Psalm 22

Here is the ultimate positive and negative in one song to the hart of the dawn. Psalm 22 presents a different challenge from the acrostics. The traditional is so familiar one can scarcely avoid it. So I looked at the Greek - it is right away so different!

My God, my God, attend me; why did you forsake me?
The words of my trespasses keep me far from my salvation(!)

And in verse 30, the Greek is again very different.

καὶ ἡ ψυχή μου αὐτῷ ζῇ - and my soul lives for him (NETS).
וְנַפְשׁוֹ לֹא חִיָּה - even he that cannot keep his soul alive (JPS 1917).

I offer a different translation below based on identifying the 'his' with the 'my' of verse 1. What do you think?

Also to note verse 17 (a crux - I have followed John Hobbins note - see here) and 30 (see this text critical note again from JH here). This verse is equivalent but odd in both Greek and Hebrew:

All the fat ones of the earth will eat and worship (JPS)
To him shall all the proud of the earth bow down (RSV)
(Masoretic )אָכְלוּ וַיִּשְׁתַּחֲווּ כָּל-דִּשְׁנֵי-אֶרֶץ
(Amended )אַך לוֹ יִשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ כָּל-יְשֵׁנֵי-אֶרֶץ
All who sleep in the earth will worship in his presence

For the leader to the hart of the dawn, A Psalm of David

My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?

so distant from my salvation are the words of my groaning

My God, I call by day and you do not answer

and by night and there is no rest for me

But you are holy

seated on the praises of Israel

In you our fathers trusted

They trusted and you delivered them

To you they cried and you rescued them

In you they trusted and were not ashamed

But I am a worm and no man

a reproach of humanity and despised of the people

All who look will deride me

They purse their lips

They toss their head

Roll with  יְהוָה

He will deliver him

Let him snatch him away
for he delights in him

For you took me from a belly

giving me trust on the breasts of my mother

On you I was cast from a womb

From my mother's belly you are my God

Do not be distant from me for trouble is near

for there is no help

Many bulls circled me

The valiant of Bashan surrounded me

They gape at me
their mouths a lion tearing and roaring

Like water I am poured out
and all my bones are separated

My heart is like wax melted in the midst of my loins

My strength is dried up like a potsherd
and my tongue cleaves to my jaws

and you will bring me into the dust of death

For dogs circled me
An assembly of evildoers enclosed me
They gouge my hands and my feet
I will tell all my bones
They gape and stare at me
They part my clothing among them
and for my garment they cast lots

But you, יְהוָה, be not distant
Hurry, my hart, to my help
Snatch my being away from the sword
my uniqueness away from the dog's power
Save me from the lion's mouth

from the horns of wild bulls you have answered me
I will declare your name to my kin

In the midst of the congregation I will praise you

You who fear יְהוָה praise him

All the seed of Jacob glorify him

and stand in awe of him all the seed of Israel

For he has not despised nor detested the affliction of the afflicted

and he has not concealed his presence from him

but when he cried for help to him he heard him

From you is my praise in the great congregation
My vows I will pay before those who fear him
The poor will eat and be satisfied
Those who seek יְהוָה will praise him
May your heart live for ever

All the ends of the earth will remember and will turn to יְהוָה
All the tribes of the nations will worship in your presence
for to יְהוָה is the kingdom and he governs in the nations
All who sleep in the earth will worship in his presence
All who go down to the dust will bow
for his being he could not keep alive

A seed will serve him
It will be recounted of the Lord for a generation
They will come and will tell his righteousness to a people to be born
for he has done it

(Note v30 for his being he could not keep alive - i.e. no one else but God could have restored his life. The antecedent of his is the singular man of verse 1.)

Rearranged links

The other day I mistakenly printed a blog entry and got 16 pages of scrap. So I have turfed the snippet from the blog list - TMI as they say.

I have added links to my own smoothed second draft translations. In all cases these are largely English only and text only in contrast to my first draft which was done with a diagramming tool and is slavishly literal as to word order in order to hear and see micro structures.

