TheBibleNet: Psalm 14

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

14:1 LA MENATSE'ACH LE DAVID AMAR NAVAL BE LIBO EYN ELOHIM HISHCHIYTU HIT'IYVU ALIYLAH EYN OSEH TOV

לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְדָוִד אָמַר נָבָל בְּלִבּוֹ אֵין אֱלֹהִים הִשְׁחִיתוּ הִתְעִיבוּ עֲלִילָה אֵין עֹשֵׂה טוֹב

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.

BN (BibleNet translation): For the Leader. To David. {N} The fool has said in his heart: "There are no gods". {N} So they act corruptly, they behave abominably. There is no one doing good.

Is this a very long title, or should it be broken into two parts, title and first verse? Was Dostoievski thinking of it when he wrote, in "The Brothers Karamazov", that "God is dead; everything is permitted"?

NAVAL: Anyone who knows David's story, as told in the Book of Samuel, hears the word NAVAL, and thinks of Avi-Gayil (Abigail) his second wife, the woman of his bandit years when Sha'ul was remorselessly pursuing him; her husband was named Naval - the story is told in 1 Samuel 25. But does this Psalm have anything to do with that tale, or is the repetition of the name purely coincidence (who, after all, names their child NAVAL, which means "foolish one")?

ELOHIM: This has to be translated in the plural, here, and later in the Psalm. These are the full polytheon of the Elohim, not the Omnideity YHVH.

EYN OSEH TOV: Again and again we return to the negative misanthropy of these Psalms, exactly as we do throughout the books of the Prophets. If it's bad, it must be human; if it's good, it must be YHVH. And with such a message, such a bashing of the self-esteem, what possible chance is there that humans will rise above the bad and want to achieve the sort of good that other humans will then praise? This, this, is the ultimate calumny of all religions. (No, I cannot allow that closing phrase, which is itself a negative. My statement requires a positive. So: this, this is the ultimate challenge of all forms of Humanism).

14:2 YHVH MI SHAMAYIM HISHKIPH AL BENEY ADAM LIR'OT HA YESH MASKIL DORESH ET ELOHIM

יְהוָה מִשָּׁמַיִם הִשְׁקִיף עַל בְּנֵי אָדָם לִרְאוֹת הֲיֵשׁ מַשְׂכִּיל דֹּרֵשׁ אֶת אֱלֹהִים

KJ: The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.

BN: YHVH looked down from the heavens on the human race, {N} to see if there was a single man of understanding, one who was seeking after the gods.

14:3 HA KOL SAR YACHDAV NE'ELACHU EYN OSEH TOV EYN GAM ECHAD

הַכֹּל סָר יַחְדָּו נֶאֱלָחוּ אֵין עֹשֵׂה טוֹב אֵין גַּם אֶחָד

KJ: They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there isnone that doeth good, no, not one.

BN: But no, every one of them has become corrupt, the entire lot of them has turned to sin. Not one amongst them does good. Not a single one.

14:4 HA LO YAD'U KOL PO'ALEY AVEN OCHLEY AMI ACHLU LECHEM YHVH LO KAR'U

הֲלֹא יָדְעוּ כָּל פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן אֹכְלֵי עַמִּי אָכְלוּ לֶחֶם יְהוָה לֹא קָרָאוּ

KJ: Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.

BN: Do they not know, these agents of iniquity who devour my people in the same way that they eat bread, do they not know how to call on YHVH?

14:5 SHAM PACHADU PACHAD KI ELOHIM BE DOR TSADIK

שָׁם פָּחֲדוּ פָחַד כִּי אֱלֹהִים בְּדוֹר צַדִּיק

KJ: There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.

BN: There they even feared fear; but the gods are there for a righteous generation.

14:6 ATSAT ANI TAVIYSHU KI YHVH MACHSEHU

עֲצַת עָנִי תָבִישׁוּ כִּי יְהוָה מַחְסֵהוּ

KJ: Ye have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.

BN: You would put to shame the counsel of the poor, but YHVH is that poor man's refuge.

Constantly shifting between YHVH and Elohim, but in a manner that allows the negatives to go towards the Elohim, but all of the positives to emanate from YHVH. So we can put a very late date on this Psalm - not earlier than Ezra, and probably as late as the Hasmoneans.

14:7 MI YITEN MI TSI'ON YESHU'AT YISRA-EL BE SHUV YHVH SHEVUT AMO YAGEL YA'AKOV YISMACH YISRA-EL

מִי יִתֵּן מִצִּיּוֹן יְשׁוּעַת יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּשׁוּב יְהוָה שְׁבוּת עַמּוֹ יָגֵל יַעֲקֹב יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל

KJ: Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

BN: Who will bring the salvation of Yisra-El from Tsi'on?{N} When YHVH returns, his people too will return. Then Ya'akov will rejoice, and Yisra-El will be contented. {P}

MI: Has two forms, one of them the question-word "who", the other the preposition "from"; both are in use here.

I can only say that I do not understand where KJ got its translation for this verse from.

Two last notes before moving on: first, that Choral Ode Theory reckons that Psalm 14 repeats as Psalm 53; click on the link to undertake your own comparison. Second, that Psalm 14 is one of the Psalms of the Day in contemporary liturgy. The full list is:

Day One (Sunday) Psalm 24

Day Two (Monday) Psalm 14 (or 48 - see my notes at Psalm 82)

Day Three (Tuesday) Psalm 82

Day Four (Wednesday) Psalm 94:1-95:3

Day Five (Thursday) Psalm 81

Day Six (Friday) Psalm 93

Day Six (Saturday) Psalm 92

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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