TheBibleNet: Psalm 40

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

40:1 LA MENATSE'ACH LE DAVID MIZMOR

לַמְנַצֵּחַ לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

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

KJ has amalgamated the opening into the title, making both into verse 1, shifting the numbers of the verses that ensue. I have made this clear by bracketing its numbers.

40:2 KAVUH KIVIYTI YHVH VA YET ELAI VA YISHMA SHAV'ATI

קַוֹּה קִוִּיתִי יְהוָה וַיֵּט אֵלַי וַיִּשְׁמַע שַׁוְעָתִי

KJ (40:1): I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

BN: I waited patiently for YHVH; and he inclined his ear to me, and heard my cry.

As the last Psalm seemed to be following up the one before the one before it (the immediately previous being possibly out-of-place, or a slight variation of the inner theme), this appears to pick up where 39 ended.

KAVUH or KAVOH?: I commented on an oddly medugash Vav last Psalm, or was it the one before?

40:3 VA YA'ALENI MI BOR SHA'ON MITIYT HA YAVEN VA YAKEM AL SEL'A RAGLAI KONEN ASHURAI

וַיַּעֲלֵנִי מִבּוֹר שָׁאוֹן מִטִּיט הַיָּוֵן וַיָּקֶם עַל סֶלַע רַגְלַי כּוֹנֵן אֲשֻׁרָי

KJ (40:2): He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

BN: He brought me up out of the tumultuous pit, out of the miry clay; {N} and he set my feet upon a firm foundation; he has made my journeys through life both happy and assured.

BOR: There are several different types of "pit" in these Biblical texts, and their symbolism is always very specific. This is a BOR, which we most associate with Yoseph in Genesis 37, a physical slime-pit or quarry which is under the ground, but still not the Underworld. But that BOR then becomes the "dungeon" in which Yoseph is imprisoned in Genesis 40, and this too is physical, not metaphorical, though it does feel very underworldly. See also Exodus 21, where it is used several times, and is unquestionably physical. A full list of references can be found here.

SHA'ON: I don't like "tumultuous" but there isn't any word in English that captures it more precisely: the noise of rushing waters, the sense of destruction caused by human overcrowding, and simultaneously. And in Yehudit the homophonous hint of SHA'UL/SHE'OL, which is indeed the Underworld.

SEL'A: Not to be confused with the musical notation SELAH, spelled with a Hey not an Ayin. But this time the word is metaphorical - as confirmed by the phrase that follows. Which is why I have slightly mis-translated SEL'A here as "firm foundation", rather than rock, picking up KUN, the root of the next word, KONEN, which means precisely that, "firm".

ASHURAI: Does this connect with the meaning of Assyria? Something to do with "rocky mountains" if I am not mistook? But no, despite the identical spelling, it is not that; though the pun is surely deliberate. ASHAR means "straight", and "happy is the man" who walks on a firm, straight path. ASHREY HA ISH. The word occurs in Psalms 1, 2, 32, 33, 34, 40, 65, 84, 89, 112, 119, 127, 128, 137, 144 and 146, and it always mean "happy", usually in the sense of "prosperous", but with prosperity linked to fertility, whether personal or terrestrial (see my note at 33:12).

And didn't you just love my translation of that final phrase! I would so have liked to spell it ASHURED, but I couldn't find a firm scholarly foundation to support going on quite that long a voyage into word-play.

40:4 VA YITEN BE PHI SHIR CHADASH TEHILAH LE'LOHEYNU YIR'U RABIM VE YIYRA'U VE YIVTECHU BA YHVH

וַיִּתֵּן בְּפִי שִׁיר חָדָשׁ תְּהִלָּה לֵאלֹהֵינוּ יִרְאוּ רַבִּים וְיִירָאוּ וְיִבְטְחוּ בַּיהוָה

KJ (40:3): And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

BN: And he has put a new song in my mouth, a prayer to our gods. {N} Many shall see, and fear, and place their trust in YHVH.

ELOHEYNU: Plural!