I have added a link to a review of books on the Psalms from 1985-1999 (courtesy of John Hobbins whose site has innumerable useful links). It is curious to me that I have glanced at and even studied a few of the books listed. Here's a snippet:

Each of the five "books" within the Psalter is concluded by a psalm ending with a short doxology (Psalms 41, 72, 89, 106, 145). An important indicator not only of the Psalter's structure but also of one of its themes is the occurrence of royal psalms at significant junctures (Psalms 2, 72, 89), a point noted already by Claus Westermann and Brevard Childs. For Wilson, the fact that these psalms occur early in the Psalter, in Books I-III, whereas after this, the focus is on psalms of Yahweh's kingship (Psalms 93-99, 145), is significant. He sees in Psalm 89 signs that the Davidic monarchy has "failed" and therefore, in Books IV-V, royal psalms are deemphasized and Yahweh's kingship hailed (especially in Psalms 93-99), as the Psalter proclaims Yahweh's kingship above all else.

Wilson speaks in a more recent essay of a "Royal Covenantal Frame" to the Psalter, consisting of the royal Psalms 2, 72, 89, and 144, and a "Final Wisdom Frame," consisting of Psalms 1, 73, 90, 107, and 145 (the first psalms of Books I, III, IV, and V, along with the final psalm of Book V proper).

It seems that structural and holistic approaches to the Psalter are 'in the air' and I have picked up the disease, dis ease that is with too great an emphasis on archeological approaches to communication with the ancient authors.

In truth, I do not yet know what I will discover - even after 2 years of close study in this bootstrap learning that I am doing. All helps are welcome from people and books, online and offline, subliminal and opportunistic - but I must continue to do the homework myself. And I think I am getting some help - with Thanks to All and Sundry.

I can report that after two years, I can almost dream the alef-bet in sequence. Also, even with a few weeks off, the Hebrew reading is a little easier today than it was three months ago. I maintain my learn-it-like-a-child attitude. Children do not memorize grammar and they use words but do not memorize them. Slow it is, but the brain still works. I tell you this also - that teaching is the best learning process. I am hearing Mendelssohn's great setting of Psalm 55 in my head: הַאֲזִינָה אֱלֹהִים תְּפִלָּתִי Hear my prayer, O God.

The Acrostics (4)

Psalm -37. I offer this smoothed out version without color coding. Are there circles of thought here? Is there something surrounded by them? On the surface, the psalm seems like good moral instruction. But what is primary is the engagement with the one who bears the Holy Name: trust, alignment, endurance, stillness, expectation, completeness, and steadfastness. These are the instructions for the human side of the engagement. On the divine side are a host of promises and results. Do we have here a clear intimation of the fruits of the Spirit?

Of David

about evildoers do not fuss yourself

do not be jealous over workers of injustice

for like grass they will quickly wither

and like green foliage they will languish

be trusting in יְהוָה and do good

you will live in the land and pasture in faith

gently delight exquisitely in יְהוָה and he will give you the desires of your heart

get your way with יְהוָה and trust in him and he will make things happen
and he will bring your righteousness as light and your judgment as the midday

dumb - mute - be still in יְהוָה
endure your birth in him
do not fuss over one who prospers in his way
of someone working schemes

have done with anger and give up wrath
do not fuss in any way to do evil for evildoers will be cut off
but those waiting for יְהוָה will inherit the land

verily yet a little and there is no wicked
and you will consider carefully concerning his place and that he is not
and the poor will inherit the land and will delight exquisitely in great peace

zoning in are the wicked against the righteous and they gnash against him with their teeth
my Lord laughs at them for he sees that their day is coming

ha! the wicked have drawn a sword and bent their bow to make poor and needy fall
to slay those whose way is upright
their sword will enter their own heart and their bows will be broken

the little good of the righteous one is better than the tumult of the many wicked
for the arms of the wicked will be broken but יְהוָה supports the righteous

יְהוָה intimates the days of the complete and their inheritance will be for ever
they will not be ashamed in a time of evil and in days of famine they will be satisfied

cause the wicked will perish and the enemies of יְהוָה
as the prized fat of lambs they will find their end
in smoke they will find their end

loaned to is the wicked one and he will not repay but the righteous is merciful and giving
for from his blessing they inherit land
in his denial they are cut off

made from יְהוָה are the steps of a warrior and he will take pleasure in his way
for he will not fall thrown down for יְהוָה supports with his hand

now old I have been young but I have not seen the righteous forsaken
and his seed seeking bread
all the day he is merciful and lending and his seed blessed

stay from evil and do good and live for ever
for יְהוָה loves judgment and does not forsake those of his mercy
for ever they are kept but the seed of the wicked will be cut off

