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
It also uses some very unusual and sophisticated vocabulary.
6:1 LA MENATSE'ACH BIN'GIYNOT AL HA SHEMIYNIYT MIZMOR LE DAVID
KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician on Neginoth upon Sheminith, A Psalm of David.) O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
NEGIYNOT: Translated by me as "the string section", though it is by no means certain. A MANGIYNAH is a "tune" or "melody", and it is generally the string section of the orchestra which is responsible for that.
c) Shemiyni must in some way connect to the number eight, but a Shemiynit is quite specifically "an eighth", and musically an eighth is both part of musical language (blues tends to use sevenths, modern folk-rock music regularly uses suspended fourths...); but the eighth is also the Yehudit name for an octave, which is after all made up of eight notes, not including the black notes.
Which of these three is the correct explanation? I haven't a clue. Possibly none of them. (Best guess, the third.)
But I do know that a Mizmor both is and is not a Psalm. Which is to say, songs bearing this description are found exclusively in the Psalms, and the word is never used elsewhere in this way. But giving it this name also makes a distinction between it and other types of Psalm. The root is ZEMER, which means "song", and gives us the modern Kletzmer music, which is really "Kley Zemer" music ("instruments of song"). I think the key difference (forgive the pun) is that some Psalms are really all about the music, but a libretto has been added, whereas a Mizmor is all about the words, and the music provides accompaniment. And it might be the other way around, but the sophistication of the lyric seems to indicate that it is this way.
6:1 LA MENATSE'ACH BIN'GIYNOT AL HA SHEMIYNIYT MIZMOR LE DAVID
לַמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינוֹת עַל הַשְּׁמִינִית מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד
BN (BibleNet translation): For the Leader of the string section; on Shemiyniyt. A Mizmor to David.
Once again the opening verse is really just the title, not a part of the song. King James has dealt with this by incorporating verse 2. For this reason the second verse appears twice here, and I have bracketed the alternate verse numbers accordingly.
Two of the Psalms, this one and Psalm 12, have titles which seem to refer to pitch.
Once again the opening verse is really just the title, not a part of the song. King James has dealt with this by incorporating verse 2. For this reason the second verse appears twice here, and I have bracketed the alternate verse numbers accordingly.
Two of the Psalms, this one and Psalm 12, have titles which seem to refer to pitch.
NEGIYNOT: Translated by me as "the string section", though it is by no means certain. A MANGIYNAH is a "tune" or "melody", and it is generally the string section of the orchestra which is responsible for that.
SHEMIYNIYT: There are three very different options for explaining this:
a) Shemiyni is connected to the number eight (Shemonah), and there is an ancient festival which takes place at the end of the harvest season, on the final day in orthodox circles, on the day after in Reform circles, completing the twenty-three day cycle of the month of Tishrey, from Rosh ha Shanah by way of Yom Kippur, through Sukot to Simchat Torah - and on that last day Shemini Atseret, whose main focus is the prayers for rain. Could this then be a Psalm written specifically for the liturgy of that day?
b) The Shemayin were the inhabitants of the Shemaya (שְׁמַיָּא) - for which see Daniel 4:8, or Ezra 5:11 and 6:9), the latter being the Aramaic word for "the skies" , and the Shemayin therefore an alternative name for what we would now call the "gods", the "inhabitants of the heavens". Given that David is identified with the string instrument the lyre, and that Lyra comes into its own as a constellation in the autumn...
a) Shemiyni is connected to the number eight (Shemonah), and there is an ancient festival which takes place at the end of the harvest season, on the final day in orthodox circles, on the day after in Reform circles, completing the twenty-three day cycle of the month of Tishrey, from Rosh ha Shanah by way of Yom Kippur, through Sukot to Simchat Torah - and on that last day Shemini Atseret, whose main focus is the prayers for rain. Could this then be a Psalm written specifically for the liturgy of that day?
b) The Shemayin were the inhabitants of the Shemaya (שְׁמַיָּא) - for which see Daniel 4:8, or Ezra 5:11 and 6:9), the latter being the Aramaic word for "the skies" , and the Shemayin therefore an alternative name for what we would now call the "gods", the "inhabitants of the heavens". Given that David is identified with the string instrument the lyre, and that Lyra comes into its own as a constellation in the autumn...
c) Shemiyni must in some way connect to the number eight, but a Shemiynit is quite specifically "an eighth", and musically an eighth is both part of musical language (blues tends to use sevenths, modern folk-rock music regularly uses suspended fourths...); but the eighth is also the Yehudit name for an octave, which is after all made up of eight notes, not including the black notes.
