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
Once again KJ has merged the title and the opening verse, so that their verse 1 will appear in two parts here; I have adjusted the numbers throughout accordingly.
12:1 LA MENATSE'ACH AL HA SHEMIYNIT MIZMOR LE DAVID
לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל הַשְּׁמִינִית מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד
BN: For the Leader of the orchestra and choir. A Psalm to David.
LA MENATSE'ACH: I have translated it here as "orchestra and choir", without any grounds for doing so, but confident that the overall artistic director is bound to have taken some role in conducting whichever smaller section it really was, so I may not be right, but at least I cannot be completely wrong!
AL HA SHEMIYNIT: We encountered the Shemiynit once before, in Psalm 6, and wondered then: is it an 8th day festival, like Shemini Atseret, or is it a musical tempo, 8-time, or a musical rhythm, driven by drum-beats, or even a musical instrument itself? The conclusion then was that it was the first of these, though that fact did not preclude it from also being the second and/or third; the evidence from this text may be helpful in back-reference.
Checking back on my notes and translation at Psalm 6, I am struck that I have failed to translate the definite article on either occasion. HA SHEMIYNIT: "the" eighth. I don't think it adds to, or reduces, the lack of understanding, but it is there, and needs to be part of the consideration.
12:2 HOSHI'AH YHVH KI GAMAR CHASID KI PHASU EMUNIM MI BENEY ADAM
הוֹשִׁיעָה יְהוָה כִּי גָמַר חָסִיד כִּי פַסּוּ אֱמוּנִים מִבְּנֵי אָדָם
KJ (12:1): Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
BN: Save me, YHVH. For there are no pious men left. For the truth-tellers have vanished from the human race.
Triplets again, but this time each one longer than the last. I can easily imagine a trumpeted orchestration announcing each part. Teru'ah. Shevarim. Tekiyah. But I have no evidence to support this fancy.
HOSHI'AH: The root-word that gives us Yehoshu'a and Jesus and Yesha-Yah (Isaiah) and the word Messiah, which is not the same as the word Mashiyach. See the links.
12:3 SHAV YEDABRU ISH ET RE'EHU SEPHAT CHALAKOT BE LEV VA LEV YEDABERU
שָׁוְא יְדַבְּרוּ אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ שְׂפַת חֲלָקוֹת בְּלֵב וָלֵב יְדַבֵּרוּ
KJ (12:2): They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
BN: Every man speaks lies and shares gossip with his neighbour; with flattering lips, heart-to-heart, so do they speak.
What a gorgeous construction that verse is! I like the KJ's "double-heart" especially; much more than the "two-face" which we would say today. Though actually it isn't a correct translation: BE LEV VA LEV really means ""heart-to-heart", exactly as we use the phrase today, and it picks up from the last Psalm that man who kneels and blesses hypocritically, apparently sincere, but not actually believing a word of it. Munafiqun in the Moslem world.
SHAV: Really means "emptiness", and describes the sort of conversations that get overstated (MEDABERET GEDOLOT in verse 4) as "dialogue" in soap operas. Yes, it is people exchanging words, but they are empty words, devoid of any purpose beyond establishing a very basic human contact. If I have gone further, and insinuated something even more tabloid, it is because that tongue (LASHON), once it has the word RA added, as is the insinuation here, becomes both lies and gossip, LOSHUN HORROR as it gets so perfectly mispronounced in Yiddish - click here.
What a gorgeous construction that verse is! I like the KJ's "double-heart" especially; much more than the "two-face" which we would say today. Though actually it isn't a correct translation: BE LEV VA LEV really means ""heart-to-heart", exactly as we use the phrase today, and it picks up from the last Psalm that man who kneels and blesses hypocritically, apparently sincere, but not actually believing a word of it. Munafiqun in the Moslem world.
SHAV: Really means "emptiness", and describes the sort of conversations that get overstated (MEDABERET GEDOLOT in verse 4) as "dialogue" in soap operas. Yes, it is people exchanging words, but they are empty words, devoid of any purpose beyond establishing a very basic human contact. If I have gone further, and insinuated something even more tabloid, it is because that tongue (LASHON), once it has the word RA added, as is the insinuation here, becomes both lies and gossip, LOSHUN HORROR as it gets so perfectly mispronounced in Yiddish - click here.
