TheBibleNet: Psalm 26

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

26:1 LE DAVID SHAPHTENI YHVH KI ANI BE TUMI HALACHTI U VA YHVH BATACHTI LO EM'AD

לְדָוִד שָׁפְטֵנִי יְהוָה כִּי אֲנִי בְּתֻמִּי הָלַכְתִּי וּבַיהוָה בָּטַחְתִּי לֹא אֶמְעָד

KJ (King James translation): (A Psalm of David.) Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.

BN: For David. Pronounce my sentence, YHVH, for I have chosen my path with integrity, {N} and I have placed my trusted unwaveringly in YHVH.

Our now-standard question returns and returns. Once again the incomplete descriptor; once again the title which may not be a title, but the opening verse... the answer on this occasion appears to be: there is no title: just the dedication, and then straight into the opening line.

SHAPHTENI: Some translators render this as "vindicate me" or even "acquit me", but that is not the meaning of the word: the MISHPAT is indeed the judge's verdict, but which way it goes is not automatically determined. Obviously he wants vindication or acquittal, but he is not making a case for it, but simply asking to be tried. The same again in the next verse with BECHANENI. A MIVCHAN is an examination, of the sort taken by students.

26:2 BECHANENI YHVH VE NASENI TSEROPHAH CHILYOTAI VE LIBI

בְּחָנֵנִי יְהוָה וְנַסֵּנִי צְרוֹפָה כִלְיוֹתַי וְלִבִּי

KJ: Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

BN: Examine me, O LORD, and try me; test my reins and my heart.

BECHANENI: Paralleling SHAPHTENI at the start of the previous verse (and confirming thereby that it was the start, and the dedication to be treated separately).

CHILYOTAI: Reins? Is he a horse? A camel? Or simply metaphorical: the reins are the means by which obedience and control are imposed on a serving beast.

LIBI: My customary note. Cf John Donne's "naked, thinking heart".

26:3 KI CHASDECHA LE NEGED EYNAI VE HIT'HALACHTI BA AMITECHA

כִּי חַסְדְּךָ לְנֶגֶד עֵינָי וְהִתְהַלַּכְתִּי בַּאֲמִתֶּךָ

KJ: For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.

BN: For your mercy is right there before my eyes; and I have walked in your truth.

HIT'HALACHTI: Interesting to see this in the Hit'pa'el, rather than the Pa'al - reflective rather than simple active. Much discussion in several of the earlier Psalms about the difference between teaching and educating; on every occasion the Psalmist comes out on the side of education, because teaching, for the student, is simply passive and obedient rote-learning and rote-behaving, whereas education requires active engagement. So, here, he doesn't simply follow Halachah because he has been told to, and the reins are being held tight; the reflective tells us that he has indeed reflected, thought, drawn conclusions, and made the conscious choice to follow Halachah. And yes, the word used here is indeed Halachah.

26:4 LO YASHAVTI IM METEY SHAV VE IM NA'ALAMIM LO AVO

לֹא יָשַׁבְתִּי עִם מְתֵי שָׁוְא וְעִם נַעֲלָמִים לֹא אָבוֹא

KJ: I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.

BN: I have not sat down with idol-worshippers; nor will I spend my time with those who dabble in the occult.

METEY SHAV: For "man" we are accustomed to ISH, and sometimes ENOSH, to ADAM, and sometimes BEN ADAM, but there is also MET, or possibly MAT, which doesn't occur often - see for example Genesis 34:30, Deuteronomy 2:34 and 3:6, Isaiah 3:25. The word is surprising though, because there is also MET, spelled exactly the same, and meaning "dead". The answer probably lies in multiple language sources, MOT = "death" being a Middle Eastern term, related to the god of the same name. The etymologists agree with the archaeologists that "MET = man" is of Ethiopic origin, and probably entered the Yehudit language by way of the Egyptian.

NA'ALAMIM: Where SHAV has to do with "vain" - in the sense of "worthless" rather than "egotistical" - OLAM, the root here, is about "secrets" and "concealments". But the context of the previous verses suggests that we need to read these from a religious point of view: so I have rendered the vanities as "idol-worship", whereas here, because there is also OLAM, as in LE OLAM VA ED = "for ever and ever", it is the mystical that I think is being rejected. Confirmation of this, I believe, can be found in the name of the book that Moses de Léon wrote before setting out to complete the Zohar; that first book was titled Ha Midrash Ha Ne'elam.

26:5 SANE'TI KEHAL MERE'IM VE IM RESHA'IM LO ESHEV

שָׂנֵאתִי קְהַל מְרֵעִים וְעִם רְשָׁעִים לֹא אֵשֵׁב

KJ: I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.

BN: I have hated the gathering of evil doers, and I will not sit in the company of the wicked.

