TheBibleNet: Psalm 9

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

In the introduction, I spoke about the number of Psalms that are in existence, which is generally reckoned to be as many as 160, though most collections only include 150. So which? Psalms 9 and 10 provide us with one of the reasons for the problem: in both the Greek Septuagint (9 here, 10 here), and the Latin Vulgate (9 here, 10 here) [though, as you can tell by them needing two links, modern versions of both have separated them, trying to avoid confusion], Psalms 9 and 10 are a single, combined Psalm, which the Masoretes "incorrectly separated".

The evidence apparently lies in the structure, which is not always obvious from the presentation of the text in verse-form, and definitely not obvious in English translations: in fact, the Psalm is an acrostic, beginning at Aleph in what is presented as verse 2, but should be verse 1, the title being the opening line here. Verses 2 and 3 combine, with two Alephs; verses 4 and 5 are the Bet line; 6 is Gimmel, 7 Hey and 8-11 are all Vav; 12 and 13 are the Zayin line; 14 and 15 are Chet; 16 and 17 are Tet; 18 is Yud; 19 is Kaph... all fine up to here...

But then the acrostic does not appear to continue, with a Kuph at line 20, and a Sheen at 21. Perhaps they are still part of the Kaph line, and we will start Psalm 10 with the Lamed line... as indeed it does; but nothing after it continues the acrostic, or even looks remotely like an acrostic might be discernible - by ignoring conjunctions, say, and going by the first formal letter in the line.

If you want to follow this up, there are lots of detailed studies available - click here for one good example; my own view is that Psalm 9 may well have been an acrostic originally, but if it was, it is now missing the whole of its second half - and I see no evidence, beyond similarity of theme and the fact that it happens to come next because of that, to suggest that Psalm 10 was the acrostical continuation of Psalm 9. Rather, I think, the second half of Psalm 9 simply got lost, and it was the Septuagint that was "incorrect" in combining the two.

9:1 LA MENATSE'ACH AL MUT LABEN MIZMOR LE DAVID

לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַלְמוּת לַבֵּן מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician upon Muthlabben, A Psalm of David.) I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

BN (BibleNet translation): For the conductor; using the melody of "Mut la Ben". A Psalm to David.

BN: (alternate BibleNet translation): For the conductor, on the festival of the death of the beloved son, a Psalm to the beloved son.

Once again the King James has amalgamated the first verse into the title, rendering its numbering different from the Yehudit.

LA MENATSE'ACH: As with the previous, the "conductor", but not specified whether he is conducting just the strings, or just the choir, and therefore we must assume it is the full ensemble on this occasion.

Is it AL MUT LABEN or ALMUT LABEN or AL MUTLABEN? The Septuagint renders it as "hyper ton kyphion tou yiou", which Jerome's Vulgate translates as "pro occultis filii", both of them meaning "concerning the secret sins of the son"; Aquila goes for "hyper akmes tou hiou", of the youth of the son”; Theodotion, has "hyper akmes tou hyiou", "concerning the maturity of the son”. So might the Masoretes have this wrong too, and it should be "Al Mot La Ben"? Whatever the pointing, "On the Death of the Beloved Son" - who is of course David himself. And if so, does that make this a Psalm for the Spring festival, as with Jesus' crucifixion; the start of the fertility season? Or for the Autumn festival, as with the Guy Faux, the time of the harvest?

As with AL HA GITIT in Psalm 8, there is a school of scholars that insists on this being a reference to a well-known song whose melody has been borrowed. They translate this phrase as "set to the tune 'Death Whitens'", reckong LABEN as LAVAN, which means "white".

And a MIZMOR dedicated "to" David, whose full name means "the beloved son", as in the Earth-god who dies and is reborn annually.

9:2 ODEH YHVH BE CHOL LIBI ASAPRAH KOL NIPHLE'OTEYCHA

אוֹדֶה יְהוָה בְּכָל לִבִּי אֲסַפְּרָה כָּל נִפְלְאוֹתֶיךָ

KJ (9:1) I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.