Which of these three is the correct explanation? I haven't a clue. Possibly none of them. (Best guess, the third.)
But I do know that a Mizmor both is and is not a Psalm. Which is to say, songs bearing this description are found exclusively in the Psalms, and the word is never used elsewhere in this way. But giving it this name also makes a distinction between it and other types of Psalm. The root is ZEMER, which means "song", and gives us the modern Kletzmer music, which is really "Kley Zemer" music ("instruments of song"). I think the key difference (forgive the pun) is that some Psalms are really all about the music, but a libretto has been added, whereas a Mizmor is all about the words, and the music provides accompaniment. And it might be the other way around, but the sophistication of the lyric seems to indicate that it is this way.
While I remain undecided, the general consensus among the scholars is that two Psalmic titles seem to refer to pitch, this one and Psalm 12, with al ha shemiyniyt meaning "set to the eighth" - though alas they cannot go further and determine whether this means "in the Key of C major but using the upper range" or the kinds of tricks that Joni Mitchell performs, and banjo players ditto, which is to retune the instrument as suits what you want to achieve for that particular song. The Septuagint translates al ha shemiyniyt as hyper tes
ogdoes, which Jerome in his Vulgate then renders as pro octava - so clearly both of them regard the SHEMYINI as an eighth. However, it has been conjectured that "the eighth" means an octave lower, the lower or bass register, in contrast with the upper or soprano register - any contemporary guitarist can show you three ways to play the note E, only one of which requires even touching the fretboard: open bass on the bottom string, open treble on the top string, or fret 2 on the D string. The only other place we can go to get help on this abstruse and esoteric matter is in 1 Chronicles 15:20-21, where the the Levitical orchestra is given some music; the Leviyim are instructed to play with their Nevilim set
to Alamot, the others with their Kinnorot set to ha Shemiyniyt - and no question that "alamot" comes from the same root as ALIYAH, which is a"going up". So does "alamot" mean the "upper" register, and ha Shemiyniyt therefore "the lower"? Or is this a bar-indicator, telling them at what point of the line, or even the stave, to start playing the eighth note? No one knows.
LE DAVID: Once again "Le David", which means that it is addressed to him, not written by him.
6:2 YHVH AL BE APCHA TOCHIYCHENI VE AL BA CHAMAT'CHA TEYASRENI
KJ (6:1 cont): O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
KJ (6:2) Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed
BN: Show kindness to me, YHVH, for I am languishing away; heal me, YHVH, for my bones are trembling.
CHANENI: Chanun means "grace" or "mercy", and is the source of several English names: Hannah, Anna, Joan, Joanne and Joanna. I cannot resist noting that the English word "grace" comes from the Latin "gratis", which really means thanks, and that, in the capitalist world, we say thank you for a meal with a 10% "gratuity" to the human providers, but in the religious world we do so by singing "grace after meals" to the supernatural providers: both words gleaned from the same Latin source.
CHANENI is also used for "to show favour", and whether it is that, or grace, or mercy, depends entirely on context. We cannot really know which is intended here until we have read/heard the rest of the Psalm, which is why I have chosen the "gentlest" for my translation, in contrast to the "harsh" option of the King James.
UMLAL: The root, MALAL, is only ever used in poetry, and is a synonym for DIBER = "to speak". But really it means "to cut off" (no, I cannot explain how it gets from there to DIBER, but the fact that it mostly occurs in the Book of Daniel, which is a very late Babylonian import into Yehudan culture, may assist in the matter), and is used for pruning hedges, pollarding trees, clipping grapevines etc; in Job (which is a very early Babylonian import into Yehudan culture) it tends to mean the dried-out or post-flowering state of botany, which is the reason why it needs pruning, and from this the state of "languishing" that is described here.
Note that this verse again should really be read as two echoing halves, and that it continues the rhyming patterns in the previous verse:
6:4 VE NAPHSHI NIVHALAH ME'OD VE AT YHVH AD MATAY
KJ (6:3): My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
BN: My spirit has been set trembling in great measure; so it is now, but until when, YHVH?
