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
Like the previous Psalm, check if this is exclusively Elohim, or is there a YHVH reference as well? Answer at the foot of the page.
Some scholars have suggested that it may be a famous melody rather than a famous book which has inspired this, and they note that the opening phrase, "Al
Shoshannim", is also the opening phrase of Psalm 69, while Psalm 60 has "Shushan-edut", and Psalm 80 "Shoshannim-edut"; all of which seem to refer to the opening of the same song, "Lilies" or "Lilies of
testimony".
Other scholars (here for example) have suggested that the "Song of Songs" was originally a Kena'ani (Canaanite) "wedding liturgy", part of the spring rites, and that these Psalms were also part of that liturgy, in the way that, at Purim say, there is Megilat Ester, and there are also specific prayers said only on that day (click here), or at Yom Kippur there is Megilat Yonah, but also the piyyut written for the occasion (click here). But when the spring rites were anathematised, "Songs" became secularised as a love-poem, and these three Psalms, presumably, adapted for the purposes of the Temple.
A third option, which may be ancillary to the above and not necessarily in disagreement with them, is that the SHOSHANNIM were the brass instruments, or at least a section of the brass. I have gone for "lily-shaped trumpets" in my translation, but would be equally happy with "Susan trumpets", Susa being the capital of Peras (Persia) at the time that Ezra and the other Yehudim returned to Yeru-Shala'im and began the writing of the Tanach. And if this were a wedding-ceremony, May-King and May-Queen or just a regular couple, what better way to welcome them in than with an alarum on the trumpets!
The Psalm has a title, a dedication, and a descriptor; KJ again merges the opening verse into it, and skews the verse-numbers afterwards by doing so.
45:1 LA MENATSE'ACH AL SHOSHANIM LIVNEY KORACH MASKIL SHIR YEDIDOT
לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל שֹׁשַׁנִּים לִבְנֵי קֹרַח מַשְׂכִּיל שִׁיר יְדִידֹת
KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves.) My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
BN (BibleNet translation): For the Artistic Director; to be played using lily-shaped trumpets; for the Beney Korach. A teaching Psalm. A Psalm for the wedding-couple.
AL SHOSHANIM: The preposition is AL, not EL, "on", not "for" or "to". EL would require an Aleph (א); this has an Ayin (ע). SHOSHANIM are plural.
YEDIDOT: Remember that David's full name, and Shelomoh's (Solomon's) birth-name, were both Yedid-Yah, "the beloved of the moon-goddess", and that diminutives include not just David but Dodi, as in "lecha dodi likrat kalah", the welcoming-in prayer for the Sabbath bride, who was originally Yah until the patriarchal Hasmoneans reduced her to the mere Shechinah, on Friday evenings.
YEDIDOT: Remember that David's full name, and Shelomoh's (Solomon's) birth-name, were both Yedid-Yah, "the beloved of the moon-goddess", and that diminutives include not just David but Dodi, as in "lecha dodi likrat kalah", the welcoming-in prayer for the Sabbath bride, who was originally Yah until the patriarchal Hasmoneans reduced her to the mere Shechinah, on Friday evenings.
But are the Yedidot the moon and the Earth, or just the moon, or just the Earth? Most of this comes in the masculine, and addresses the lover as a male - which can only be the Earth, because the moon is always female in the cult of the Beney Yisra-El. (Unless that too was masculinised, in the later redaction).
45:2 RACHASH LIBI DAVAR TOV OMER ANI MA'ASEY LE MELECH LESHONI ET SOPHER MAHIR
KJ (45:1): My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
BN: My heart overflows with a matter of huge importance. What I have to say concerns a king. {N} My tongue is my pen, and it is ready to recite.
MELECH: Which king? David, who is supposedly the author? Or simply the May-King - which might well have been David, or Shelomoh...
ET: With a Tet (ט) not a Tav (ת). Really it is a stylus, not just any pen, but the use here is poetical.
