TheBibleNet: Psalm 31

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

31:1 LA MENATSE'ACH MIZMOR LE DAVID

לַמְנַצֵּחַ מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

BN (BibleNet translation): For the Artistic Director. A Psalm for David.

Once again, KJ has included the first verse alongside the title, ammending the numbering of the verses in the process.

31:2 BECHA YHVH CHASIYTI AL EVOSHAH LE OLAM BE TSIDKAT'CHA PHALTENI

בְּךָ יְהוָה חָסִיתִי אַל אֵבוֹשָׁה לְעוֹלָם בְּצִדְקָתְךָ פַלְּטֵנִי

KJ (31:1): In thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in thy righteousness.

BN: In you, YHVH, have I taken refuge. Let me never be ashamed. Acquit me because I merit acquittal.

AL EVOSHAH:The second time a Psalm has focused on the concern that believing in a deity could be a cause for shame. Does it tell us that agnosticism and atheism were prevalent, even then? Is it a statement that "believing in" and "having faith in" are not just about making an irrational leap into non-intellectual conviction, but in the sense of a football manager questioning whether to go on playing his lead striker, who has missed three consecutive penalties, failed to score a goal in ten weeks, and been sent off for bad behaviour twice in the same period. "I still have faith in him," says the manager, immediately prior to a 5-0 home defeat.

BE TSIDKAT'CHA PHALTENI: "Deliver me" from what? PHALTENI comes from a root that means "escape", but here in the intensive form, which should really suggest getting someone out of jail through an underground tunnel or an armed raid on the gate. TSEDEK is "justice", which also takes us into jail-territory. Which makes this sound like throwing three consecutive doubles in a game of Monopoly, or being provided with a "Get Out Of Jail Free" by random and haphazard of a Chance card. But maybe the Psalmist just makes a 50 shekel donation to the Temple, gets his name on the honour board thereby, and leaves of his own accord.

31:3 HATEH ELAI AZNECHA MEHERAH HATSIYLENI HEYEH LI LE TSUR MA'OZ LE VEIT METSUDOT LE HOSHIY'ENI

הַטֵּה אֵלַי אָזְנְךָ מְהֵרָה הַצִּילֵנִי הֱיֵה לִי לְצוּר מָעוֹז לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת לְהוֹשִׁיעֵנִי

KJ (31:2): Bow down thine ear to me; deliver me speedily: be thou my strong rock, for an house of defence to save me.

BN: Incline your ear to me. Rescue me quickly [when I am in danger]. {N} Be to me a rock of fortitude, a tower of strength, to save me.

HATSIYLENI: Is not the same as PHALTENI, though most translations render both as "deliver". Where the latter was probably about acquittal in a court of spiritual law, NATSAL, especially in the causative form that we have here (cf Ezekiel 14:14) is more about "rescuing" from danger.

LE HOSHIY'ENI: Yet again, it is the deity who is the Messiah.

31:4 KI SAL'I U METSUDATI ATAH U LEMA'AN SHIMCHA TANCHENI U TENAHALENI

כִּי סַלְעִי וּמְצוּדָתִי אָתָּה וּלְמַעַן שִׁמְךָ תַּנְחֵנִי וּתְנַהֲלֵנִי

KJ (31:3): For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name's sake lead me, and guide me.

BN: For you are my rock and my stronghold. For the sake of your name, lead me, and guide me.

SAL'I: Is the intention here the very rock of sacrifice itself, the one - physically speaking, insofar as Yeru-Shala'im is concerned - on which Yitschak was bound, adjacent to which Jesus would be crucified, and which rock can be seen today in the crypt of the Shrine of Omar? I ask because the description of the deity as a "Rock" is usually the one we witnessed in the previous verse: TSUR. But this is a SEL'A, which is "a crag" or "a cliff", rather than the rock that provides a mountain with its absolute summit, and takes us into the chaining of Prometheus rather more than the tale of Yitschak. But in fact it is neither of these: the principal occurrence of SEL'A is in Numbers 20, where Mosheh is instructed to strike the rock and bring forth water to quench his thirty people. So, here, the deity provides metaphorical water for the spiritually thirsty soul.

METSUDATI: whereas this is definitely a fortress, like the one that Herod built for himself in the Judean desert - very much a crag or cliff too, Herod's Masada, though that may just be coincidence.