NAPHSHI: Soul, or spirit? I am not convinced that Judaism even believes in the existence of a soul, which is a Christian concept. The NEPHESH is the breathing proof that I am alive, physical not metaphysical, and this is the part that is described as "languishing" in the previous verse.
BAHAL: in its root form means "tremble"; but this is the Niphal or passive form.
The King James translation of AT as "you" takes me by surprise - least of all because it makes YHVH feminine. Aleph-Tav is a complex word, and not only because it is constructed by placing the first and last letters of the alphabet side-by-side: a hint of Alpha and Omega rather than a mere A-Z, but the universalism, in this verse at least, is quite clearly deliberate. ET might simply be the form used to indicate an accusative (see my note to Genesis 1:1), but there is no accusative here; or it might be an OT, which is a sign or symbol from the heavens, which poetically it could very well be here, at least by resonance. But AT is also "now", and that surely is the principal intention here, contrasting with AD MATAI, which follows.
AD MATAI: Resonates with anyone who knows their Book of Isaiah (6:11 if you want to look it up). It would be interesting to know whether the Psalm was quoting Yesha-Yah, or Yesha-Yah the Psalm (more likely the latter); either way, the answer is not going to assist the poet in his current state of melancholy (but you will have to go to the link for that, and read on until verse 13, which is the end of the chapter).
6:5 SHUVAH YHVH CHALTSAH NAPHSHI HOSHIY'ENI LEMA'AN CHASDECHA
KJ (6:4): Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
BN: Turn back, YHVH, set my soul free; save me because you are endowed with deep compassion for humanity.
SHUVAH: To where would YHVH return, given that he never goes away - except at night, or in the winter, both of which are metaphored as the Underworld throughout these Psalms, both of which are allegorised in David's deep melancholy and depression and even fits of madness throughout these Psalms? But he does Histir Panav - turn his face away, the opposite of the Yevarechecha, which is what the Psalmist is seeking here: the Vitamin D deficiency which induces his craving for some Serotonin. When YHVH "turns his face away", bad things can happen; so the Psalmist is asking him to "turn back", or "turn again", and only poetically to "return".
LEMA'AN CHASDESCHA: The idea of this, even if not the absolutely precise words, can be found in the Yom Kippur liturgy, immediately before the "Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy" (Shelosh-Esrey Midot ha-Rachamim) mentioned above; in the "Darchecha Eloheynu" of Yose ben Yose, the earliest known liturgical poet after the fall of the Temple (4th, possibly 5th century CE), the man accredited with the invention of piyyut, which is to say liturgical poetry (all this is on page 67 of my book "The Day of Atonement"): "Act for Your sake, our god, and not for ours; behold our state, destitute and empty-handed."
CHASDECHA: What precisely is the difference between CHANUN and CHESED? Chesed yields Chasid, "the pious ones", but no one is infering piety to the deity. Nor does the word mean "mercy" - that is Chanun's role. "Love" and "desire", in the sense of "deep emotional commitment", which is what piety is in the end. But in the deity? My translation is deliberately excessive, but it is done in that way to try to convey the meaning fully. "Save me because you care" might have been enough (though sadly there is no historical evidence for either of these statements).
Three parts to this verse, one of the classic structures of the Psalms, a Yisra-Eli equvalent of the Haiku, almost:
6:6 KI EYN BA MAVET ZICHRECHA BI SHE'OL MI YODEH LACH
KJ (6:5): For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
6:7 YAGA'TI BE ANCHATI ASCHEH VE CHOL LAILAH MITATI BE DIM'ATI ARSI AMSEH
KJ (6:6): I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
BN: I am weary from groaning; every night make I my bed swim; I melt away my couch with my tears.
At first reading this verse is slightly shocking: a groan man - sorry, that should have been written "a grown man" - lying in bed night after night, soaking his pillow with tears. Why? Has someone he loves just died a tragic death? Not according to the previous verses. Is it just misanthropic despair at the pathetic mediocrity of his fellow humans and the futile vacuity of their lives? No, that's the Book of Ecclesiastes, not the Psalms. Is it self-indulgence in whining self-pity at his own feebleness? Possibly, but there are still too many tears. Is it, then, mere poetic licence, extended to hyperbole? Perhaps, but these Psalms are generally precise to a point of fastidiousness, with word-games and sound-games and triple-meanings everywhere - so there surely has to be something more profound than this here.