45:2 RACHASH LIBI DAVAR TOV OMER ANI MA'ASEY LE MELECH LESHONI ET SOPHER MAHIR
רָחַשׁ לִבִּי דָּבָר טוֹב אֹמֵר אָנִי מַעֲשַׂי לְמֶלֶךְ לְשׁוֹנִי עֵט סוֹפֵר מָהִיר
KJ (45:1): My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
BN: My heart overflows with a matter of huge importance. What I have to say concerns a king. {N} My tongue is my pen, and it is ready to recite.
MELECH: Which king? David, who is supposedly the author? Or simply the May-King - which might well have been David, or Shelomoh...
ET: With a Tet (ט) not a Tav (ת). Really it is a stylus, not just any pen, but the use here is poetical.
MAHIR: See the link. The word is used to mean "quick", in the mediaeval sense of that English word: "the quick and the dead" being the alive and the no-longer-so. So in Yehudit it is used for "speedy", but it is also used for "skilful", and on this occasion "keen".
45:3 YAPHYAPHIYTA MI BENEY ADAM HUTSAK CHEN BE SEPHTOTEYCHA AL KEN BERACHECHA ELOHIM LE OLAM
KJ (45:2): Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever
BN: You are fairer than any human being. Grace pours from your lips. {N} That is why the gods have blessed you eternally.
YAPHYAPHIYTA: What an absolutely gorgeous word, fairer than any other in the Yehudit language! From YAPHEH, which means "fair", but doubled, a classic technique in Yehudit poetry - for more on which see my notes at Leviticus 13:38.
45:3 YAPHYAPHIYTA MI BENEY ADAM HUTSAK CHEN BE SEPHTOTEYCHA AL KEN BERACHECHA ELOHIM LE OLAM
יָפְיָפִיתָ מִבְּנֵי אָדָם הוּצַק חֵן בְּשְׂפְתוֹתֶיךָ עַל כֵּן בֵּרַכְךָ אֱלֹהִים לְעוֹלָם
KJ (45:2): Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever
BN: You are fairer than any human being. Grace pours from your lips. {N} That is why the gods have blessed you eternally.
YAPHYAPHIYTA: What an absolutely gorgeous word, fairer than any other in the Yehudit language! From YAPHEH, which means "fair", but doubled, a classic technique in Yehudit poetry - for more on which see my notes at Leviticus 13:38.
SEPHTOTEYCHA: The double sheva at first sight looks like a Nekud error, but in fact it isn't. BE is a prefix.
This clearly addresses a goddess not a human female. The white one, presumably. The moon. But not in this version, which has masculinised her into a him. Compare almost any verse in "The Song of Songs" and you will find precisely this tone, this language.
45:4 CHAGOR CHARBECHA AL YARECH GIBOR HODCHA VA HADARECHA
KJ (45:3): Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
BN: Gird your sword - your glory and your majesty - on your thigh, O mighty one.
YARECH: Impossible to ignore the linguistic link between YARECH and YERECH, the thigh and the moon. So the sword becomes the phallus, and the "girding" is preparation for consummation, not war.
This clearly addresses a goddess not a human female. The white one, presumably. The moon. But not in this version, which has masculinised her into a him. Compare almost any verse in "The Song of Songs" and you will find precisely this tone, this language.
45:4 CHAGOR CHARBECHA AL YARECH GIBOR HODCHA VA HADARECHA
חֲגוֹר חַרְבְּךָ עַל יָרֵךְ גִּבּוֹר הוֹדְךָ וַהֲדָרֶךָ
KJ (45:3): Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
BN: Gird your sword - your glory and your majesty - on your thigh, O mighty one.
YARECH: Impossible to ignore the linguistic link between YARECH and YERECH, the thigh and the moon. So the sword becomes the phallus, and the "girding" is preparation for consummation, not war.
45:5 VA HADARCHA TSELACH RECHAV AL DEVAR EMET VE ANVAH TSEDEK VE TORCHA NORA'OT YEMIYNECHA
וַהֲדָרְךָ צְלַח רְכַב עַל דְּבַר אֱמֶת וְעַנְוָה צֶדֶק וְתוֹרְךָ נוֹרָאוֹת יְמִינֶךָ
KJ (45:4): And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
BN: And in your majesty prosper, ride on, on behalf of truth and meekness and righteousness; {N} and let your right hand teach you tremendous things.