BN: I will give thanks to YHVH with all my heart. I will recount all of your marvellous works.

9:3 ESMECHAH VE E'ELTSAH VACH AZAMRAH SHIMCHA ELYON

אֶשְׂמְחָה וְאֶעֶלְצָה בָךְ אֲזַמְּרָה שִׁמְךָ עֶלְיוֹן

KJ (9:2): I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.

BN: I will be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing in your name, Most High One.

ESMECHA...AZAMRAH: parallels in meaning as well as rhyme, but note that Esmecha also parallels homonymously with Shimcha - homonoymously, but not homophonously, playing with not one but two unpointed written letters, the Chet-Chaf and the Seen-Sheen.

E'ELTSAH...ELYON: Again playing sound-games, E'el... with an Aleph, El... with an Ayin.

ELYON: See my note in an earlier Psalm, as well as the link here. On this occasion, should it be translated as "Your Majesty"?

9:4 BE SHUV OYEVAI ACHOR YIKASHLU VE YOVDU MIPANEYCHA

בְּשׁוּב אוֹיְבַי אָחוֹר יִכָּשְׁלוּ וְיֹאבְדוּ מִפָּנֶיךָ

KJ (9:3): When mine enemies are turned back, they shall fall and perish at thy presence.

BN: When my enemies are turned back, they shall stumble and perish before you.

BE SHUV: The phrase recurs throughout the Psalms, and we have to determine on each occasion whether its intention is physical or spiritual. The return of the sun a couple of Psalms back was both: day rising, but also the inner warmth when the vitamin D starts working. A Ba'al Teshuvah is a person who has lost faith, but then recovered it - which theme recurs throughout the Psalms, in a variety of ways and at a variety of levels. And this is the Beloved Son, pre-Jesus but with with same role and purpose: the symbolic representation of the Cosmic Power that brought the Earth into existence (Brahma in the Hindu world), sustains it (Vishnu in the Hindu world), but allows it symbolically to die (Siva in the Hindu world), every night, every winter, so that it can be "resurrected", every morning, every spring. So the enemies might be cold and darkness, or they might be earthquakes and meteorite storms, or they might be invading armies or ambitious sons staging coups d'état, or they might be loss of faith through grief, or inner guilt over some personal failure. Any or all of these, and plenty more.

OYEVAI: On this occasion I think we can treat them as physical enemies, if only because this is the word used, rather than the other two main terms, ha-Satan (see the next verse), and TSORERIM (for which see verse 10).

9:5 KI ASIYTA MISHPATI VE DIYNI YASHAVTA LE KIS'E SHOPHET TSEDEK

כִּי עָשִׂיתָ מִשְׁפָּטִי וְדִינִי יָשַׁבְתָּ לְכִסֵּא שׁוֹפֵט צֶדֶק

KJ (9:4): For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right.

BN: For you upheld my rights and my suit. You sat on the throne as a righteous Judge.

KIS'E SHOPHET TSEDEK: The expression of the deity as an abstract idealism, rather than a manifestation or epiphany of the material world: metaphysics replacing physics in the spiritual realm. This is the key transition from "primitive" religion to "modern"; religion, generally unknown before the 6th century BCE.

But it also causes me to question my statement about OYEVAI in the previous verse, because ha-Satan, in its original form, was the prosecuting counsel in a court of law, and though he is not named anywhere in this Psalm, he is present by default in this verse (see Psalm 109:6 as well).

9:6 GA'ARTA GOYIM IBADETA RASH'A SHEMAM MACHIYTA LE OLAM VA ED

גָּעַרְתָּ גוֹיִם אִבַּדְתָּ רָשָׁע שְׁמָם מָחִיתָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד

KJ (9:5): Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.

BN: You have rebuked the nations. You have destroyed the wicked. You have blotted out their name for ever and ever.

We can begin to recognise patterns that constitute form: this verse broken down into three clearly separate sections, where each of the previous verses was just as clearly two equal parts.