We have already been drawn, and will again, repeatedly, to the Yevarechecha, asking the deity to turn his face and shine on us, suffering seasonal affective disorder when he does not. And now we are in She'ol, the netherland where the sun never shines; and at night too in this verse, where ditto.
ARSI: The root ARAS doesn't lead us anywhere (though I would note that the word is generally used for the canopy over the bed rather than the bed itself, and also for the canopy over the royal throne). But then there is DIM'ATI, and DUMAH, the root, in Eliot's wasteland, as in Ezekiel 27:32 (though much better look at Lamentations 3:49, which is almost identical to this verse) for "destruction". Jeremiah 14:17 as well - for this, look at my notes on Psalm 116.
If Sha'ul is King of the Underworld, David is the corn-god, the royal manifestation of the earth's fertility, the Fisher-King, and that much water pouring from his eyes may simply be the tears of the deity, pouring down in sorrow from the canopy which is the heavens: the rain longed for and prayed for at Shemini Atseret. So there is hope in the Psalm as well; because even in the destroyed wilderness, even in the drought, even at midnight in midwinter, there is still life, because there is still rain.
And now go back and look again at my three options for Shemiyniyt in verse 1. And while you are there, look again at all that generated heat; are we in a time of drought, the deity sending a heatwave as a "punishment" for human sin, and that the reason for the prayers for rain? The next verse will confirm that it is.
6:8 ASHESHAH MI KA'AS EYNI ATKAH BE CHOL TSORERAY
KJ (6:7): Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
BN: Me eye is dimmed with anger; it wanes old because of all my adversaries.
EYNI: The plays on words are endless. The Ayin is indeed the eye, but it is also (see my note to PO'ALEI AVEN in Psalm 5:6, and then find them again in the next verse, below) the deep well of nothingness, the void, the hole in the Earth that leads down to She'ol: still more places where the sun cannot shine.
ATKAH: I am uncomfortable with the King James translation of this as "waxes"; that word comes from the German wachsen = "to grow", which is a positive, forward impulse, and is best known from the first phase of the moon; but here his eye is in the third phase of the moon, waning.
BE CHOL TSORERAY: As noted above, this is the original-original of the "pathetic fallacy": whatever happens to us, as humans, including whatever happens to Nature, is a consequence of our "sins", which is to say our good and bad choices. An earthquake, a drought, a tsunami, a plague - we must have sinned. Summer sunshine, an abundance of milk and honey - the gods are happy with us. And when that over-simplification doesn't always work, throw in the Book of Job, with rebels in Heaven trying to undermine the gods, acting against the pathetic fallacy on Earth: the adversaries.
6:9 SURU MIMENI KOL PO'ALEY AVEN KI SHAM'A YHVH KOL BICH'YIY
KJ (6:8): Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
BN: Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for YHVH has heard the voice of my weeping.
SURU: Word-games, and still more word-games. Which root shall we choose? YASUR is clearly intended here, meaning "to turn aside", "depart", "go away", and hundreds of occurrences, but try Exodus 32:8 or 1 Samuel 12:20 for turning away from the deity, or Joshua 23:6 for departing from the law, or Job 15:30 for getting out of calamity. But there is also SAR, a completely separate root though spelled exactly the same, known from the Arabic as well, and therefore probably imported from Arabia at some juncture. And what does SUR mean? In 1 Kings 20:43 and 21:4 and 5 it is used to mean "sullen", but only because "sullen" is what happens when you are overtaken by the root's full meaning, which is "evil".
6:10 SHAM'A YHVH TECHINATI YHVH TEPHILATI YIKACH
KJ (6:9): The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.
BN: YHVH has heard my supplication; YHVH will accept my petition.
TEPHILATI: Note the use of this word, which comes from the same root that yields Tephilah, which is "prayer", and Tephilin, which are the leather "phylacteries" worn by orthodox Jews when they pray the morning service (is that an odd coincidence, given this Psalm, that they only wear them for the Shacharit, which is not really the "morning" prayers at all, but quite specifically the "dawn" prayers, the "moment when the sun emerges from the darkness" prayers?)
6:11 YEVOSHU VE YIBAHALU ME'OD KOL OYEVAI YASHUVU YEVOSHU RAG'A
KJ (6:10): Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
BN: All my enemies shall be ashamed and sore affrighted; they shall turn back, they shall be instantly ashamed. {P}
YEVOSHU...YASHUVU: Games with the meanings of words, games with the sounds of words, anagrams of the letters of words...
