yah God |
69:5 | John 15:25 | Note the use of law for the psalms in John. more than the hairs of my head are those hating me for nothing |
69.10 | Romans 15:3, John 2:17 | for jealousy your house has eaten me up and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen on me |
69:21 | Matthew 27:34, 48 | they gave for my food venom and in my thirst they gave drink vinegar |
69:23-24 | Romans 11:9-10 | let their table become in their faces a trap and in their peace a snare let be darkened their eyes from seeing and their loins continually shake |
69:25 | Acts 1:20 | let their home become desolate in their tents let no one be living |
78:2 | Matthew 13:35 | I will open with insight my mouth ferment riddles from of old |
78:24 | John 6:31 | and had rained on them manna and the corn of heaven he gave to them |
82:6 | John 10:34 | I said gods are you and children of the Most High all of you surely as humans you will die |
86:9-10 | Revelation 15:4 | all nations whom you made will come and worship before your face O Lord and glorify your name for great are you and do wonders you O God you alone |
89:21 89:27 | Acts 13:22 Revelation 1:5 | Surely I firstborn will make him on high with the kings of the earth |
90:4 | 2 Peter 3:8 | for a thousand years in your eyes like a day recent for it is past and a watch in the night |
91:11-12 | Matthew 4:6, Luke 4:10-11; Hebrews 1:14 | for his messengers he will instruct over you to keep you in all your ways in their hands they will lift you up in case you will strike with a stone your foot |
91:13 | Luke 10:19 | on a lion and adder you will walk you will trample a young lion and dragon |
94:11 | 1 Corinthians 3:20 | The LORD knows the thoughts of a human that they are emptiness |
94:14 | Romans 11:12 | for not will cast off the LORD his people and his inheritance he will not forsake |
95:7-11 | Hebrews 3:7-11, 15, 4:7, 4:3-5 | today if his voice you hear do not harden your hearts as in strife as the day of testing in the wilderness and so on... |
97:7 | Hebrews 1:6 | worship him, all gods |
102:25-26 | Hebrews 1:10-12 | in the presence of the earth you established and the work of your hands the heavens these will perish but you you will stand and they all like clothing will decay as a garment you will change them and they will be changed but you he and your years will not end |
104:4 | Hebrews 1:7 | making his messengers winds his ministers a flaming fire |
104:12 | Matthew 13:32, Mark 4:32, Luke 13:19 | on them a bird of the heavens settles between flights |
107:9 | Luke 1:53 | For he has satisfied a life longing and a life hungry he has filled with good |
109:8 | Acts 1:20 | let his days be short and his office let take another |
110:1 | Matthew 22:44, Acts 2:34-35, Hebrews 1:13, 10:12-13, 1 Peter 3:22 | a proclamation of the LORD to my Lord sit at my right hand till I will make your enemies a stool for your feet |
110:4 | Hebrews 5:6, 7:17, 21 | Has sworn the LORD and not will he repent you a priest for ever of the order of my king of righteousness |
111:2 | Revelation 15:3 | see also Deuteronomy 32:4, Jeremiah 10:6, Amos 3:13, Psalm 145:17 Great are the works of the LORD |
112:9 | 2 Corinthians 9:9 | prodigal of love he gave to the poor his righteousness standing in perpetuity |
116:10 | 1 Corinthians 4:13, 2 Corinthians 4:13 | I believed so I spoke I was afflicted greatly |
117:1 | Romans 15:11 | Praise the LORD all nations be free in him all the peoples |
118:6 | Hebrews 13:6 | LORD to me - not will I fear what will do to me a human |
118:22-23 | Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, Luke 20:17, Acts 4:11, 1 Peter 2:7 | A stone they rejected the builders becomes to a head of a corner from the LORD becomes this It is marvelous in our eyes |
118:25-26 | Matthew 21:9, Mark 11:9-10, John 12:13, Matthew 23:39, Luke 13:35, 19:38 | Now LORD Save Please Now LORD Send prosperity Please Blessed coming in the name of the LORD |
131:2 | Matthew 18:3, Mark 10:15, Luke 9:48 | becoming as a child |
132:11 | Acts 2:30 | Sworn has the LORD of David truth - he will not turn from her of the fruit of your belly will I set on your throne |
132:18 | Luke 1:69 | I will cause to sprout a horn Of David her enemies I will clothe with shame |
135:14 | Hebrews 10:30 | the Lord will judge his people |
140:4 | Romans 3:13 | they have sharpened their tongues as a serpent poison of an adder under their lips |
143:2 | Romans 3:20 | for he will not be righteous in your presence anyone living |
145:17 | Revelation 15:3-4 | Righteous is the Lord in all his ways |
148:1 | Mark 11:10 | Praise him in the highest heights; Job 16:19 |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)