9:7 HA OYEV TAMU CHARAVOT LA NETSACH VE ARIM NATASHTA AVAD ZICHRAM HEMAH

הָאוֹיֵב תַּמּוּ חֳרָבוֹת לָנֶצַח וְעָרִים נָתַשְׁתָּ אָבַד זִכְרָם הֵמָּה

KJ (9:6): O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

BN: And you, my enemy, have been reduced to nothingness for ever, your cities destroyed, the very memory that they ever existed destroyed.

Again three parts to the verse. But also some complexities with the grammar, which lead me to a slightly different translation. HA OYEV is singular and masculine, so TAMU cannot be its verb, because it is plural, though NATASHTA could be its verb, but why is it then placed so late in the sentence? TAMU must go either with CHARAVOT, or with ARIM, or possibly both. Then there is ZICHRAM, which is masculine plural, and cannot therefore go with CHAROVOT, which is feminine plural, or with ARIM which, despite having a masculine ending (IM rather than OT) is actually feminine (click here if you don't believe me). And HEMAH likewise is feminine, so why is it not ZICHRAN?

9:8 VA YHVH LE OLAM YESHEV KONEN LA MISHPAT KIS'O

וַיהוָה לְעוֹלָם יֵשֵׁב כּוֹנֵן לַמִּשְׁפָּט כִּסְאוֹ

KJ (9:7): But the LORD shall endure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.

BN: But YHVH is enthroned for ever. He has established his throne for judgment.

2 triplets, rather than three parts.

9:9 VE HU YISHPOT TEVEL BE TSEDEK YADIN LE'UMIM BE MEYSHARIM

וְהוּא יִשְׁפֹּט תֵּבֵל בְּצֶדֶק יָדִין לְאֻמִּים בְּמֵישָׁרִים

KJ (9:8): And he shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightness.

BN: And he will judge the world righteously. He will administer Justice to the nations with equity.

9:10 VIY'HI YHVH MISGAV LA DACH MISGAV LE ITOT BA TSARAH

וִיהִי יְהוָה מִשְׂגָּב לַדָּךְ מִשְׂגָּב לְעִתּוֹת בַּצָּרָה

KJ (9:9): The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.

BN: YHVH will provide a high place for the downcast, a sanctuary when life gets difficult.

MISGAV: There is in fact a town, or probably, as per the link, a "mountain stronghold", named Misgav, mentioned in Jeremiah 48:1, located in Mo-Av. The name recurs as a "sanctuary" or "place of refuge" throughout the Psalms: 18:3, 46:8 and 12, 48:4, 59:10 and 18, 94:22.

9:11 VE YIVTECHU VECHA YOD'EY SHEMECHA KI LO AZAVTA DORSHEYCHA YHVH

וְיִבְטְחוּ בְךָ יוֹדְעֵי שְׁמֶךָ כִּי לֹא עָזַבְתָּ דֹרְשֶׁיךָ יְהוָה

KJ (9:10): And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

BN: And they who know your name will place their trust in you, for you, YHVH, have not forsaken those who sought you.

In fact the words of the first half of this verse are in reverse order: "they will place their trust in you who know your name". But that reversal is clumsy and uncomfortable in English.

9:12 ZAMRU LA YHVH YOSHEV TSI'ON HAGIYDU VA AMIM ALIYLOTAV

זַמְּרוּ לַיהוָה יֹשֵׁב צִיּוֹן הַגִּידוּ בָעַמִּים עֲלִילוֹתָיו

KJ (9:11): Sing praises to the LORD, which dwelleth in Zion: declare among the people his doings.

BN: Sing praises to YHVH who dwells in Tsi'on. Declare his deeds among the nations.

ALIYLOTAV: Strange word to choose, this, because it has negative connotations. In Deuteronomy 22 especially, verses 14 and 17. But also in the Psalms - see 14:1 and 99:8. The more positive use can be found, inter alia, at Psalms 66:5, 77:12, 78:11...

This verse, mildly modified, recurs (hardly suprisingly!) among the Prophetic writings, but in this precise form only at Isaiah 12:4.