Note the repeated Y-sounds in this verse, 4 of them, 5 if you pronounce YHVH, and the last four on the beat.

40:5 ASHREY HA GEVER ASHER SAM YHVH MIVTACHO VE LO PHANAH EL REHAVIM VE SATEY CHA ZAV

אַשְׁרֵי הַגֶּבֶר אֲשֶׁר שָׂם יְהֹוָה מִבְטַחוֹ וְלֹא פָנָה אֶל רְהָבִים וְשָׂטֵי כָזָב

KJ (40:4): Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

BN: Happy is the man who has placed his trust in YHVH, {N} and not turned to Rahab, the Prince of the Sea, nor lapsed into other false beliefs.

ASHREY: Obviously re-read my note at verse 4; but in addition: I have commented before that this cannot be translated as "blessed", which is BARUCH, an entirely different concept, and an entirely different cult-source.

GEVER: I should put this comment at the first instance of the word in these texts, which this is not: the need to distinguish between ISH and GEVER and ADAM. GEVER connects etymologically to GIBOR, but actually it is used rather more slangily: "bloke" or"chap" rather than "man" or "Man".

REHAVIM: You will need to read my essay on RAHAB and RACHAV, which is here. But there is more to the word-play even than that, because sometimes (Isaiah 3:5) the root means "to rage", or "to bully", even "to oppress", the outcome of doing which can be seen at Song of Songs 6:5. Job 9:13 and 26:12, to use a more complex example, insist on Rahab as the Prince of the Sea, who may very well be a "bully", though it as "pride" that some translators render the word (click here for an example), and others as a "storm" (click here for an example). I think that the original Psalm probably intended REHAVIM as "those who follow the Prince of the Sea", but, like the reduction of Rahab in the earlier texts to the "whore of Jericho", the later cult, probably Second Temple, had excised both him and his priestesses, and the word had acquired a rather more adjectival meaning.

40:6 RABOT ASIYTA ATAH YHVH ELOHAI NIPHLE'OTEYCHA U MACHSHEVOTEYCHA ELEYNU EYN AROCH ELEYCHA AGIYDAH VA ADABERAH ATSMU MI SAPER

רַבּוֹת עָשִׂיתָ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהַי נִפְלְאֹתֶיךָ וּמַחְשְׁבֹתֶיךָ אֵלֵינוּ אֵין עֲרֹךְ אֵלֶיךָ אַגִּידָה וַאֲדַבֵּרָה עָצְמוּ מִסַּפֵּר

KJ (40:5): Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works whichthou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

BN: Many things have you done, YHVH my god. {N} You direct your wonders, and your thoughts, toward us. {N} There is no one who can be set alongside you! I would declare them, I would recount them, but they are beyond the power of words.

40:7 ZEVACH U MINCHAH LO CHAPHATSTA AZNAYIM KARIYTA LI OLAH VA CHATA'AH LO SH'ALTA

זֶבַח וּמִנְחָה לֹא חָפַצְתָּ אָזְנַיִם כָּרִיתָ לִּי עוֹלָה וַחֲטָאָה לֹא שָׁאָלְתָּ

KJ (40:6): Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

BN: You take no pleasure in sacrifices and meal-offerings. I have heard you. {N} Burnt-offerings and sin-offerings are not required.

Surprisingly early to be hearing this! The key message of the Prophets of the 6th century, four hundred years after David - though actually it is first stated by Shemu-El (1 Samuel 15:22).

40:8 AZ AMARTI HINEH VA'TI BIM'GILAT SEPHER KATUV ALAI

אָז אָמַרְתִּי הִנֵּה בָאתִי בִּמְגִלַּת סֵפֶר כָּתוּב עָלָי

KJ (40:7): Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me

BN: Then I said: See, I have come with a megillah scroll written about me.

BIM'GILAT: See the link.

SEPHER: Book is anachronistic - by about two and a half thousand years! Parchment? Scroll perhaps? But the word MEGILAH is key.