Erotic metaphors!
YEMIYNECHA: And whenever we have David, we cannot read the "right hand" simply as the alternative to the left hand on a person's arm: like Jesus, he was the Bin-Yamin, the one who sits on the "right hand" of the sun, heir-apparent to the throne of Heaven. Why else would Yeru-Shala'im be in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin.
45:6 CHITSEYCHA SHENUNIM AMIM TACHTEYCHA YIPLU BE LEV OYEVEY HA MELECH
חִצֶּיךָ שְׁנוּנִים עַמִּים תַּחְתֶּיךָ יִפְּלוּ בְּלֵב אוֹיְבֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ
KJ (45:5): Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
BN: Your arrows are sharp; whole nations fall under them, into the heart of the king's enemies.
CHITSEYCHA: In 1 Samuel 17:7 the "CHETS" is definitely the solid shaft of the spear and not those rather more feeble bendables, the arrows.
HA MELECH: Is the king here David or the deity? As above. In the ancient Kena'ani rites, it would have been MOLOCH himself, if it were performed in Yeru-Shala'im.
45:7 KIS'ACHA ELOHIM OLAM VA ED SHEVET MIYSHOR SHEVET MALCHUTECHA
כִּסְאֲךָ אֱלֹהִים עוֹלָם וָעֶד שֵׁבֶט מִישֹׁר שֵׁבֶט מַלְכוּתֶךָ
KJ (45:6): Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
BN (version a): Your divine throne is for all eternity; the sceptre of equity is the sceptre of your kingdom.
BN (version b): Your divine throne is for all eternity; the tribes of the plains are the tribes of your kingdom.
SHEVET: But the SHEVET is both the sceptre of office, of which each tribe would have had one (cf Genesis 49:10), and also the word for "tribe" (cf Genesis 49:16), precisely because of the sceptre of office.
SHEVET: But the SHEVET is both the sceptre of office, of which each tribe would have had one (cf Genesis 49:10), and also the word for "tribe" (cf Genesis 49:16), precisely because of the sceptre of office.
And if my version b is correct, then we can date this to the time after the two-and-a-half tribes, who took their inheritance in the hill-country of Mo-Av, had been absorbed into Mo-Av and Edom and southern Amon; and it becomes an acknowledgement that only the nine-and-a-half are left. There would be one other mountain-tribe later on, when Dan left the flatlands of the Mediterranean coast, and moved to La'ish, in the fothills of Mount Chermon (and yes, you could make a case for Naphtali being hilly, but Korazim isn't the Golan Heights, let alone Chermon; the highest point is Filon Hill, which is barely 1300 feet above sea level; and Korazim is officially a plateau - click here) - so this places us between the building of the memorial in Joshua 22 (v27 especially) and the departure of Dan in Judges 18, probably around 1200 BCE.
However, I think that both my translations are correct, and that the ambivalence is intentional.
45:8 AHAVTA TSEDEK VA TISN'A RESH'A AL KEN MESHACHACHA ELOHIM ELOHEYCHA SHEMEN SASON ME CHAVEREYCHA
אָהַבְתָּ צֶּדֶק וַתִּשְׂנָא רֶשַׁע עַל כֵּן מְשָׁחֲךָ אֱלֹהִים אֱלֹהֶיךָ שֶׁמֶן שָׂשׂוֹן מֵחֲבֵרֶיךָ
KJ (45:7): Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
BN: You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness; {N} therefore the gods, your gods, have anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
MESHACHACHA: So it is indeed the crowning of the May-King that we are witnessing. Mashiyach, not Moshi'a!
