TheBibleNet: Psalm 24

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

The Septuagint entitles Psalm 24 "tes mias sabbaton", which may be slightly misleading, as "sabbaton" indicates the sabbath, but in fact the Psalm has always been sung on "the first day of the week", which is Sunday, which is also the Sabbath, but only in the Christian world, and the Septuagint predates the Christian world by three hundred and more years. The full list of daily Psalms 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 Seven (Saturday) Psalm 92

24:1 LE DAVID MIZMOR LA YHVH HA ARETS U MELO'AH TEVEL VE YOSHVEY VAH

לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר לַיהוָה הָאָרֶץ וּמְלוֹאָהּ תֵּבֵל וְיֹשְׁבֵי בָהּ

KJ (King James translation): (A Psalm of David.) The earth is the LORD'S, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.

BN (BibleNet translation): A Psalm for David. {N} The Earth belongs to YHVH, with all its produce; the world, and all who inhabit it.

My comments in previous chapters may appear to have been critical of the KJ translators, for sometimes merging the opening verse with the title, but then, at other times, not. But the truth is, it isn't really their fault, because the Yehudit text is likewise unable to make up its mind which way to do this, and yet again here we have the merger in the original, and therefore in the translation. Is it perhaps because, what we think of as a book, a single volume in a single mode and style, by a single author, or at least a single editor, is in fact just an anthology of loosely connected pieces, gathered in the form, and the order, in which they happened to be collected? But if so, my theory of plotology (a narrative continuum in which an actual logical chain of events can be detected), stated in the notes to the last chapter, cannot also be correct.

And if the polotology hypothesis is correct, then, two Psalms ago, Earth emerged into the light of dawn; last Psalm it was celebrated; and here its fruit and grains begin to open to the rising sun. The celebration of Creation. Maybe you can, after all, arrange a random collection of pieces into a deliberately structured anthology, and thereby superimpose form and with it dogma.

24:2 KI HU AL YAMIM YESADAH VE AL NEHAROT YECHONENAH

כִּי הוּא עַל יַמִּים יְסָדָהּ וְעַל נְהָרוֹת יְכוֹנְנֶהָ

KJ: For he hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.

BN: For he founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.

As with Genesis 1, the recognition that all life began in the oceans, after dry land had emerged from the elemental chaos. They understood rather more science than we give them credit for, these ancients; they just used different forms of language to express it.

YAMIM: There is also a word-play taking place here, because of course YAMIM are also "days" - so we have both the M and the C of E=MC2, coexistant in the same - dare I say "formula"? - for the Yehudit as well.

24:3 MI YA'ALEH VE HAR YHVH U MI YAKUM BI MEKOM KADSHO

מִי יַעֲלֶה בְהַר יְהוָה וּמִי יָקוּם בִּמְקוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ

KJ: Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place?

BN: Who shall climb up to the mountain of YHVH ? And who shall stand in his holy place?

The proto-Jewish Valhalla or Olympus - but where is it? In the Mosaic tales, Chorev (Horeb), the Mont Blanc of the Sinai Alps. But David was never in his life within a hundred miles of that, if it was Egyptian Chorev, as many believe, in the proximity of today's Sharm el-Shekih. If it was Midyanite Chorev, on the edge of the Nefud, then he went geographically near, but only that - the volcano erupted milennia before, leaving only the Dead Sea in its crater. Logic says that it was Tsi'on, but only because David made it his capital; it certainly wasn't, before then; and anyway the "holy place" was Shelomoh's achievement, not David's; so was this written later, and ...

But there is an answer to the actual question posed in the verse itself, regardless of where the holy mountain was located, and it adds weight to the plotology hypothesis. When a new Emperor was crowned in ancient China, his first act was to go to Shandong province, to Mount Laoshan, and to climb to its summit, the highest point in his realm and therefore the closest to the gods, so that he could personally thank the gods for choosing him, and dedicate himself formally to their service. So we know that Mosheh did the same on Mount Chorev. So we can imagine Shelomoh doing the same on Mount Tsi'on.

But there is also more than this: a universal statement as well as a specific one, as we will see in the next verse.

24:4 NEKI CHAPAYIM U VAR LEVAV ASHER LO NASA LA SHAV NAPHSHI VE LO NISHB'A LE MIRMAH

נְקִי כַפַּיִם וּבַר לֵבָב אֲשֶׁר לֹא נָשָׂא לַשָּׁוְא נַפְשִׁי וְלֹא נִשְׁבַּע לְמִרְמָה

KJ: He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.

BN (provisional translation): He who has clean hands and a pure heart; {N} who has not taken my name in vain, and has not sworn deceitfully.