LEMA'AN SHIMCHAH: And as to his "faith"; the argument here touches again upon atheism. Clearly the deity's reputation is at a low ebb, with popular opinion weighing against. So the PR adviser on Earth, the priest-king, sends a memo to the heavens: we need a period of serious sunshine, fertility and peace, or you risk being deposed in favour of some humanist ideology. Do it - "for your name's sake".

TANCHENI U TENAHALENI:Sound-games, the hard Chet (ח) set against the softer Hey (ה). Tancheni is also a sound-game of its own, deliberately evoking the word TANACH through its grammar (the root is NACHAH): not just "lead me", but, by insinuation, let the Tanach lead me. And likewise the choice of TENAHALENI; a NAHAL is a river or a watering-place, so it is not only a matter of "guiding", but of finding another version of the SEL'A in the previous verse.

Choral Ode theory reckons that verses 2 to 4 of this Psalm will recur in Psalm 71:1-3, albeit as much a variation as a repetition.

31:5 TOTSIY'ENI ME RESHET ZU TAMNU LI KI ATAH MA'UZI

תּוֹצִיאֵנִי מֵרֶשֶׁת זוּ טָמְנוּ לִי כִּי אַתָּה מָעוּזִּי

KJ (31:4): Pull me out of the net that they have laid privily for me: for thou art my strength.

BN: Help me evade the trap that they have secretly laid for me, for you are my strength.

TOTSIY'ENI: YATS'A simply means "to go out", but here in the causative form, so he is asking the deity to get him out.

RESHET: What sort of a net, or even network, might that be? The net of data and statistics, of historical forensics, of humanist rhetoric? A network of conspirators plotting in secret?

Put the two words together, and link it back, and we have yet another variant on "deliver", "rescue", "help me escape", "save me from danger". I see the RESHET rather more as a metaphorical spider's web, and the Psalmist trapped like an insect in its mesh; but TAMNU confirms the latter part of my previous comment (cf Genesis 35:4, Exodus 2:12).

MA'OZ: Repeating the word used in verse 3, but without the TSUR on this occasion.

31:6 BE YADCHA APHKID RUCHI PADIYTAH OTI YHVH EL EMET

בְּיָדְךָ אַפְקִיד רוּחִי פָּדִיתָה אוֹתִי יְהוָה אֵל אֱמֶת

KJ (31:5): Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.

BN: Into your hand I commit my spirit. You have redeemed me, YHVH, god of truth.

APHKID RUCHI: Quoted in the final verse of "Adon Olam", one of the most popular songs in contemporary Jewish liturgy. But doesn't Jesus also quote it on the Cross? Yes - Luke 23:46. His dying words. (Don't you just love that image, of Jesus nailed to the Cross, singing out "Adon Olam" as an act of either self-calming and/or defiance!)

PADIYTA: PHALTENI at verse 2, then HATSIYLENI at verse 3, both translated as "deliver" by KJ, though neither means exactly that. Then still more verbs for "leading", "guiding", "rescuing", all of which adds up to the word "theme"! PADAH, the root here, only means "redeem", in the sense that a pawn-broker would use it; or "the ransom" paid for a hostage or a kidnap victim. Presumably the amount on this occasion would be either a first-year bullock or a second-year ram, though a donation of 50 shekels to the Temple (that's why he made that sarcastic comment at verse 3!) would actually do just as well. See Exodus 13:13, (repeated for some reason at 34:20), 21:8, Leviticus 27:27...

31:7 SANE'TI HA SHOMRIM HAVLEY SHAV VA ANI EL YHVH BATACHTI

שָׂנֵאתִי הַשֹּׁמְרִים הַבְלֵי שָׁוְא וַאֲנִי אֶל יְהוָה בָּטָחְתִּי

KJ (31:6): I have hated them that regard lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD.

BN: I have hated those who live worthless, empty lives; but I trust in YHVH.

SANE'TI: Why is it in the past tense, and not continuing into the present, and even the future?

SHOMRIM HAVLEY SHAV: Complex ambivalences here. SHOMRIM really means "guard", or "protect", though it is used metaphorically for the observance of laws - a strictly observant Jew, for example, would be described as SHOMER SHABAT, the point being that he guards and protects the law through the very act of observing it. But what is being "guarded" and "protected" here?

The root of HAVLEY is HEVEL, meaning "breath" or "vapour", which immediately sends us back to the Adam and Chavah tale, which is all about the Creation of the world, and especially the human race: how fascinating to discover that this should be the first emanation of LEHIYOT ("to be" - YHVH), who is the essences and microbes and molecules, with LECHIYOT ("to exist" - Chavah/Eve), who is the manifestation in physical form. But that is not what they mean here, because the word SHAV is appended, and SHAV means "falsehood", or at the very least "worthless". "False idols" then, or simply the generally worthless habits of life - which may of course be the same thing.