12:4 YACHRET YHVH KOL SIPHTEY CHALAKOT LASHON MEDABERET GEDOLOT
יַכְרֵת יְהוָה כָּל שִׂפְתֵי חֲלָקוֹת לָשׁוֹן מְדַבֶּרֶת גְּדֹלוֹת
KJ (12:3): The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things:
BN: May YHVH cut off all flattering lips, and tongues that overspeak themselves!
12:5 ASHER AMRU LIL'SHONENU NAGBIR SEPHATEYNU ITANU MI ADON LANU
12:5 ASHER AMRU LIL'SHONENU NAGBIR SEPHATEYNU ITANU MI ADON LANU
אֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּ לִלְשֹׁנֵנוּ נַגְבִּיר שְׂפָתֵינוּ אִתָּנוּ מִי אָדוֹן לָנוּ
BN: Those who have said: "Our tongues will make us powerful; our lips are on our side. Who could possibly lord it over us?"
LIL'SHONENU...: The power of "Woke" and "Cancel Culture", the power of "Political Correctness" and puritanical censorship. We who shout our belief loud enough will bully the rest of you into silence and complicity.
This note is here because this is when it occurred to me: that it seems as if there is never enjambment or ellision between verses, that every verse is a complete statement, integral to itself, never continuing or a continuation. Is that correct? And if so, in some, or in all these poems and songs (or is it specific to certain forms and genres)?
12:6 MI SHOD ANIY'IYM ME ANKAT EVYONIM ATAH AKUM YOMAR YHVH ASHIT BE YESH'A YAPHIYACH LO
מִשֹּׁד עֲנִיִּים מֵאַנְקַת אֶבְיוֹנִים עַתָּה אָקוּם יֹאמַר יְהוָה אָשִׁית בְּיֵשַׁע יָפִיחַ לוֹ
KJ (12:5): For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him.
BN: "For the oppression of the poor, and the groaning of the needy, {N} I will now arise", says YHVH. "I will save him who they are trying to blow away."
SHOD: See the link. Enough to say here that "oppression" is not incorrect, but that it barely touches the bruises.
SHOD: See the link. Enough to say here that "oppression" is not incorrect, but that it barely touches the bruises.
ANIYIM: I have questioned KJ's translation of this word as "humble" on at least two occasions, insisting that it means "the poor"; and now, this time, KJ agrees.
YESH'A: connects back to HOSHI'AH in verse 2.
YAPHIYACH LO: Didn't we have "puff" in the last Psalm as well? Not sure I like "puff" as a translation, especially because the magic dragon is not one of YHVH's celestial symbols (she belongs to the primordial goddess, Tiamat, Nechushtan, Liv-Yatan...). And anyway, "puff" is achieved with the lips, but the breath comes from the throat and through the mouth, which are precisely the weapons described in the previous verses. When YHVH blows them away, it will be through the APH, because YHVH always uses his nose to breathe in and out when he is angry, as he is now.
12:7 IMAROT YHVH AMAROT TEHOROT KESEPH TSARUPH BA ALIL LA ARETS MEZUKAK SHIV'ATAYIM
אִמֲרוֹת יְהוָה אֲמָרוֹת טְהֹרוֹת כֶּסֶף צָרוּף בַּעֲלִיל לָאָרֶץ מְזֻקָּק שִׁבְעָתָיִם
KJ (12:6): The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
BN: The words of YHVH are pure words, {N} like silver tested in a crucible on the earth, refined seven times.
IMAROT...AMAROT: Musical games, I suspect, rather than meaning-games.
IMAROT...AMAROT: Musical games, I suspect, rather than meaning-games.
ALIL: Whereas this is definitely meaning-play. An ALIL is a workshop for any of the crafts and trades, so a forge or a furnace, a kiln or a crucible, as you prefer. But ALILYLOT (עלילות) are the very deeds performed by humans, as in Psalm 14:1, or by YHVH himself, here and in Psalms 66:5 and 77:13 (77:12 in some versions).