those righteous ones will inherit land and live endlessly
there the mouth of the righteous will meditate wisdom and his tongue will speak judgment
the teaching of his God in his heart
his goings are not unstable

the wicked spies on the righteous and seeks to put him to death
יְהוָה will not abandon the one in his hand and will not condemn him when he is judged

quietly wait on יְהוָה and keep his way and he will lift you up to inherit the land
and you will see the wicked are cut off

ruthless I have seen the wicked and spreading like a luxuriant bay tree
yet he will pass on and then he is not
and I looked for him and he could not be found

shelter the complete and note the upright for the end of this one is peace
for transgressors will be destroyed together
the end of the wicked will be cut off

the salvation of the righteous is from יְהוָה
from their strength in a time of trouble
and יְהוָה will help them and will deliver them
he will deliver them from the wicked and save them for they take refuge in him

Notes: land (or earth) is never with the definite article but requires it in English. I.e., this psalm does not imply 'the' land.

The Acrostics (3)

Psalm 34

What will I say of יְהוָה? What right have I to say anything? What you to listen? Can you hear or are you deaf?

A friend said to me - I have read the Greek - I have read Barth on Romans - and Paul has no reason to celebrate his statement about God shutting us up into disobedience and then having mercy. It is like a boy who catches a fly and tears off its wings and then says "Fly". It's the same Greek as the modern tongue - go stand in the corner. God creates stubbornness and then Paul celebrates mercy?

I am silenced. The letter with perhaps the greatest impact on the Western psyche put down by un nouveau Job.

No one has a chance here. Find your pleasure where you may, for you are a fly on a sweet sweaty soiled place - should be just about right for you. Forget Genesis 1. Creation is not good. You are the plaything of the Gods whether they 'are' or not. You are a speck on an ocean of randomness. Offal for awful. Buzz off before I remove your wings.

And as for the NT, why pay attention to any story of a disembodied Hellenist myth or a bitterly disappointed Semitic tradition? Bite the extreme - you are subject to war, dearth, age, ague, tyrannies, despair, law, chance and death - there are no imagined four corners for the angels' trumpets. There is no place for you to know the meat of God in the flesh - apart from your own fantasy.

So why did Job finally give in? And why did Paul believe his own rhetoric? Who would dare invite to taste and see that יְהוָה is good? Where is the substance of the name that we say we have trusted in?

Of David when he feigned madness in the face of Abimelek and he drove him away and he went
Alef. Any old glottal stop will do to begin.

I will bless יְהוָה at all times

continually his praise will be in my mouth

breath - my breath will glory in יְהוָה

the humble will hear and be glad

greatly magnify יְהוָה with me
and let us exalt his name together

What's this magnification? Who wants to be 'umble?
Would you be satisfied with being glad when your wings are dismembered?

determined I sought יְהוָה and he heard me
and from all my fears he delivered me
him they paid attention to and were radiant
and their faces were not embarrassed

How does he know about someone else's radiance?
Am I embarrassed or just honest? I am not heard.
I am not delivered. I am not radiant.
What moonshine are you on about?

zis poor one calls and יְהוָה hears

Don't use baby talk with me

and from all his distress he saves him

I tell you, I am beyond salvageable - where is the peace I know I want?

hovering, the angel of יְהוָה surrounds those who fear him and rescues them

Is it rescue I want? You do calm me a little - no risk - no life...

taste and see for יְהוָה is good
happy the mighty that will trust in him

Taste - the Eucharist in the Psalms - how did you do it?

ye his holy ones, fear יְהוָה for there is no lack to those fearing him

cubs - young lions want and are voracious but those seeking יְהוָה will not lack any good
Listen to me, children, come and I will teach you the fear of יְהוָה

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 יְהוָה are on the righteous and his ears are on their cry for help
face, that of יְהוָה is against those doing evil to cut off their remembrance from the earth

tza! they cry out and יְהוָה hears and he rescues them from all their distress
quite near is יְהוָה to those broken of heart and he saves many a crushed spirit

righteous ones know many evils and from all of them יְהוָה will deliver him
sheltering all his bones so that not one of them will be broken
the wicked will be slain by their own evil and those hating the righteous will bear their guilt
יְהוָה redeems the life of his servants and all taking refuge in him will not bear their guilt

You don't really need a word from me.

The Acrostics (2)

Psalm 25 is the next acrostic. By my observation, it is missing bet, vav and qof. Perhaps the second word בְּךָ בָטַחְתִּי of the second verse is the bet word.