KATUV ALAI: Is the Psalmist being ironic, even self-ironic! You don't want my sacrifices, so I have arranged for a scroll to be written, containing the full collection of Psalms, and I am bringing that to your shrine instead. I wonder if a Psalms Scroll would have been part of the ceremony when this Psalm was sung, and paraded, or simply held up in Hagbahah at the recitiation of this verse.

40:9 LA'ASOT RETSONCHA ELOHAI CHAPHATSTI VE TORAT'CHA BETOCH ME'AI

לַעֲשׂוֹת רְצוֹנְךָ אֱלֹהַי חָפָצְתִּי וְתוֹרָתְךָ בְּתוֹךְ מֵעָי

KJ (40:8): I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

BN: I take delight in doing your will, o my gods. Your law is embedded deep inside me.

TORAT'CHA: As previously, we have to assume that this is the generality of enlightenment rather than the specific of Torah, simply because of the date.

40:10 BISARTI TSEDEK BE KAHAL RAV HINEH SEPHATAI LO ECHLA YHVH ATAH YADA'TA

בִּשַּׂרְתִּי צֶדֶק בְּקָהָל רָב הִנֵּה שְׂפָתַי לֹא אֶכְלָא יְהוָה אַתָּה יָדָעְתָּ

KJ (40:9): I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

BN: I have preached righteousness to vast congregations; indeed, and you know it YHVH, {N} I never restrained my lips.

KAHAL RAV: Again in the next verse.

40:11 TSIDKAT'CHA LO CHISIYTI BETOCH LIBI EMUNAT'CHA U TESHU'AT'CHA AMARTI LO CHICHADETI CHASDECHA VA AMIT'CHA LE KAHAL RAV

צִדְקָתְךָ לֹא כִסִּיתִי בְּתוֹךְ לִבִּי אֱמוּנָתְךָ וּתְשׁוּעָתְךָ אָמָרְתִּי לֹא כִחַדְתִּי חַסְדְּךָ וַאֲמִתְּךָ לְקָהָל רָב

KJ (40:10): I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

BN: I have not kept your righteousness hidden in my own heart; I declared your loyalty and your power to redeem; {N} I neither denied your mercy nor disowned your truth before that vast congregation.

CHISIYTI...CHICHADETI: Both mean "hide", but in different ways, the former by not saying it at all ("concealment"), the latter by insisting that it isn't true ("denial").

40:12 ATAH YHVH LO TICHL'A RACHAMEYCHA MIMENI CHASDECHA VA AMIT'CHA TAMID YITSERUNI

אַתָּה יְהוָה לֹא תִכְלָא רַחֲמֶיךָ מִמֶּנִּי חַסְדְּךָ וַאֲמִתְּךָ תָּמִיד יִצְּרוּנִי

KJ (40:11): Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

BN: You, YHVH, will not withhold your compassion from me; {N} your mercy and your truth will continue to preserve me.

The syntax, endorsed by the previous two verses, suggests that this is an affirmation rather than a request.

40:13 KI APHEPHU ALAI RA'OT AD EYN MISPAR HISIYGUNI AVONOTAI VE LO YACHOLTI LIR'OT ATSMU MI SA'AROT ROSHI VE LIBI AZAVANI

כִּי אָפְפוּ עָלַי רָעוֹת עַד אֵין מִסְפָּר הִשִּׂיגוּנִי עֲוֹנֹתַי וְלֹא יָכֹלְתִּי לִרְאוֹת עָצְמוּ מִשַּׂעֲרוֹת רֹאשִׁי וְלִבִּי עֲזָבָנִי

KJ (40:12): For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

BN: I am surrounded by wickedness of every imaginable kind; {N} my many errors have finally caught up with me, so that I am not able to look up; {N} they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed me.

APHEPHU: Or should that be APH'PHU? Yet one more of the double-letter words that seem to fascinate these writers, probably because they are so obviously musical.

40:14 RETSEH YHVH LEHATSIYLENI YHVH LE EZRATI CHUSHAH

רְצֵה יְהוָה לְהַצִּילֵנִי יְהוָה לְעֶזְרָתִי חוּשָׁה

KJ (40:13): Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

BN: Want, YHVH, to deliver me; make haste, YHVH, to help me.

