TheBibleNet: Psalm 11

Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41

Bk 2: 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72

Bk 3: 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89

Bk 4: 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106

Bk 5: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119a 119b 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132
133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150

Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles

Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language

11:1 LA MENATSE'ACH LE DAVID BA YHVH CHASIYTI EYCH TOMRU LE NAPHSHI NUDU HARCHEM TSIPOR

לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְדָוִד בַּיהוָה חָסִיתִי אֵיךְ תֹּאמְרוּ לְנַפְשִׁי נוּדוּ הַרְכֶם צִפּוֹר

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?

BN: For the Leader of the Orchestra. To David. {N} I have taken refuge in YHVH. How to express this to my soul? Go wandering in the mountains, you birds.

LA MENATSE'ACH: The leader - but of what is not stated - strings, choir? - so I am presuming that it is the Artistic Director himself, the big chief.

The N here is probably just the indication that the first part is the title, and that the Psalm begins after it; really the verses that follow should be numbered one forward, which the KJ generally does, but has not on this occasion. The original Yehudit text did not come in numbered verses anyway.

I have to confess (this is religious liturgy after all; confession is expected) that I really like the imagery of this verse: YHVH as a refuge was described in a previous Psalm as being like a rock in the high mountains (MISGAV, in Psalm 9:10), precisely the place where the birds go wandering, and the adventurous travellers too, seeking the Immaculate Failure at the highest peak.

11:2 KI HINEH HA RESHA'IM YIDRECHUN KESHET KONENU CHITSAM AL YETER LIYROT BE MO OPHEL LE YISHREY LEV

כִּי הִנֵּה הָרְשָׁעִים יִדְרְכוּן קֶשֶׁת כּוֹנְנוּ חִצָּם עַל יֶתֶר לִירוֹת בְּמוֹ אֹפֶל לְיִשְׁרֵי לֵב

KJ: For, lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart.

BN: For - watch and you will see - the wicked bend the bow; they already have their arrow nocked upon the string, {N} that they may shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.

KONENU...YETER: "Nock", apparently, is the technical name for the place where the arrow gets placed on the bow; and a verb too: "nocking" - click here. (Does that mean a "knocking shop" should really be a "nocking shop" - or does the k only apply when the arrows are not fired by Cupid?).

Why the {N} here?

OPHEL: certain words when they appear cannot just be taken for granted; this is one such. Not stated, but by word association, the hill of Ophel in Yeru-Shala'im...

11:3 KI HA SHATOT YEHARESUN TSADIK MAH PA'AL

כִּי הַשָּׁתוֹת יֵהָרֵסוּן צַדִּיק מַה פָּעָל

KJ: If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?

BN: When the pillars are torn down, what can the righteous hope to accomplish?

SHATOT: Previously we had YESOD for "foundation". Shatot, when they are not buttocks, are the "pillars" of society, which is why the word is used for "princes" and "nobles"; though SHET is also the name of the Underworld god in Egyptian mythology, the third son of Adam and Chavah in the Biblical.

PA'AL: Two words for "work" in Yehudit: AVODAH and PE'ULAH. The latter, the one in use here, is any sort of "action", which is why the complex verb structures are known by the variant forms of the root: click here.

11:4 YHVH BE HEYCHAL KADSHO YHVH BA SHAMAYIM KIS'O EYNAV YECHEZU APH'APAV YIVCHANU BENEY ADAM

יְהוָה בְּהֵיכַל קָדְשׁוֹ יְהוָה בַּשָּׁמַיִם כִּסְאוֹ עֵינָיו יֶחֱזוּ עַפְעַפָּיו יִבְחֲנוּ בְּנֵי אָדָם

KJ: The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD'S throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.

BN: YHVH is in his holy Temple. The throne of YHVH is in the heavens. {N} His eyes behold, his eyelids inspect, the human race.

Why the N?

YECHEZU: In the last Psalm we noted the difference between looking, seeing and paying serious attention. Now a fourth verb is used, and it is even stronger, yielding the CHOZEH, which is a seer or a prophet - though this latter is not the same as a Prophet with an upper case P: that would be a NAVI. This is one who sees rather more deeply than ordinary folk, or one who has "seen the face of YHVH". In the Book of Daniel it reverts to its Aramaic sense, of a vision seen in dream.

APHAPAV: Should that not be APHAPHAV? Or is it another of those clever-clever words, like the colour words Yerakrak etc (for which see various parts of Leviticus 13)?

11:5 YHVH TSADIK YIVCHAN VE RASH'A VE OHEV CHAMAS SAN'AH NAPHSHO

יְהוָה צַדִּיק יִבְחָן וְרָשָׁע וְאֹהֵב חָמָס שָׂנְאָה נַפְשׁוֹ

KJ: The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.

BN: YHVH tests the righteous; but the wicked, and he who loves violence, his soul hates.

YIVCHAN: I rendered it as "inspect" at verse 4. When they monitor the progress of the kids in school, it's either an "examination" or a "test"; when they check up on the school itself, it's an "inspection". I think they are synonymous.

CHAMAS: Yes, you were correct when you thought you recognised the word. It means - what a surprise! - "violence" and "destruction", though the word they prefer in their own translation of their own website, is "obliteration".

NAPHSHO: I do like the idea that the deity has a soul too.

11:6 YAMTER AL RESHA'IM PACHIM ESH VE GAPHRIT VE RU'ACH ZIL'APHOT MENAT KOSAM

יַמְטֵר עַל רְשָׁעִים פַּחִים אֵשׁ וְגָפְרִית וְרוּחַ זִלְעָפוֹת מְנָת כּוֹסָם

KJ: Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

BN: He will cause it to rain coal on the wicked; fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the beverage that fills their cup.

Imagery that takes us back to Lot at Sedom (Genesis 19) and Mosheh en route to watching the volcanic eruption of Mount Chorev (Exodus 13:21).

MENAT KOSAM: as opposed to MANAT KOSI, "my cup", which will be familiar to singers of "Adon Olam" (don't switch off the link until at least 1 minute 41! but 2:33 gets even better!).

11:7 KI TSADIK YHVH TSEDAKOT AHEV YASHAR YECHEZU PHANEYMO

כִּי צַדִּיק יְהוָה צְדָקוֹת אָהֵב יָשָׁר יֶחֱזוּ פָנֵימוֹ

KJ: For the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright.

BN: For YHVH is righteous. He loves righteousness. The upright shall see his face. {P}

YECHEZU: See my note at verse 4.

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Psalms:

Bk 1: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41