Apart from the alef-bet nature of this psalm, there are 5 recurring words shared by the first three verses and the last five [my life, shame, lifting up, enemy, and waiting]. The verbal relations are color-coded in the English below and visible through color and connectors in the first draft in the diagram. This is one of the psalms analyzed in A Rabbi Reads the Psalms, by Jonathan Magonet, a very fine piece of work to help us read these prayers. The center of the work, verses 4-17, is also filled with recurring words.

One has to ask - what is the essence surrounded by the opening and closing structural elements? I think on reading, even with the oddball word choices, you will see that the direction is a good covenant, a knowledge of grace - that salvation is God's initiative, justification - that our dependence for what is right is on God's goodness, the fruits of the Spirit - that the sinner and the poor are given personal direction, and love - that we wait for his loving kindness and redemption from all troubles. Here as in many psalms, the individual gives voice to the knowledge of God with him and therefore God with Israel and therefore ultimately, God with us. (As usual, there is the odd word added in English to form the acrostic.)

Of David

I will lift up my life to you יְהוָה my God
because in you I have trusted
I will not be ashamed
My enemies will not rejoice against me

God, moreover, all who wait on you will not be ashamed
they will be ashamed who act treacherously for nothing

Directions from you יְהוָה let me know
Teach me your paths

Head me in your truth and teach me
for you are my God, my salvation
on you I wait every day

Zero in with your mercies יְהוָה and your loving-kindness
for they are from everlasting

Heavy sins of my youth and my transgressions do not remember
in your loving-kindness remember you are with me
for your goodness יְהוָה

Top notch and upright is יְהוָה
so he will set sinners direction

Yes he will direct the poor with judgment
and will teach the poor his direction

Known paths of יְהוָה
loving-kindness and truth
to those keeping his covenant and his testimonies

Let it be for your name יְהוָה
to pardon my guilt for it is great

My, what's this? that for anyone fearing יְהוָה
he will set him with direction that he will choose?

Now his life he will live in good
and his seed will inherit land?

Special intimacy of יְהוָה with those fearing him
and his covenant to know them

Eyes, my eyes are continually to יְהוָה
for he will deliver my feet from any net

Phase in to me and have mercy for I am solitary and afflicted
the troubles of my heart are enlarged
bring me out of my distress

Regard my afflictions and my pain and lift up all my sins
Regard my enemies for they multiply and they hate
with violence they have hated me

Shelter my life and deliver me
let me not be ashamed for I have sheltered in you

Translate me complete and upright for I have waited for you
Redeem O God all Israel from all their troubles

Notes - Direction, head, direct are the same root DRK.
I am sure you could all improve on some of my crazy word choices.

The Acrostics (1)

Before I can continue my structural analysis, I must have my rough translations smoothed [ - and corrected - Psalms 9 and 10 are really raw and rough and wrong in the images]. The exercise here moves from learning one word or phrase at a time to holding the Hebrew in one part of the mind while trying to make sense of it in one's native tongue. Obvious, I guess - but many clues are there, though not easily in my sight. So these smoothed translations are but a second draft. The act of translation is continuous dialogue.

The next set of psalms in the structure levels drafted here are the acrostics - so here goes. I am no Mary Herbert! But I will attempt to conform to the acrostic one way or another. As explained here by Ronald Benun, this acrostic has several missing letters: ד, מ, נ, ס, ע, פ, צ. The disorderly part of Psalm 10 has much in common with Psalm 7. Where do we see Christ here?

Psalm 9 and 10

For the leader
To death
of the son
A Psalm of David

א Ah, I will praise יְהוָה with all my heart
I will declare all your wonders
I will take pleasure and I will exult in you
I will make music to your name Most High

ב By turning my enemy back
let them stumble and perish from your presence
For you have made my judgment and my case
You have remained enthroned judging right

ג God, you rebuked the nations
You made violence perish
You have erased their name forever and ever
ד
ה Here the enemy is completed
ruins enduring and cities you have destroyed
Perished is their memory of them

ו Verily, יְהוָה for ever remains
He has put right his throne for justice
And he will govern the world in righteousness
He will make the case for the peoples with equity
and יְהוָה will be secure refuge for the crushed
secure refuge in times in trouble
and they will trust in you knowing your name
for you יְהוָה do not leave those seeking you