LO NASA LA SHAV NAPHSHI: We are all brought up on that phrase "you shall not take the name of the Lord in vain"; but if this is the source, rather than Exodus 20:6, then that isn't what it actually says! The text there says:

20:6 LO TISA ET SHEM YHVH ELOHEYCHA LA SHAV KI LO YENAKEH YHVH ET ASHER YISA ET SHEMO LA SHAV

לֹא תִשָּׂא אֶת שֵׁם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לַשָּׁוְא כִּי לֹא יְנַקֶּה יְהוָה אֵת אֲשֶׁר יִשָּׂא אֶת שְׁמוֹ לַשָּׁוְא

KJ (20:7): Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

BN: "You shall not take YHVH's name in vain; for YHVH will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain...

and the difference is in a single word, SHEM there being replaced by NAPHSHI here - the Name in the former, the Spirit in the latter.

And it is definitely NAPHSHI, not NAPHSHO - YHVH's spirit, not his own - so the KJ translation is also incorrect.

BN (revised translation): He who has clean hands and a pure heart; {N} who has not abused my spirit, by swearing an oath that he had no intention of fulfilling.

24:5 YISA VERACHAH ME ET YHVH U TSEDAKAH ME ELOHEY YISH'U

יִשָּׂא בְרָכָה מֵאֵת יְהוָה וּצְדָקָה מֵאֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעוֹ

KJ: He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

BN: He shall receive a blessing from YHVH, and righteousness from the gods of his salvation.

ELOHEY: Yes, once more the polytheon, perhaps First Ministered by YHVH, but still seated at the Cabinet table in Valhalla, or Olympus, Chorev, Tsi'on...

24:6 ZEH DOR DORSHO MEVAKSHEY PHANEYCHA YA'AKOV (SELAH)

זֶה דּוֹר דֹּרְשׁוֹ מְבַקְשֵׁי פָנֶיךָ יַעֲקֹב סֶלָה

KJ: This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.

BN: This is the generation of those who seek him, who yearn to see your face, Ya'akov. (Selah)

YA'AKOV as a god! Confirming that all those Torah tales were not history, but polytheistic mythology. We knew - see my commentaries - but it takes verses like this one to set aside the residual doubts and reservations. This is unequivocal.

24:7 SE'U SHE'ARIM RA'SHEYCHEM VE HINAS'U PIT'CHEY OLAM VE YAV'O MELECH HA KAVOD

שְׂאוּ שְׁעָרִים רָאשֵׁיכֶם וְהִנָּשְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵי עוֹלָם וְיָבוֹא מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד

KJ: Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

BN: Lift up your heads, you gates, and be lifted up, you everlasting doors; {N} that the King of Glory may come in.

MELECH HA KAVOD: Meaning who? YHVH now? The earthly king now? The future Moshi'a, or the future Mashiyach? The answer lies in the next verse.

Once again I find myself hearing echoes of the Egyptians tales, not the Am-Tuat this time, but its echo-text, "The Book of Gates", in which the sun-god, in his manifestation as Osher (Osiris), journeys through the Twelve Divisions of the Underworld, passing gate by described-in-detail gate, in order to reach the restored Earth in the morning. Even the phrase MELECH HA KAVOD, "the King of Glory", mirrors the phrase used there.

And if it is not that, if it is not poetical metaphor, please explain to me how gates and doors can lift their heads up.

24:8 MI ZEH MELECH HA KAVOD YHVH IZUZ VE GIBOR YHVH GIBOR MILCHAMAH

מִי זֶה מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד יְהוָה עִזּוּז וְגִבּוֹר יְהוָה גִּבּוֹר מִלְחָמָה

KJ: Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle.

BN: Who is the King of Glory? {N} YHVH the strong and mighty, the hero in battle.

24:9 SE'U SHE'ARIM RA'SHEYCHEM U SE'U PIT'CHEY OLAM VE YAV'O MELECH HA KAVOD

שְׂאוּ שְׁעָרִים רָאשֵׁיכֶם וּשְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵי עוֹלָם וְיָבֹא מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד

KJ: Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.

BN: Lift up your heads, you gates, and lift up the everlasting doors, {N} that the King of Glory may come in.

Have I accidentally put verse 7 and 8 in twice? Or does it really refrain? And if it does, then, wow, just like the pop songs!

But actually, no, they are not identical. In verse 7 SE'U and then HINAS'U, which is a transition of meaning conveyed by shifting the verb between the passive and the active; but in verse 9 it is SE'U on both occasions. No major problem there, just an oddity, and possibly an error. But verse 7 has VE YAVO (וְיָבוֹא) with a Vav functioning as a vowel, where verse 9 has VE YAVO (וְיָבֹא) without it: same word, same meaning, just a different decision about vocalisation by the Masoretic scribe. Why? Sloppiness, probably.

24:10 MI HU ZEH MELECH HA KAVOD YHVH TSEVA'OT HU MELECH HA KAVOD SELAH

מִי הוּא זֶה מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת הוּא מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד סֶלָה

KJ: Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.

BN: Who then is he, this King of Glory? {N} YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, he is the King of Glory. (Selah) {P}

And the same applies to verses 8 and 10, which at first look and sound identical, but are not. Verse 8 has MI ZEH MELECH, but verse 10 adds HU, making the phrase rather more deeply emphasised; and the second half of each verse is entirely different.

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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