RAG'A: Not obvious how KJ gets "suddenly" from this. The petition is heard, YHVH answers, and the immediate impact is shame among the adversaries. A Reg'a is a minute, as in one-sixtieth of an hour. When you say "Rak reg'a" to someone, it means "hold on just for a second". It is not sudden, it is immediate.
יְהוָה אַל בְּאַפְּךָ תוֹכִיחֵנִי וְאַל בַּחֲמָתְךָ תְיַסְּרֵנִי
BN: YHVH, do not use the power of your nostrils against me, and do not chasten me in your wrath.
This verse uses rhyme and a very strict structure, better seen if we separate the two halves:
Almost exactly the same pair of lines will open Psalm 38.
6:3 CHANENI YHVH KI UMLAL ANI REPHA'ENI YHVH KI NIVHALU ATSAMAI
This verse uses rhyme and a very strict structure, better seen if we separate the two halves:
YHVH AL BE APCHA TOCHIYCHENIIt also plays with words, which is why I have translated both halves literally, even though the first half is really a figure of speech, and only the second half literal. We are now familiar with the divine anger being depicted as the flaming of the bull's nostrils, but now that heat becomes the CHAMAT of the second half.
VE AL BA CHAMAT'CHA TEYASRENI
Almost exactly the same pair of lines will open Psalm 38.
6:3 CHANENI YHVH KI UMLAL ANI REPHA'ENI YHVH KI NIVHALU ATSAMAI
חָנֵּנִי יְהוָה כִּי אֻמְלַל אָנִי רְפָאֵנִי יְהוָה כִּי נִבְהֲלוּ עֲצָמָי
KJ (6:2) Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed
BN: Show kindness to me, YHVH, for I am languishing away; heal me, YHVH, for my bones are trembling.
CHANENI: Chanun means "grace" or "mercy", and is the source of several English names: Hannah, Anna, Joan, Joanne and Joanna. I cannot resist noting that the English word "grace" comes from the Latin "gratis", which really means thanks, and that, in the capitalist world, we say thank you for a meal with a 10% "gratuity" to the human providers, but in the religious world we do so by singing "grace after meals" to the supernatural providers: both words gleaned from the same Latin source.
CHANENI is also used for "to show favour", and whether it is that, or grace, or mercy, depends entirely on context. We cannot really know which is intended here until we have read/heard the rest of the Psalm, which is why I have chosen the "gentlest" for my translation, in contrast to the "harsh" option of the King James.
And the concept of CHANUN, which is one of the thirteen attributes of the deity according to Exodus 34:6-7 (the verses now form part of the Selichot prayers), is inevitable in any tale connected with David, because his personal shaman was the Prophet Shemu-El, and Shemu-El's mother was named Chanah, from the same root, and herself authoressed one of the greatest of the Psalms not included in the anthology (1 Samuel 2:1-10).
UMLAL: The root, MALAL, is only ever used in poetry, and is a synonym for DIBER = "to speak". But really it means "to cut off" (no, I cannot explain how it gets from there to DIBER, but the fact that it mostly occurs in the Book of Daniel, which is a very late Babylonian import into Yehudan culture, may assist in the matter), and is used for pruning hedges, pollarding trees, clipping grapevines etc; in Job (which is a very early Babylonian import into Yehudan culture) it tends to mean the dried-out or post-flowering state of botany, which is the reason why it needs pruning, and from this the state of "languishing" that is described here.
Note that this verse again should really be read as two echoing halves, and that it continues the rhyming patterns in the previous verse:
CHANENI YHVH KI UMLAL ANI
REPHA'ENI YHVH KI NIVHALU ATSAMAI
6:4 VE NAPHSHI NIVHALAH ME'OD VE AT YHVH AD MATAY
וְנַפְשִׁי נִבְהֲלָה מְאֹד וְאַתְּ יְהוָה עַד מָתָי
KJ (6:3): My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
BN: My spirit has been set trembling in great measure; so it is now, but until when, YHVH?
NAPHSHI: Soul, or spirit? I am not convinced that Judaism even believes in the existence of a soul, which is a Christian concept. The NEPHESH is the breathing proof that I am alive, physical not metaphysical, and this is the part that is described as "languishing" in the previous verse.