9:13 KI DORESH DAMIM OTAM ZACHAR LO SHACHACH TSA'AKAT ANIYIM

כִּי דֹרֵשׁ דָּמִים אוֹתָם זָכָר לֹא שָׁכַח צַעֲקַת עֲנִיִּים

KJ (9:12): When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the humble.

BN: For he demands blood of those who remember; he has not forgotten the cry of the afflicted.

ZACHAR, or ZECHAR? Games here between remembering (first half) and forgetting (second half). The blood in question is not human, but that of the sacrifices on the altar.

ANIYIM: I have gone for "afflicted" here, because it conveys the multiple tiers discussed at verse 4: the affliction could be poverty, and therefore an inability to bring anything meaningful for sacrifice; or it could be inner suffering, for which the sanctuary is rather more the psychiatrist's couch cum confession booth than the sacrificial altar. Or the third possibility, which comes in the next verse.

9:14 CHANENENI YHVH RE'EH ANEYI MI SON'AI MEROMEMI MI SHA'AREI MAVET

חָנְנֵנִי יְהוָה רְאֵה עָנְיִי מִשֹּׂנְאָי מְרוֹמְמִי מִשַּׁעֲרֵי מָוֶת

KJ (9:13): Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:

BN: Have mercy on me, YHVH. See my affliction at the hands of those who hate me, you who lifts me up from the gates of death.

SHA'AREI MAVET: The god of death (in all its forms, as per my note to verse 4) in the Kena'ani world was named MOT. We are in his kingdom on this occasion, rather than Sha'ul's, and this Psalm is on Mot La Ben, so perhaps we should have expected Mot and Mavet - though see verse 18.

9:15 LEMA'AN ASAPRAH KOL TEHILATECHA BE SHA'AREY VAT TSI'ON AGIYLAH BIYSHU'ATECHA

לְמַעַן אֲסַפְּרָה כָּל תְּהִלָּתֶיךָ בְּשַׁעֲרֵי בַת צִיּוֹן אָגִילָה בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ

KJ (9:14): That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will rejoice in thy salvation.

BN: So I will sing your praise in the gates of the daughter of Tsi'on, and rejoice in your salvation.

VAT TSI'ON: At what point did the ancient polytheism begin to be transformed into monotheism, and patriarchal monotheism at that? David as beloved son must obviously be siblinged with a beloved daughter, the youngest of the triplet that makes up the threefold moon: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Brunhilde, Cordelia, Mary Magdalene, etc. These references to MOT and VAT TSI'ON indicate a very much earlier Kena'ani hymn that has been updated to meet the needs of the Temple, though whether it was First Temple or Second Temple is harder to say.

Also worth looking at Michah 4:10, where the term appears to be the female equivalent of Ben Adam, "Human Being".

9:16 TAV'U GOYIM BE SHACHAT ASU BE RESHET ZU TAMANU NILKEDAH RAGLAM

טָבְעוּ גוֹיִם בְּשַׁחַת עָשׂוּ בְּרֶשֶׁת זוּ טָמָנוּ נִלְכְּדָה רַגְלָם

KJ (9:15): The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.

BN: The nations are sunk down in the pit that they dug for themselves; in the net in which they hid is their own foot now caught.

SHACHAT ASU: This links back to Psalm 7:16.

Echoes, parallels, reversals, triplets x three...

9:17 NODA YHVH MISHPAT ASAH BE PHO'AL KAPAV NOKESH RASH'A HIGAYON (SELAH)

נוֹדַע יְהוָה מִשְׁפָּט עָשָׂה בְּפֹעַל כַּפָּיו נוֹקֵשׁ רָשָׁע הִגָּיוֹן סֶלָה

KJ (9:16): The LORD is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.

BN: YHVH has made himself known. He has carried out Justice. The wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higayon. (Selah)

SELAH: What causes there to be a break at this point? Is the next a Coda, a chorus, a change of musical form? Or is the change in the language rather than the music: new idea being introduced, completion of previous idea, or response to it? Worth going back and breaking this down into its component parts: the first 5 verses are all about "I"; the next set about "You"... follow this through.