31:8 AGIYLAH VE ESMECHAH BE CHASDECHA ASHER RA'ITA ET ANYIY YADA'TA BE TSAROT NAPHSHI

אָגִילָה וְאֶשְׂמְחָה בְּחַסְדֶּךָ אֲשֶׁר רָאִיתָ אֶת עָנְיִי יָדַעְתָּ בְּצָרוֹת נַפְשִׁי

KJ (31:7): I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

BN: I will rejoice in, and be satisfied with, your lovingkindness, {N} for you have seen my difficulties, you have taken cognizance of the troubles in my soul.

31:9 VE LO HISGARTANI BE YAD OYEV HE'EMADETA VA MERCHAV RAGLAI

וְלֹא הִסְגַּרְתַּנִי בְּיַד אוֹיֵב הֶעֱמַדְתָּ בַמֶּרְחָב רַגְלָי

KJ (31:8): And hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room.

BN: And you have not extradited me into the hand of the enemy. You have released my feet into the open square.

Culturally this is very difficult to translate, because our concepts are different. I originally went for "remanded", but then preferred the stronger and more judicial "extradited", either way to give the sense of being locked in a prison; and then antithesised with "released", though really the "enemy" here is his inner self, the negative-misanthropic part of the inner self, locked in struggle with the positive-idealistic part of the inner self; while the MERCHAV is not so much "a broad place" - though it is that, and nothing to do with "open rooms" - as the significance of the town square, the place where all opinions may be stated, where political and religious debate takes place, where the secular and religious judges meet to pronounce and literally execute their judgements, and of course (Tianenmen, Tahrir, Trafalgar in 1990...) the place where political protest takes place: perhaps "open forum" would work, except that this is a Roman concept, and so an anachronism here. I would also like to have him "released on unbound feet", but that would be reading into the line more than is actually stated; albeit that it is indeed inferred.

31:10 CHANENI YHVH KI TSAR LI ASHESHAH VE CHA'AS EYNI NAPHSHI U VITNI

חָנֵּנִי יְהוָה כִּי צַר לִי עָשְׁשָׁה בְכַעַס עֵינִי נַפְשִׁי וּבִטְנִי

KJ (31:9): Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.

BN: Be generous to me, YHVH, for I am in distress. {N} My eye, my soul, my body are wasting away with vexation.

TSAR: Picking up the TSAROT of verse 8, rather than the ANYIY. But also establishing word-play, because there is TSAR, which is "distress" or "trouble", but there is also TSUR, which is how the deity gets metaphored in verse 3: "strength".

31:11 KI CHALU VE YAGON CHAYAI U SHENOTAI BA ANACHAH KASHAL BA AVONI KOCHI VA ATSAMAI ASHESHU

כִּי כָלוּ בְיָגוֹן חַיַּי וּשְׁנוֹתַי בַּאֲנָחָה כָּשַׁל בַּעֲוֹנִי כֹחִי וַעֲצָמַי עָשֵׁשׁוּ

KJ (31:10): For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing: my strength faileth because of mine iniquity, and my bones are consumed.

BN: For my life is spent in sorrow, and my years in sighing; {N} my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.

CHALU: "Spent" as in "drained of energy". But also see Genesis 2:1 and 2, where this is the verb that is used for the completion of Creation. So spent also means "achieved" or "accomplished". Interesting play-on-words, and exactly the same in English. We look for ways to "spend" our time, and what we find may be negative or positive, but by the end, if we have used the occasion fully and properly, and carpe diem has been satisfactorily achieved, we will go home "spent" - exhausted.

YAGON: See Genesis 42:38 or 44:31.

KOCHI: Likewise means "strength", but in the sense of human physical power, where TSUR is a spiritual metaphor.

ATSAMAI ASHESHU: No fantasy of an afterlife here. Dust to dust and ashes to ashs, buried, biodegraded, turned into compost.

31:12 MI KOL TSORERAI HAYITI CHERPAH VE LI SHACHENAI ME'OD U PHACHAD LIM'YUDA'AI RO'AI BACHUTS NADEDO MIMENI

מִכָּל צֹרְרַי הָיִיתִי חֶרְפָּה וְלִשֲׁכֵנַי מְאֹד וּפַחַד לִמְיֻדָּעָי רֹאַי בַּחוּץ נָדְדוּ מִמֶּנִּי

KJ (31:11): I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.