BAHAL: in its root form means "tremble"; but this is the Niphal or passive form.
The King James translation of AT as "you" takes me by surprise - least of all because it makes YHVH feminine. Aleph-Tav is a complex word, and not only because it is constructed by placing the first and last letters of the alphabet side-by-side: a hint of Alpha and Omega rather than a mere A-Z, but the universalism, in this verse at least, is quite clearly deliberate. ET might simply be the form used to indicate an accusative (see my note to Genesis 1:1), but there is no accusative here; or it might be an OT, which is a sign or symbol from the heavens, which poetically it could very well be here, at least by resonance. But AT is also "now", and that surely is the principal intention here, contrasting with AD MATAI, which follows.
AD MATAI: Resonates with anyone who knows their Book of Isaiah (6:11 if you want to look it up). It would be interesting to know whether the Psalm was quoting Yesha-Yah, or Yesha-Yah the Psalm (more likely the latter); either way, the answer is not going to assist the poet in his current state of melancholy (but you will have to go to the link for that, and read on until verse 13, which is the end of the chapter).
6:5 SHUVAH YHVH CHALTSAH NAPHSHI HOSHIY'ENI LEMA'AN CHASDECHA
שׁוּבָה יְהוָה חַלְּצָה נַפְשִׁי הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי לְמַעַן חַסְדֶּךָ
KJ (6:4): Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies' sake.
BN: Turn back, YHVH, set my soul free; save me because you are endowed with deep compassion for humanity.
SHUVAH: To where would YHVH return, given that he never goes away - except at night, or in the winter, both of which are metaphored as the Underworld throughout these Psalms, both of which are allegorised in David's deep melancholy and depression and even fits of madness throughout these Psalms? But he does Histir Panav - turn his face away, the opposite of the Yevarechecha, which is what the Psalmist is seeking here: the Vitamin D deficiency which induces his craving for some Serotonin. When YHVH "turns his face away", bad things can happen; so the Psalmist is asking him to "turn back", or "turn again", and only poetically to "return".
LEMA'AN CHASDESCHA: The idea of this, even if not the absolutely precise words, can be found in the Yom Kippur liturgy, immediately before the "Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy" (Shelosh-Esrey Midot ha-Rachamim) mentioned above; in the "Darchecha Eloheynu" of Yose ben Yose, the earliest known liturgical poet after the fall of the Temple (4th, possibly 5th century CE), the man accredited with the invention of piyyut, which is to say liturgical poetry (all this is on page 67 of my book "The Day of Atonement"): "Act for Your sake, our god, and not for ours; behold our state, destitute and empty-handed."
CHASDECHA: What precisely is the difference between CHANUN and CHESED? Chesed yields Chasid, "the pious ones", but no one is infering piety to the deity. Nor does the word mean "mercy" - that is Chanun's role. "Love" and "desire", in the sense of "deep emotional commitment", which is what piety is in the end. But in the deity? My translation is deliberately excessive, but it is done in that way to try to convey the meaning fully. "Save me because you care" might have been enough (though sadly there is no historical evidence for either of these statements).
Three parts to this verse, one of the classic structures of the Psalms, a Yisra-Eli equvalent of the Haiku, almost:
SHUVAH YHVH
CHALTSAH NAPHSHI
HOSHIY'ENI LEMA'AN CHASDESCHA
6:6 KI EYN BA MAVET ZICHRECHA BI SHE'OL MI YODEH LACH
כִּי אֵין בַּמָּוֶת זִכְרֶךָ בִּשְׁאוֹל מִי יוֹדֶה לָּךְ
KJ (6:5): For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?
BN: The dead have no means of remembering you; who will thank you in She'ol?
SHE'OL: The King James, and most other English translations, simply miss this first occurrence of one of the most important moments in the entire Book of Psalms, the confirmation that David is not, or at least not only, the earthly king, but the metaphorical incarnation of the Beloved Son.
In a Psalm addressed to David, we should expect to find the name of the King who pursued him so relentlessly, hoping to prevent the fulfillment of the oracle, which predicted that "the companion of the king" would supplant him on the throne. In the Book of Samuel, like the mediaeval "sanitised" versions of the Arthurian mythology, all of this is reduced to a historical epic, set in earthly locations, telling a human story. But mythologically this is the tale of the Cosmos, and the king who will be supplanted will then become the Lord of the Underworld - Sha'ul (שאול) is his name in Yehudit, though we say Saul in English, and She'ol (שאול) his kingdom, the two indistinguishable in unpointed Yehudit.