SANE'TI: is in the past tense; and actually there has been quite a mingling of tenses before this; the last verse, for example, though it made sense there; it doesn't so easily here.

IM RESHA'IM LO ESHEV: Need to check the exact text, but does this not connect to the opening of Kol Nidrei, when permission is granted to do precisely that? In fact the use of the word "company" does not occur until "Shochen Ad", later in the Yom Kippur liturgy, but the intention is there in the Kol Nidrei phrase:

"With the approval of the Omnipresent, and with the approval of the congregation; in the convocation of the Court above, and in the convocation of the Court below, we sanction prayer with sinners."

On this special cocasion only, precisely because it is Yom Kippur. Click here for a full account of the festival.

Following up on the plotology hypothesis; having cleansed himself of sin in the previous Psalm, it is only logical that he cannot and will not sit with those who have, metaphorically speaking, failed to immerse themselves in the Mikveh.

26:6 ERCHATS BE NIKAYON KAPAI VA ASOVEVAH ET MIZBACHACHA YHVH

אֶרְחַץ בְּנִקָּיוֹן כַּפָּי וַאֲסֹבְבָה אֶת מִזְבַּחֲךָ יְהוָה

KJ: I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:

BN: I will wash my hands in clean water; so will I make Hakafot around your altar, YHVH...

ERCHATS: Confirming that, at the very least, I chose the right metaphor in my last comment!

ASOVEVAH: My translation here is guesswork, but it seems to me entirely logical, given the number of occasions when seven circles (HAKAFOT) are made in the Yisra-Eli cult (click here for all of them), that there would have been a similar ceremony at some point or points of the liturgical calendar, one that involved doing the same around the altar in the Temple, or in any other shrine. And if it is not that, please can someone explain to me what it might otherwise mean.

26:7 LASHMI'A BE KOL TODAH U LESAPER KOL NIPHLE'OTEYCHA

לַשְׁמִעַ בְּקוֹל תּוֹדָה וּלְסַפֵּר כָּל נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ

KJ: That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.

BN: That I may make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, and tell of all your wondrous works.

26:8 YHVH AHAVTI ME'ON BEITECHA U MEKOM MISHKAN KEVODECHA

יְהוָה אָהַבְתִּי מְעוֹן בֵּיתֶךָ וּמְקוֹם מִשְׁכַּן כְּבוֹדֶךָ

KJ: LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

BN: YHVH, I love the house where you dwell, and the place where your glory resides

Lines re-used in Mah Tovu, the prayer that opens Shacharit in modern synagogues.

BEITECHA: But which house? If this really is by or for David, then it cannot be the Temple in Yeru-Shala'im, because it wasn't built yet.

26:9 AL TE'ESOPH IM CHATA'IM NAPHSHI VE IM ANSHEY DAMIM CHAYAI

אַל תֶּאֱסֹף עִם חַטָּאִים נַפְשִׁי וְעִם אַנְשֵׁי דָמִים חַיָּי

KJ: Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:

BN: Do not count my soul among the sinners, nor my life among the men with blood-stained hands...

But it will be precisely because his hands are blood-stained that David will not be permitted to build the Temple. See 2 Samuel 7:5 ff and 1 Chronicles 22:1 ff. Or click here.

26:10 ASHER BIY'DEYHEM ZIMAH VIYMIYNAM MAL'AH SHOCHAD

אֲשֶׁר בִּידֵיהֶם זִמָּה וִימִינָם מָלְאָה שֹּׁחַד

KJ: In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.

BN: Whose hands are full of schemes, and their right hand is full of bribes.

26:11 VA ANI BE TUMI ELECH PEDENI VE CHANENI

וַאֲנִי בְּתֻמִּי אֵלֵךְ פְּדֵנִי וְחָנֵּנִי

KJ: But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.

BN: But as for me, I will follow the path of my integrity; ransom me, and be gracious unto me.

BE TUMI: Once again the Psalm comes full circle - and this time it is a twelve-verse cycle, as it should be for a Davidic Psalm; but this eleventh verse is an echo of the second verse, not a repetition.

CHANENI: Echoing the Yevarechecha yet again.

PEDENI: At verse 1 I questioned the translations of SHAPHTENI as "vindicate" or "acquit", and this is the confirmation. He is not even hoping for either of those. He accepts that he has done wrong, and is willing to take responsibility. "Ransom me" involves paying a fine, albeit a spiritual fine. See Exodus 13:13.

26:12 RAGLI AMDAH VE MIYSHOR BE MAKHELIM AVARECH YHVH

רַגְלִי עָמְדָה בְמִישׁוֹר בְּמַקְהֵלִים אֲבָרֵךְ יְהוָה

KJ: My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.

BN: My foot stands on level ground; in the places where men gather I will bless YHVH. {P}

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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