45:9 MOR VA AHALOT KETSIY'OT KOL BIGDOTEYCHA MIN HEYCHLEY SHEN MINI SIMCHUCHA
מֹר וַאֲהָלוֹת קְצִיעוֹת כָּל בִּגְדֹתֶיךָ מִן הֵיכְלֵי שֵׁן מִנִּי שִׂמְּחוּךָ
KJ (45:8) All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
BN: All your garments are made of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia; stringed instruments have brought you pleasure out of ivory palaces.
MOR...AHALOT...KETSIY'OT: what is the significance of these particular herbs? Mary Magdalene apparently knew the answer to that question when she performed the same ritual as May-Queen to her May-King (Matthew 26, John 12)
MINI: see the previous Psalm for a note on this uncommon form of the preposition.
HEYCHLEY: Yes, palaces, as in verse 16, but the Heychal was the Temple in Yeru-Shala'im itself.
SHEN: Ivory? The word means "tooth", so yes, tusks or teeth are both connected with ivory. Click here.
45:10 BENOT MELACHIM BE YIKROTEYCHA NITSVAH SHEGAL LIYMIYNECHA BE CHETEM OPHIR
בְּנוֹת מְלָכִים בְּיִקְּרוֹתֶיךָ נִצְּבָה שֵׁגַל לִימִינְךָ בְּכֶתֶם אוֹפִיר
KJ (45:9): Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
SHEGAL: Doesn't simply mean "queen"; it was a more complex role and status; but odd that she should be sitting at his right hand, when... ah no, it is the right hand of the beloved, who is the son, so she is indeed on the right hand, but two thrones down from the king. The king will have had many wives, but only one had a formal role in the affairs of state, and this was the Shegal - cf Nehemiah 2:6. And anyway she isn't sitting, on this occasion; she's standing? Ah, yes, we are under the chupah for a wedding ceremony. Of course she's standing.
45:14 KOL KEVUDAH VAT MELECH PENIYMAH MI MISHBETSOT ZAHAV LEVUSHAH
KJ (45:13): The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
BN: A symbol of magnificence is the king's daughter within the palace; her raiment is of chequer-work inwrought with gold.
45:15 LIRKAMOT TUVAL LA MELECH BETULOT ACHAREYHA RE'OTEYHA MUVA'OT LACH
KJ (45:14): She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
BN: She shall be led to the king in richly woven cloth; the virgins who are the companions in her train being brought unto thee.
No question now that this is the script for a religious ceremony, and the text partially liturgical accompaniment, partly stage direction.
45:18 AZKIYRAH SHIMCHA BE CHOL DOR VA DOR AL KEN AMIM YEHODUCHA LE OLAM VA ED
KJ (45:17): I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
BN: I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the peoples praise thee for ever and ever. {P}
No mention of YHVH anywhere. Barely a mention of Elohim. This is all about the mother goddess, Asherah, though even she is only hinted at rather than named.
OPHIR: See the notes at the link, but the allusion to Ophir seems to indicate that this is a Solomonic Psalm (that this was updated at the time of Shelomoh; which also explains the reference to the Heychal in the previous verse), and as such confirms the connection with Shir ha Shirim, the Song of Songs which is attributed to (though really it was only dedicated to) King Shelomoh.
45:11 SHIM'I VAT U RE'I VE HATI AZNECH VE SHICHECHI AMECH U VEIT AVICH
KJ (45:10): Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
BN: Hearken, daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget your own people, and your father's house.
In "City of Peace" I have a Shim'i and a Re'i as David's two principal counsellors; and I don't believe I made those names up. Where did I find them - in Samuel presumably? And is there, then, a play on their names, a joke at their expense, or an honouring of them by sacred mention, in these lines? Or were they not in fact names, but titles: their specific roles as chamberlains to the king: his "eyes and ears"?
VAT: Definitely addressing the female at this point of the Psalm.
45:11 SHIM'I VAT U RE'I VE HATI AZNECH VE SHICHECHI AMECH U VEIT AVICH
שִׁמְעִי בַת וּרְאִי וְהַטִּי אָזְנֵךְ וְשִׁכְחִי עַמֵּךְ וּבֵית אָבִיךְ
KJ (45:10): Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house;
BN: Hearken, daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget your own people, and your father's house.