YODEH: No question that this means "thanks", but aurally it is remarkably close to YODE'AH, which means "to know" - "who will know you in She'ol?". A deliberate play on sounds?
LACH: should really be LECHA, as the deity is masculine; or is it possible that the Redactor left this in, and did the same on countless other occasions (see AT in verse 4, above), as a way of noting that the deity of the Beney Yisra-El, though monotheistic and male by his time, had previously been polytheistic? Given the key role of the goddess Yah throughout these Psalms, it would not have been an unwise decision.
SHE'OL: The King James, and most other English translations, simply miss this first occurrence of one of the most important moments in the entire Book of Psalms, the confirmation that David is not, or at least not only, the earthly king, but the metaphorical incarnation of the Beloved Son.
In a Psalm addressed to David, we should expect to find the name of the King who pursued him so relentlessly, hoping to prevent the fulfillment of the oracle, which predicted that "the companion of the king" would supplant him on the throne. In the Book of Samuel, like the mediaeval "sanitised" versions of the Arthurian mythology, all of this is reduced to a historical epic, set in earthly locations, telling a human story. But mythologically this is the tale of the Cosmos, and the king who will be supplanted will then become the Lord of the Underworld - Sha'ul (שאול) is his name in Yehudit, though we say Saul in English, and She'ol (שאול) his kingdom, the two indistinguishable in unpointed Yehudit.
YODEH: No question that this means "thanks", but aurally it is remarkably close to YODE'AH, which means "to know" - "who will know you in She'ol?". A deliberate play on sounds?
LACH: should really be LECHA, as the deity is masculine; or is it possible that the Redactor left this in, and did the same on countless other occasions (see AT in verse 4, above), as a way of noting that the deity of the Beney Yisra-El, though monotheistic and male by his time, had previously been polytheistic? Given the key role of the goddess Yah throughout these Psalms, it would not have been an unwise decision.
6:7 YAGA'TI BE ANCHATI ASCHEH VE CHOL LAILAH MITATI BE DIM'ATI ARSI AMSEH
יָגַעְתִּי בְּאַנְחָתִי אַשְׂחֶה בְכָל לַיְלָה מִטָּתִי בְּדִמְעָתִי עַרְשִׂי אַמְסֶה
KJ (6:6): I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears.
BN: I am weary from groaning; every night make I my bed swim; I melt away my couch with my tears.
At first reading this verse is slightly shocking: a groan man - sorry, that should have been written "a grown man" - lying in bed night after night, soaking his pillow with tears. Why? Has someone he loves just died a tragic death? Not according to the previous verses. Is it just misanthropic despair at the pathetic mediocrity of his fellow humans and the futile vacuity of their lives? No, that's the Book of Ecclesiastes, not the Psalms. Is it self-indulgence in whining self-pity at his own feebleness? Possibly, but there are still too many tears. Is it, then, mere poetic licence, extended to hyperbole? Perhaps, but these Psalms are generally precise to a point of fastidiousness, with word-games and sound-games and triple-meanings everywhere - so there surely has to be something more profound than this here.
We have already been drawn, and will again, repeatedly, to the Yevarechecha, asking the deity to turn his face and shine on us, suffering seasonal affective disorder when he does not. And now we are in She'ol, the netherland where the sun never shines; and at night too in this verse, where ditto.
ARSI: The root ARAS doesn't lead us anywhere (though I would note that the word is generally used for the canopy over the bed rather than the bed itself, and also for the canopy over the royal throne). But then there is DIM'ATI, and DUMAH, the root, in Eliot's wasteland, as in Ezekiel 27:32 (though much better look at Lamentations 3:49, which is almost identical to this verse) for "destruction". Jeremiah 14:17 as well - for this, look at my notes on Psalm 116.
If Sha'ul is King of the Underworld, David is the corn-god, the royal manifestation of the earth's fertility, the Fisher-King, and that much water pouring from his eyes may simply be the tears of the deity, pouring down in sorrow from the canopy which is the heavens: the rain longed for and prayed for at Shemini Atseret. So there is hope in the Psalm as well; because even in the destroyed wilderness, even in the drought, even at midnight in midwinter, there is still life, because there is still rain.