SHIV'ATAYIM: What other number could it be for YHVH? But is this simply seven times, or seven times seven times? The difference between Kayin and Lamech: punishment or revenge, murder or manslaughter?
12:8 ATAH YHVH TISHMEREM TITSRENU MIN HA DOR ZU LE OLAM
אַתָּה יְהוָה תִּשְׁמְרֵם תִּצְּרֶנּוּ מִן הַדּוֹר זוּ לְעוֹלָם
KJ (12:7): Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.
BN: You will protect them, YHVH. You will protect us against this generation, and for ever.
TITSRENU: Still more punning, and this one hugely rich and sophisticatedly complex. The root is TSUR, which probably meant an "edge" in its original usage, but that developed in several ways: the edge of the knife (Exodus 4:25, though that may have been a flint rather than a bronze knife; Joshua 5:2 might be better) or sword (Psalm 89:44) gave it all sorts of killing connections, the sharp edges turned it into rocks (Ezekiel 3:9) and stones (Isaiah 5:28); and the larger ones of those became whole mountains. The town of Tyre in the Lebanon is Tsur in both Phoenician and Yehudit, and means "a stronghold", because a stronghold is rock-like against the enemy; and in the Tanach "Tsur Yisra-El", "the rock of Israel" became an epithet for YHVH himself (Deuteronomy 32:37, Isaiah 30:29).
TITSRENU: Still more punning, and this one hugely rich and sophisticatedly complex. The root is TSUR, which probably meant an "edge" in its original usage, but that developed in several ways: the edge of the knife (Exodus 4:25, though that may have been a flint rather than a bronze knife; Joshua 5:2 might be better) or sword (Psalm 89:44) gave it all sorts of killing connections, the sharp edges turned it into rocks (Ezekiel 3:9) and stones (Isaiah 5:28); and the larger ones of those became whole mountains. The town of Tyre in the Lebanon is Tsur in both Phoenician and Yehudit, and means "a stronghold", because a stronghold is rock-like against the enemy; and in the Tanach "Tsur Yisra-El", "the rock of Israel" became an epithet for YHVH himself (Deuteronomy 32:37, Isaiah 30:29).
But we have also seen it (Psalm 4:2), and will again, repeatedly, as TSORERIM, which are "afflictions", probably unconnected with the root, but available for word-play, and spelled identically.
And then there is TSERU-YAH, who is described as a daughter of Yeshu (David's father) in 1 Samuel 26:6, 2 Samuel 2:13 and 1 Chronicles 2:16. A daughter of the Earth-god named for the "terrible sorrows" of the mother-goddess (Yah, the second part of her name), takes us right to Calvary, and Mother Mary lamenting like Ishtar at the winnowing of Jesus-Tammuz (cf Ezekiel 8:14), while 1 Samuel 1:6 makes clear that she is in fact, still mythologically, the female equivalent of ha-Satan, the "adversary" (which is precisely how the serpents of my note to verse 6 came to be the wicked creatures of Eden when the matriarchy was subordinated to the patriarchy in the epoch of the Omnideity).
And speaking of roots, a NETSER is precisely that, "root" or "branch", and Yesha-Yah tells us (Isaiah 11:1) that the Saviour of Yisra-El will come from a "branch of the stump of Yeshu", which Christians write as a "branch of Jesse", and then, in the very earliest days anyway, used it for their own designation: Notsrim, or Christians.
12:9 SAVIV RESHA'IM YIT'HALCHUN KERUM ZULUT LIVNEY ADAM
12:9 SAVIV RESHA'IM YIT'HALCHUN KERUM ZULUT LIVNEY ADAM
סָבִיב רְשָׁעִים יִתְהַלָּכוּן כְּרֻם זֻלּוּת לִבְנֵי אָדָם
KJ (12:8): The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
BN: The wicked can be found walking everywhere, when vileness is exalted among the sons of men. {P}
YIT'HALCHUN: A late grammatical construction I believe. Normally we would not expect the Hitpa'el (reflexive), and within the Hitpa'el we would not expect that final Nun (ן), which effectively renders it a gerund (or do I mean gerundive? click here).
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
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