BN: Because of all my troubles I have become a role-model of waste; to my neighbours in particular; and an object of dread to anyone who knows me; {N} they see me outside, and run from me.

CHERPAH: In the realm of the corn-god, the wasting away of the bones takes place in Autumn, at harvest time, when his energy has been "spent" on growing, and he has "achieved" the full carpe vitam, not just diem, the purpose of his existence, which is to have his stalks cut down, and his fruit enjoyed, while the unusuable spent parts are allowed to "waste away" into compost through the winter. I mention this only because the root of CHERPAH also yields the word CHOREPH, which is the Autumn.

So how does it also get to mean a "reproach"? Probably from the base meaning, which is to "gather" or to "pluck" - logical enough as the root of Autumn, but metaphorically it is the negative side of "spent", the going to the tree to gather its crop, and finding nothing there but rotted, bird-pecked, worm-chewed, dried-out, the very opposite of carpe diem: in the case of a human being a "wastrel", somebody who will be mocked, criticised and generally derogated for the way he has "spent" his life, probably by doing the SHOMRIM HAVLEY SHAV of verse 7.

LIM'YUDA'AI: Or possibly LI MEYUDA'AI

31:13 NISHKACHTI KE MET MI LEV HAYITI KI CHLI OVED

נִשְׁכַּחְתִּי כְּמֵת מִלֵּב הָיִיתִי כִּכְלִי אֹבֵד

KJ (31:12): I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind: I am like a broken vessel.

BN: I am like a dead man, condemned to oblivion. I am rusty as an overused pot.

31:14 KI SHAMA'TI DIBAT RABIM MAGOR MI SAVIV BE HIVASDAM YACHAD ALAI LAKACHAT NAPHSHI ZAMAMU

כִּי שָׁמַעְתִּי דִּבַּת רַבִּים מָגוֹר מִסָּבִיב בְּהִוָּסְדָם יַחַד עָלַי לָקַחַת נַפְשִׁי זָמָמוּ

KJ (31:13): For I have heard the slander of many: fear was on every side: while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life.

BN: For I have heard the whispering of the mob, the rejection on every side; {N} all of their conspiring against me, their plotting to take away my life.

MAGUR: Some say this is from the root GUR, which means "to live" in the sense of "dwell" or "inhabit", and that it means "fear"; they then, to justify this, reference Numbers 22:3, for which see my notes there, and also Deuteronomy 1:17 and 18:22, for which see my next note, below. But this seems to me simply justifying one mistranslation by quoting another.

Instead, look at the rather similar root, NAGAR, which has nothing to do with "dwelling", but a lot to do with throwing things down or out or away, as in Ezekiel 21:17, which does with swords to the enemy soldiers what the harvesters do with scythes to the corn; the overthrow of a king in Ezra 6:12; whence Migron, a town in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin, and reckoned to be the sort of place, right on the cliff-edge of the precipice (which takes us back to Sal'i in verse 4), from which anyone might be pushed or fall, and thence the town's name (see 1 Samuel 14:2 and Isaiah 10:28).

HIVASDAM: Rather than HUSDAM?

ZAMAMU: Is it just me, or is the poet playing with double-letters throughout this Psalm? TSORERIM, ANYIY, OZ which leads to AZAZ, ASHESHAH (and ASHESHU), NADEDO, several near-misses with the Heys and Chets as well. ITOTAI in verse 16.

31:15 VA ANI ALEYCHA VATACHTI YHVH AMARTI ELOHAI ATAH

וַאֲנִי עָלֶיךָ בָטַחְתִּי יְהוָה אָמַרְתִּי אֱלֹהַי אָתָּה

KJ (31:14): But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.

BN: But as for me, I placed my trust in you, YHVH. I said, You are my gods.

ELOHAI: Singular or plural? Grammatically it is definitely plural, and multiple plural at that; singular would be ELI. Theologically it is a matter of where you stand.

31:16 BE YADCHA ITOTAI HATSIYLENI MI YAD OYEVAI U ME RODPHAI

בְּיָדְךָ עִתֹּתָי הַצִּילֵנִי מִיַּד אוֹיְבַי וּמֵרֹדְפָי

KJ (31:15): My times are in thy hand: deliver me from the hand of mine enemies, and from them that persecute me.