And now go back and look again at my three options for Shemiyniyt in verse 1. And while you are there, look again at all that generated heat; are we in a time of drought, the deity sending a heatwave as a "punishment" for human sin, and that the reason for the prayers for rain? The next verse will confirm that it is.
6:8 ASHESHAH MI KA'AS EYNI ATKAH BE CHOL TSORERAY
עָשְׁשָׁה מִכַּעַס עֵינִי עָתְקָה בְּכָל צוֹרְרָי
KJ (6:7): Mine eye is consumed because of grief; it waxeth old because of all mine enemies.
BN: Me eye is dimmed with anger; it wanes old because of all my adversaries.
EYNI: The plays on words are endless. The Ayin is indeed the eye, but it is also (see my note to PO'ALEI AVEN in Psalm 5:6, and then find them again in the next verse, below) the deep well of nothingness, the void, the hole in the Earth that leads down to She'ol: still more places where the sun cannot shine.
ATKAH: I am uncomfortable with the King James translation of this as "waxes"; that word comes from the German wachsen = "to grow", which is a positive, forward impulse, and is best known from the first phase of the moon; but here his eye is in the third phase of the moon, waning.
BE CHOL TSORERAY: As noted above, this is the original-original of the "pathetic fallacy": whatever happens to us, as humans, including whatever happens to Nature, is a consequence of our "sins", which is to say our good and bad choices. An earthquake, a drought, a tsunami, a plague - we must have sinned. Summer sunshine, an abundance of milk and honey - the gods are happy with us. And when that over-simplification doesn't always work, throw in the Book of Job, with rebels in Heaven trying to undermine the gods, acting against the pathetic fallacy on Earth: the adversaries.
6:9 SURU MIMENI KOL PO'ALEY AVEN KI SHAM'A YHVH KOL BICH'YIY
סוּרוּ מִמֶּנִּי כָּל פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן כִּי שָׁמַע יְהוָה קוֹל בִּכְיִי
KJ (6:8): Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.
BN: Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for YHVH has heard the voice of my weeping.
SURU: Word-games, and still more word-games. Which root shall we choose? YASUR is clearly intended here, meaning "to turn aside", "depart", "go away", and hundreds of occurrences, but try Exodus 32:8 or 1 Samuel 12:20 for turning away from the deity, or Joshua 23:6 for departing from the law, or Job 15:30 for getting out of calamity. But there is also SAR, a completely separate root though spelled exactly the same, known from the Arabic as well, and therefore probably imported from Arabia at some juncture. And what does SUR mean? In 1 Kings 20:43 and 21:4 and 5 it is used to mean "sullen", but only because "sullen" is what happens when you are overtaken by the root's full meaning, which is "evil".
6:10 SHAM'A YHVH TECHINATI YHVH TEPHILATI YIKACH
שָׁמַע יְהוָה תְּחִנָּתִי יְהוָה תְּפִלָּתִי יִקָּח
KJ (6:9): The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer.
BN: YHVH has heard my supplication; YHVH will accept my petition.
TEPHILATI: Note the use of this word, which comes from the same root that yields Tephilah, which is "prayer", and Tephilin, which are the leather "phylacteries" worn by orthodox Jews when they pray the morning service (is that an odd coincidence, given this Psalm, that they only wear them for the Shacharit, which is not really the "morning" prayers at all, but quite specifically the "dawn" prayers, the "moment when the sun emerges from the darkness" prayers?)
6:11 YEVOSHU VE YIBAHALU ME'OD KOL OYEVAI YASHUVU YEVOSHU RAG'A
יֵבֹשׁוּ וְיִבָּהֲלוּ מְאֹד כָּל אֹיְבָי יָשֻׁבוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ רָגַע
KJ (6:10): Let all mine enemies be ashamed and sore vexed: let them return and be ashamed suddenly.
BN: All my enemies shall be ashamed and sore affrighted; they shall turn back, they shall be instantly ashamed. {P}
YEVOSHU...YASHUVU: Games with the meanings of words, games with the sounds of words, anagrams of the letters of words...
RAG'A: Not obvious how KJ gets "suddenly" from this. The petition is heard, YHVH answers, and the immediate impact is shame among the adversaries. A Reg'a is a minute, as in one-sixtieth of an hour. When you say "Rak reg'a" to someone, it means "hold on just for a second". It is not sudden, it is immediate.
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
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