ז Zion in Zion where יְהוָה dwells
Let all make music
Make known among the peoples his prodigality
for seeking the lives of those he remembers
He does not forget the cry of the afflicted

ח Have mercy on me יְהוָה, consider my affliction, those despising me
Lift me up from the gates of death
so that I will declare all your songs of praise
in the gates of the daughter of Zion
I will rejoice in your salvation

ט The nations are sunk into the depth they made
in this net they hid their foot is seized
יְהוָה is known
Judgment he makes
In the work of his hands he struck the wicked

Music Selah

י Into their place of the dead the wicked will turn
all nations that forget God
כ Causes of the needy will not always be forgotten
Hope of the poor will not perish for ever

Arise יְהוָה, humanity is not strong
Let the nations be judged in your presence
Put יְהוָה reverence in them
Let the nations know their humanity

Selah

יְהוָה ל LORD why do you stand in the distance
concealing yourself at times of distress?
מ, נ, ס, ע, פ, צ
In pride criminal burns poor
Let them be caught in the purposes that they have valued
For criminal boasted in the desire of his being
and blessed gain by violence that יְהוָה spurns
Criminal looks down his unseeking nose
There is no God in all his purposes

His ways are twisted in all times

High is your judgment, out of his sight
All his foes, he snorts at them
He said in his heart I will not be moved
I am not in trouble from generation to generation
He swears
his mouth full of treachery and oppression
under his tongue mischief and emptiness
He sits lying in wait in the villages hiding places
He kills the innocent
his eyes taking in the hapless secretly
He lies in wait in his covering
like a lion in its lair
He lies in wait to seize the poor
He seizes the poor
He draws him into his net
He crushes
He is collapsed
and he falls pierced by his mighty ones
He said in his heart God has forgotten
He hides his face
He will never see

ק Quash! יְהוָה God
Lift up your hand
He will not forget the poor
Since when does criminal spurn God?
He said in his heart - He will not search

ר Regard you will, for you take notice of trouble and grief to repay by your hand
To you the poor will commit
and the orphan you will help

שׁ Shatter the arm of criminal and evil one and seek out his wickedness till none is found
יְהוָה is king everlasting and for ever
Perished are the nations from his land

ת The desire of the poor you have heard
יְהוָה prepare their heart
You will make your ears hear to judge orphan and the crushed

Humanity that is from the earth will not continue oppression

[Notes:
9:6 God - added for the acrostic, not in the Hebrew, similarly 'verily' in verse 8, and Zion repeated verse 12.
10:1 the lamedh is in the substitution LORD for the tetragrammeton. Hashem or YHWH won't do it in this case.
10:12 quash is chosen for the acrostic, the Hebrew is Arise as at the end of Psalm 9.]

About the world
Psalm --9 ט will govern the world יִשְׁפֹּט תֵּבֵל
Psalm -18 יד world תֵּבֵל
Psalm -24 א a world תֵּבֵל
Psalm -77 יט the world תֵּבֵל
Psalm -89 יב The world תֵּבֵל
Psalm -93 א the world will not slip תֵּבֵל בַּל תִּמּוֹט
Psalm -96 י the world not to be moved תֵּבֵל בַּל תִּמּוֹט
Psalm -96 יג he will judge the world יִשְׁפֹּט תֵּבֵל
Psalm -97 ד the world תֵּבֵל
Psalm -98 ז the world תֵּבֵל
Psalm -98 ט he will judge the world יִשְׁפֹּט תֵּבֵל

Psalm 118 - Bob's Version

This is not a grand book on one Psalm, but is stimulated by this post and because I am interested in discovering the role of the Psalms in the expression of the Gospel. (You can read most of the introduction to the grand book here.)

Give thanks to יְהוָה for good

כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ for his mercy is forever

Let Israel please say for his mercy is forever

Let the house of Aaron please say for his mercy is forever

Let all who fear יְהוָה please say for his mercy is forever

Let all you who read and write - let all please say

for his mercy is forever

This is an inclusive call - what does it mean? What is forever, (literally to the age)? What is this good ci-tov that we are to give thanks for. The same phrase is used 6 times in Genesis 1 and in Psalm 34 - taste and see that יְהוָה is good.

In the distress I called Yah
Yah answered me in a large place
יְהוָה for me - I will not fear
What can a human do to me?