HIGAYON and SHIGAYON! Are these two connected? My guess is that they are, and that, because we know what Higayon means, we should be able to work out what Shigayon means. For the latter, see Psalm 7. For HIGAYON, the root is HAGAH, which suggests growling or murmuring or muttering, which Isaiah 31:4 reckons to be a lion purring over its prey, but 38:14 has for the cooing of doves; Job 37:2 hears it as low thunder, and Jeremiah 48:31 as men in mourning. But the key for us can be found elsewhere in the Psalms, at 92:4, though it is used on numerous occasions in other Psalms; but none quite so specific as this:

ALEY ASUR VE ALEY NAVEL ALEY HIGAYON BE CHINOR

עֲֽלֵי־עָ֭שׂוֹר וַעֲלֵי־נָ֑בֶל עֲלֵ֖י הִגָּי֣וֹן בְּכִנּֽוֹר

With a ten-stringed harp, with voice and lyre together.

So the Higayon is that deep purring sound you get when you pluck a bass string, and it resonates through the soundboard. Would a Shigayon be the same thing, but in the treble?

And as to its usage and positioning here. Sing the words. Then pluck that string and let it resonate. And there ends that part of the piece, words and music. Selah.

But the Psalm does not end there. It is a transition, not a conclusion.

9:18 YASHUVU RESHA'IM LISH'OLAH KOL GOYIM SHECHECHEY ELOHIM

יָשׁוּבוּ רְשָׁעִים לִשְׁאוֹלָה כָּל גּוֹיִם שְׁכֵחֵי אֱלֹהִים

KJ (9:17): The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

BN:The wicked shall return to the netherworld, every one of the nations that forgets Elohim.

YASHUVU: That word again! see my note at verse 4.

SHE'OLAH: We were slightly surprised to find Mot in the netherworld at verse 14, where, in a Psalm to David, we would expect She'ol. But as noted at verse 15, this appears to be an ancient Kena'ani hymn updated for the Temple; so Mot in the original, but now She'ol.

9:19 KI LO LA NETSACH YISHAKACH EVYON TIKVAT ANAVIM TO'AVAD LA AD

כִּי לֹא לָנֶצַח יִשָּׁכַח אֶבְיוֹן תִּקְוַת עֲנָוִים תֹּאבַד לָעַד

KJ (9:18): For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.

BN: For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor shall the hopes of the poor be destroyed for ever.

NETSACH...ANAVIM... TO'AVAD: Picking up key words and concepts used earlier in the Psalm, though note that ANIYIM in verse 13 has become ANAVIM here. Is it an error though? Most Yehudit renditions think it is, and offer both - click here or here.

9:20 KUMAH YHVH AL YA'OZ ENOSH YISHAPHTU GOYIM AL PANEYCHA

קוּמָה יְהוָה אַל יָעֹז אֱנוֹשׁ יִשָּׁפְטוּ גוֹיִם עַל פָּנֶיךָ

KJ (9:19): Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

BN: Arise, YHVH. Do not let Mankind prevail. Let the nations be judged in your presence.

YA'OZ: "Become strong" might be more accurate. It depends on whether we read this as still being about the enemies, and wanting them defeated, or a call for Humanity as a whole to be reduced to mere passive obedience to divine instruction, which alas it all too often is. I have chosen to interpret it as the former, but only because I refuse to accept the latter, even if it is the correct translation and the intention here. But I also think that the final verse endorses my translation.

9:21 SHIYTAH YHVH MORAH LAHEM YED'U GOYIM ENOSH HEMAH (SELAH)

שִׁיתָה יְהוָה מוֹרָה לָהֶם יֵדְעוּ גוֹיִם אֱנוֹשׁ הֵמָּה סֶּלָה

KJ (9: 20): Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.

BN: Make them know fear, YHVH. Let the nations know that they are but men. (Selah) {P}

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Psalms:

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