BN: My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

ITOTAI: This sounds like it ought to be "my time is in your hand", but ITOTAI are plural, and these are not just any times on the clock or calendar, but specifically the OTOT, the "appointed times" - shabbats, new moons, full moon pilgrim festivals, fast days etc; the sacred dates on the clock and calendar, a commitment to observance. Cf Genesis 1:14.

31:17 HA'IYRAH PHANEYCHA AL AVDECHA HOSHIY'ENI VE CHASDECHA

הָאִירָה פָנֶיךָ עַל עַבְדֶּךָ הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי בְחַסְדֶּךָ

KJ (31:16): Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies' sake.

BN: Cause your face to shine on your servant. Save me through your lovingkindness.

HA'IYRAH: From black gloom to the YEVARECHECHA, and back again, over and over, throughout these Psalms. In the end, this is what these Psalms are really about: physical (as in night and Winter, birth and death), spiritual, psychological, even the human spectrum, the agon of misanthropy versus idealism.

And isn't HA'IYRAH also another of the key phrases in the ADON OLAM, immediately after APHKID RUCHI indeed (see verse 6, but also my appended note at verse 19)? To which the answer is actually no: HA'IYRAH here has an Aleph, there an Ayin (click here for the Yehudit words; it's the last verse); but so many of these Ayin-Aleph word-plays, it cannot be coincidence.

HOSHIY'ENI: I have noted this so many times, do I really need to note it again? See the link.

312:18 YHVH AL EVOSHAH KI KERA'TIYCHA YEVOSHU RESHA'IM YIDMU LI SHE'OL

יְהוָה אַל אֵבוֹשָׁה כִּי קְרָאתִיךָ יֵבֹשׁוּ רְשָׁעִים יִדְּמוּ לִשְׁאוֹל

KJ (31:17): Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

BN: Do not allow me to be ashamed, YHVH, that I have called on you. Let the wicked be ashamed. Let them go down into She'ol.

Picking up the starting-theme from verse 1.

SHE'OL: See the link.

31:19 TE'ALAMNAH SIPHTEY SHAKER HA DOVROT AL TSADIK ATAK BE GA'AVAH VA VUZ

תֵּאָלַמְנָה שִׂפְתֵי שָׁקֶר הַדֹּבְרוֹת עַל צַדִּיק עָתָק בְּגַאֲוָה וָבוּז

KJ (31:18): Let the lying lips be put to silence; which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously against the righteous.

BN: Let the lying lips be bound shut, which speak arrogantly against the righteous, with pride and contempt.

TE'ELAMNAH: Probably from the root ALAM, meaning "to bind". I say "probably" because most of the etymologists (click here for an example) say "of uncertain derivation", but then find other usages of it, first and foremost Genesis 37:7 where, guess what, the things that are being bound are the very sheaves that seem to be the underlying metaphor of this Psalm.

ALAM with an Aleph, where eternity would be OLAM with an AYIN (עולם).

31:20 MAH RAV TUVCHA ASHER TSAPHANTA LIYRE'EYCHA PA'ALTA LA CHOSIM BACH NEGED BENEY ADAM

מָה רַב טוּבְךָ אֲשֶׁר צָפַנְתָּ לִּירֵאֶיךָ פָּעַלְתָּ לַחֹסִים בָּךְ נֶגֶד בְּנֵי אָדָם

KJ (31:19): Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men!

BN: How abundant is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, {N} which you have wrought for those who take their refuge in you, in the sight of other humans!

TSAPHANTA: The "first and foremost" other usage for TE'ELAMNAH was Genesis 37, which is the Yoseph tale, the dream of the seven lean years and the seven good years: the Egyptian version of the corn-god. And Yoseph's official title? Given to us at Genesis 41:45 - Tsaphnat Paneyach.

But isn't the idea of "refuge" itself a negative? Hiding from reality, hiding, especially, from the full face of human responsibility, by passing on the blame, as well as the credit, to the gods.

31:21 TASTIYREM BE SETER PANEYCHA ME RUCHSEY ISH TITSPENEM BE SUKAH ME RIYV LESHONOT

תַּסְתִּירֵם בְּסֵתֶר פָּנֶיךָ מֵרֻכְסֵי אִישׁ תִּצְפְּנֵם בְּסֻכָּה מֵרִיב לְשֹׁנוֹת

KJ (31:20): Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues.

BN: You hide them beneath the cover of your presence from the plottings of Man. {N} You conceal them in a tabernacle from the strife of tongues.

TASTIYREM...PANEYCHA: So the word-games go on: the face, the hiding, the secrets (or should that be "mysteries"?)... all that for the metaphorical-spiritual; the clouds and sun in the physical.