If God is for us, who is against us (Romans 8:31)

יְהוָה is for me with those helping me
and I will see with those hating me
better to seek refuge in יְהוָה than to trust in a human
better to seek refuge in יְהוָה than to trust in princes

All nations encompassed me
in the name of יְהוָה indeed I will have them circumcised
They encompassed me yea encompassed me
In the name of יְהוָה indeed I will have them circumcised
They encompassed me like a swarm of bees
They burned like a fire of thorns
In the name of יְהוָה indeed I will have them circumcised

That's what the text says - don't blame me for the tanins in the wine. Perhaps we might begin to understand circumcision as the type of the death of Jesus (see Colossians 2:11). It is not so much that he needs to win his bride by slaying so many Philistines but that we, his bride, need to find our place on the horns of the altar that is his gift to us.

Pushing you push me to fall but יְהוָה has helped me
Yah is my strength and sentinel and has become to me salvation
A voice of a ringing cry and salvation in the tents of righteous ones

The right hand of יְהוָה making victory
The right hand of יְהוָה exalted
The right hand of יְהוָה making victory
I will not die for I will live and declare the works of Yah

To chasten Yah chastened me but to death he did not give me over
Open to me gates of righteousness
I will go into them
I will praise Yah
This is the gate of יְהוָה
Righteous ones will enter into it

I will praise you for you have answered me and you are to me salvation
A stone the builders rejected becomes the head of the corner
From יְהוָה is this
It is marvelous in our eyes
This is the day יְהוָה made
Rejoice and be glad in it
Now יְהוָה Save Please
Now יְהוָה Send prosperity Please

Blessed is the one coming in the name of יְהוָה
We have blessed you from the house of יְהוָה
יְהוָה is God and will show us light
Bind a sacrifice with the cords even to the horns of the altar
My God you are - I will praise you
My God I will exalt you

Give thanks to יְהוָה for good for his mercy is forever

Of course you could write a book on this psalm. Just consider the extent of the heavily loaded words of covenant in this psalm: mercy, fear, refuge, blessing, salvation, the day. How do we translate even one of them: חַסְדּוֹ XSDV - chesedo - his mercy? It is untranslatable because our tradition cannot find its understanding of the extent of the protection of God's promises in covenant. Perhaps no single word can substitute for the sense of covering, protection, loving kindness, mercy, and completeness contained in this word. How does one word come to have such weight? By repetitive usage over a long period of time in canonical tradition? Not only that - but by the joy of one knowing of the presence of such a God. Perhaps there is a chosen after all - and it is Israel, it is Aaron, it is each and all who fear Yah, it is each who reads and believes, and is blessed, and who loves and walks in the name of יְהוָה, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Commentary on Psalm 1:1-2 BMV

Following the lead of the inimitable JHV from which translation I have benefited so much in the last two years, I am going to critique the BMV translation of Psalm 1 found here - just verses 1 and 2 for the moment. Working from the Hebrew, the LXX and the Vulgate, the BMV attempts to distinguish and capture whole thoughts from the Hebrew text.

1 beatus vir qui non abiit in consilio impiorum
et in via peccatorum non stetit
et in cathedra pestilentiae non sedit
2 sed in lege Domini voluntas eius et
in lege eius meditabitur die ac nocte

1 μακάριος ἀνήρ ὃς οὐκ ἐπορεύθη ἐν βουλῇ ἀσεβῶν
καὶ ἐν ὁδῷ ἁμαρτωλῶν οὐκ ἔστη
καὶ ἐπὶ καθέδραν λοιμῶν οὐκ ἐκάθισεν
2 ἀλλ' ἢ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ κυρίου τὸ θέλημα αὐτοῦ
καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ μελετήσει ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτός

Notice how both the Latin and the Greek preserve the word order of verse 1. So the BMV retains the ancient word order. [Update - I couldn't resist the coloring]

1. Happy! is that one who has not walked in the advice of the wicked

and in the way of the sinners has not stood
and in the seat of the scornful has not sat.

vs 1. The BMV could avoid the traditional word sinner. Compare JHV villain. The form of the word order in this case is easy to reproduce without awkwardness in English. Even in French it works reasonably.

Heureux l`homme qui ne marche pas selon le conseil des méchants,
ou sur la voie des pécheurs ne s`arrête pas,
ou en compagnie des moqueurs ne s`assied pas.

Happy! is an exclamation - an overture of joy, not just a pious blessing. Avoiding the limitations of male nouns and pronouns in English leads to much grief. So BMV translates 'that one' for 'man' in verse 1 but in verse 2, BMV begins to get into trouble using awkward gerunds for the verbs.