RETSEH: Rotseh means "to want". He is asking him to have that want, not to "please" himself by doing so; he wants, that is to say, the same level of Kavanah from his deity as his deity expects from him. This is Heine's famous remark that "God will forgive me, it's his job", but extended, so that it becomes more than just a job: a vocation.

Choral Ode theory reckons that verses 14-18 of this Psalm repeat in Psalm 80, but I honestly don't see how.

40:15 YEVOSHU VE YACHPERU YACHAD MEVAKSHEY NAPHSHI LISPOTAH YISOGU ACHOR VE YIKALMU CHAPHETSEY RA'ATI

יֵבֹשׁוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ יַחַד מְבַקְשֵׁי נַפְשִׁי לִסְפּוֹתָהּ יִסֹּגוּ אָחוֹר וְיִכָּלְמוּ חֲפֵצֵי רָעָתִי

KJ (40:14): Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.

BN: Let them be both ashamed and abashed at once, they who seek after my soul to sweep it away; {N} let them be turned backward and brought to confusion, who delight in my hurt.

YEVOSHU VE YACHPERU: Picking up LO YACHOLTI LIR'OT in verse 13.

YISOGU ACHOR: picking up PHANAH at verse 5.

40:16 YASHOMU AL EKEV BASHTAM HA OMRIM LI HE'AH HE'AH

יָשֹׁמּוּ עַל עֵקֶב בָּשְׁתָּם הָאֹמְרִים לִי הֶאָח הֶאָח

KJ (40:15): Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

BN: Let them be appalled by reason of their shame who say to me: "Aha, aha."

YASHOMU: There is a dot at both ends of that Sheen, confirming that this is SHAMEM, not SAMEM - yet one more double-letter word to add to our ever-growing list. Though whether it means "appalled" (which is intellectual-mental) or "desolate" (which is emotional-psychological) here is less certain.

EKEV: Another little oddity of this Psalm, the use of body-parts in their non-corporeal meanings. So we had ATSMU at verse 13, from the root ETSEM, which is "a bone", but used there to mean "strong" or "numerous". And here EKEV, which is "the heel", and the source of the name Ya'akov (Jacob); but here in a completely different usage, probably pure coincidence and imported from some foreign language, meaning "because".

HE'AH HE'AH: We witnessed this curious little phrase at Psalm 35:21; need to check if it was identical, and what note I made then. "I told you so".

40:17 YASIYSU VE YISMECHU BECHA KOL MEVAKSHEYCHA YOMRU TAMID YIGDAL YHVH OHAVEY TESHU'ATECHA

יָשִׂישׂוּ וְיִשְׂמְחוּ בְּךָ כָּל מְבַקְשֶׁיךָ יֹאמְרוּ תָמִיד יִגְדַּל יְהוָה אֹהֲבֵי תְּשׁוּעָתֶךָ

KJ (40:16): Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.

BN: Let all those that seek you rejoice and be glad in you; {N} let those who love your salvation say continually: "YHVH is great".

YASIYSU: And one more! SUS with a middle Vav, though it sometimes comes with a middle Yud, and sometimes just the double-letter (Deuteronomy 28:63 has both of those latter).

YIGDAL: Which allows us moderns to hear both the setting of Maimonides' "Thirteen Principles of Faith", and the various forms of the Kaddish.

40:18 VA ANI ANI VE EVYON ADONAI YACHASHAV LI EZRATI U MEPHALTI ATAH ELOHAI AL TE'ACHAR

וַאֲנִי עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן אֲדֹנָי יַחֲשָׁב לִי עֶזְרָתִי וּמְפַלְטִי אַתָּה אֱלֹהַי אַל תְּאַחַר

KJ (40:17): But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

BN: But, as for me, who is poor and needy, my Lord will count that in my favour. {N} You are my help and my deliverer. Do not delay, my gods. {P}

ANI...ANI: We have seen this play on words before as well. One with an Aleph, one with an Ayin.

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Psalms:

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