SUKAH: We had the same word in the previous Psalm and wondered then if it was the harvest festival booth, or one more general like the caravanserai of Deuteronomy... Here, without question, it is the autumn harvest, and this, in the end, the song of John Barleycorn, but told by himself, in his own words, from the inside, not some outsider's perspective.

31:22 BARUCH YHVH KI HIPHL'I CHASDO LI BE IR MATSOR

בָּרוּךְ יְהוָה כִּי הִפְלִיא חַסְדּוֹ לִי בְּעִיר מָצוֹר

KJ (312:21): Blessed be the LORD: for he hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.

BN: Blessed be YHVH, for he has shown me his wondrous lovingkindness in a fortified city.

IR MATSOR: Which would have to be Chevron, if this is David, but Yeru-Shala'im, if this is Shelomoh, or later.

Once again YHVH is blessed in the third person, indirectly, where today's prayers address him directly, second person: the difference between a personal and an impersonal deity, a concrete and an abstract.

31:23 VA ANI AMARTI VE CHAPHZI NIGRAZTI MI NEGED EYNEYCHA ACHEN SHAMA'TA KOL TACHANUNAI BE SHAV'I ELEYCHA

וַאֲנִי אָמַרְתִּי בְחָפְזִי נִגְרַזְתִּי מִנֶּגֶד עֵינֶיךָ אָכֵן שָׁמַעְתָּ קוֹל תַּחֲנוּנַי בְּשַׁוְּעִי אֵלֶיךָ

KJ (31:22): For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

BN: As for me, I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before your eyes". And yet you heard the voice of my supplications when I cried out to you.

Even in a verse like this one, the speaker is not addressing the "you", but addressing himself inwardly, speaking metaphorically, about a figurative "you".

(No, I'm not sure I agree with that; I think that sees it through a modern psycho-spiritual lens).

Class assignment: discuss the two short paragraphs above in relation to your personal construct of the deity and the purpose of prayer.

31:24 EHEVU ET YHVH KOL CHASIDAV EMUNIM NOTSER YHVH U MESHALEM AL YETER OSEH GA'AVAH

אֶהֱבוּ אֶת יְהוָה כָּל חֲסִידָיו אֱמוּנִים נֹצֵר יְהוָה וּמְשַׁלֵּם עַל יֶתֶר עֹשֵׂה גַאֲוָה

KJ (31.23): O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.

BN: Love YHVH, all of you who are his pious followers. {N} May YHVH preserve the faithful, but repay in full he who acts haughtily.

CHASIDAV: If this were a Psalm from the post-Ezraic era, at some point of the Hasmonean dynasty, we would need to read CHASIDIM as a specific political as well as religious group - click here for more on this. But the Egyptian references appear to denote this as a much earlier Psalm.

NOTSER: the word has occurred before, and I believe I did comment; there is NETSER, which is the stump that is left when the corn is harvested or the banana spliced from the herb - I prefer that latter here because the corn will need new seed in order to regrow in the same place, but the banana will sprout new fruit from the living stump; which is the point of the Isaiah quote (11:1) that is one of the explanations of NOTSRI, which is the name by which Christians were originally known, and still are in modern Ivrit. If that latter is intended, might this be a late rewriting of a much earlier hymn, deliberately bringing "contemporary" issues to the forefront, so that the Psalm has more than just spiritual relevance?

But NATSAR in Exodus 34:7 and Deuteronomy 32:10 are about "guarding", "keeping", "watching" - and that would take us back to the SHOMRIM of verse 7, or in this case, and that of my two references, their precise opposite, the ones who keep the carpe vitam rather than the HAVLEY SHAV.

31:25 CHIZKU VA YA'AMETS LEVAVECHEM KOL HA MEYACHALIM LA YHVH

חִזְקוּ וְיַאֲמֵץ לְבַבְכֶם כָּל הַמְיַחֲלִים לַיהוָה

KJ (31:24): Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.

BN: Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for YHVH. {P}

CHIZKU: KO'ACH for human physical strength, TSUR for the metaphorical mountainousness of the deity, and now CHAZAKUT, the strength of firm resolve, which is both spiritual and psychological.

MEYACHALIM: This is not about hope, though it may need some; this is about "waiting"; from the root YACHAL. Coincidence or not that the same root yields the word HEYCHAL, which is the place that you go as a servant to wait on the king - the service in this case being AVODAH, the king YHVH, and the place the Temple?

SurfTheSite

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