2. Case in point: such delight in the teaching of יְהוָה

and in this teaching meditating day and night

Verse 2 is clearly an incomplete thought. This psalm is a statement about the two ways and is extensive with respect to the righteous one, and brief to the point of dismissal of the other path. Verse 2 could begin: Such a one has delight in the teaching of יְהוָה, but BMV was not satisfied with this rendition of the unique pairing of the Hebrew, כִּי אִם in this verse and verse 4. Verse 2 is not a completion of verse 1 but the beginning of something new. The Greek does not imitate this unique Hebraism, neither does the Latin, though the Latin has a nice repetition in verse 4: non sic impii non sic.

Is this Psalm about a male? Verse 1 can of course be seen as anticipating the One who is free of sin, Jesus Christ himself, who is of course male. Is such a one, male or female, happy? Joy, like the goodness of creation (Genesis 1) and the goodness of יְהוָה (Psalm 34) is a matter of faith, not necessarily of sight. How is the joy of the Son completed? (John 15:11, 16:24, 17:13) It is when the saints bind the kings. Such honour is not discovered in the Psalter until Psalm 149, a closing parenthesis to the opening of Psalms 1 and 2. So verse 2 looks forward and is not simply a commentary on verse 1.

The Psalms and the New Testament

David Ker of Lingapotamic fame has posed a question on Psalms in a comment.

I guess my question about the Psalms is with regard to the key theological concepts of the New Testament. Grace, justification, the fruits of the Spirit, love. These all seem to be missing in the Psalms and thus we can't really embrace them as representative of our New Covenant experience. Second, the ideas of community and family seem lacking while nation seems to be overly prominent in ways that I don't know how to appropriate.

There are 7 positives in this question and 1 negative.

Positives:

• Grace, justification, the fruits of the Spirit, love.
• New Covenant experience
• community and family

Negative:

• nation

David closes with a desire to 'appropriate' but a resistance in the same.

I think David has raised a set of very important issues related to Covenant, the Chosen People, Anointing, Experience, and Universality. That he has raised them is also important - for he represents North American New Testament Evangelism in Africa as a translator. More particularly, he represents his own uniqueness in this field as wit and poet, and a graduate in Creative Literature rather than Theology.

I think there is sufficient depth to the Psalms that addresses every one of his feelings of what is lacking in the positives and also what is positive in his negative concern.

As a brief introduction in reverse order:

• Nation - raises the scandal of particularity and the danger of parochialism, both issues must be faced by the nation and by those who are not of the nation.
• Community and family - the Psalms embrace all peoples (e.g. 149) as do the prophets yet their story is of a particular 'family' (104-106).
  
• New Covenant experience - raises the question of jealousy. Has Abel killed Cain? (139 for experience).
  
• Grace, justification, the fruits of the Spirit, love. God initiates - this is grace (6,38,143), God is justified (51), the Spirit is manifest in the Anointed (2,16,18,69), and love of instruction (1,19,119) breathes the oil that flows down on the beard and collar of the clothing (133).

This is only a beginning of how we Gentiles might begin to better embrace the depth of the riches of the material we have appropriated or failed to appropriate appropriately that is contained and implied in the Psalter on its own and in the way it is used in the New Testament.

I would welcome other author's posts on this subject and the incompleteness of Christian formation that the questions raise. Equally I would welcome posts that challenge completeness in TNK as if love of God were exclusive to the NT. (Note the chiasm T-N-K-N-T - the Psalms are encircled!)

End of Holidays

Back in Victoria now - wondering what to do next with the Psalms. Phil's comments here say to me that a lot of people don't know what a treasure they have in these words.

So how do we get the message?

I will likely continue to look for end-to-end structures as I try and make my raw translations more readable.

My response to David's question below is here.

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.

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?

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		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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 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

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

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

Am I too Loud?

This blog's recent wordle profile has some curious shouting. ... or is it that I know someone named Will?

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

For the leader, A Psalm Of David

Deliver me יְהוָה from human evil
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 lips

Selah

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

Selah

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

Selah

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 141

A Psalm Of David

יְהוָה I cry to you Hurry to me
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 escape

Psalm 142

An insight Of David when he was in the cave

A prayer

My voice to יְהוָה I will call
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

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.

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.

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.

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