In "City of Peace" I have a Shim'i and a Re'i as David's two principal counsellors; and I don't believe I made those names up. Where did I find them - in Samuel presumably? And is there, then, a play on their names, a joke at their expense, or an honouring of them by sacred mention, in these lines? Or were they not in fact names, but titles: their specific roles as chamberlains to the king: his "eyes and ears"?
VAT: Definitely addressing the female at this point of the Psalm.
SHICHECHI AMECH U VEIT AVICH: No commentator that I have found has even begun to consider this issue; or they come up with explanations of the "god works in mysterious ways" variety. It is really quite simply. Outside the world of the Beney Yisra-El, everybody practiced matrilocal marriage, the man joining his wife's tribe - see Kayin, Yishma-El, Esav.... But among the Beney Yisra-El, at least for the inheriting last-born, and then as still today, the woman joined the man's tribe, though the preference was always to marry within the tribe if a suitable match could be found that didn't breach the incest laws.
45:12 VE YIT'AV HA MELECH YAPHYECH KI HU ADONAYICH VE HISHTACHAVI LO
KJ (45:11): So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
BN: So shall the king desire your beauty; for he is your lord. Prostrate yourself before him.
At some point this turned from worship of a goddess, to the worship of a god, but is now most definitely the worship of a human female, and her worship of the human male. Clearly she is about to be presented to the king as a concubine, with the court in attendance, including the official queen - a hierodule for the sacred fertility rite, and the king serving as hierophant. Norms of the fertility cult - public coition to stimulate fertility in all the witnesses. The name of this woman is not given, but it may as well be Hadassah or Vashti - or, based on verse 15, Na'amah.
HISHTACHAVI LO: Is that also a stage direction?
45:13 U VAT TSOR BE MINCHAH PANAYICH YECHALU ASHIYREY AM
KJ (45:12): And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
BN: And now, daughter of Tsur, with the gift of your face ask him for prosperity for your people.
TSUR: Tyre, which is slightly suprising; Tyre connects to the tribe of Asher, which was sometimes in its domain, and sometimes in Kena'an. Asher sounds like it alludes to Osher (Osiris), of whom David is a mythological variant, but the spelling in fact links it with Asherah, and it is precisely the rites of Asherah that appear to be described in this ritual, while the word ASHIYREY in this verse picks up the sense of "wealth", "happiness" and "prosperity" which belong to the Ashrey Psalms. Just as it was Eshmun-Azar of Tsur (Hu-Ram or Hi-Ram simply means "the Great") whose architects and engineers designed and built Shelomoh's Temple, so it is highly probable that his liturgy provided the Temple which much of its liturgy, and the same, at least in its early days before it could make its own, its dances, its music, et cetera.
Is the Shegal here then intended as Eshet (Isis) - the goddess herself, present in the way that Athena was at the Dionysus festival - or as Michal - the number one human queen - or as Avi-Shag (1 Kings 1:1-3): the goddess, the wife, or the hierodule? The next verse suggests none of these: the king's daughter (which Michal was, as it happens; but the previous king, Sha'ul); but if that is so, then this is the king of Tsur, and our Psalm does not belong with the Yisra-Eli liturgy at all.
Or perhaps what we have here is the marriage of Shelomoh to a daughter of the king of Tsur - in which case, go back to "City of Peace" and my account of the visits to Eshmun-Azar Hu Ram in volume 2.
But also, do not forget, the king in Yisra-El is addressed as Adonis - my Lord, but a very specific Lord - and the Lebanon is the heart of the realm of Adonis (and the name of Adonis' mother was... see verse 9). Are we then, perhaps, singing a borrowed Phoenician hymn (it is, after all, being sung in a borrowed Phoenician temple, and written down here in a borrowed Phoenician alphabet)?
My translation is radically different from KJ; may be worth a look at some others to see what they make of this verse.
45:12 VE YIT'AV HA MELECH YAPHYECH KI HU ADONAYICH VE HISHTACHAVI LO
וְיִתְאָו הַמֶּלֶךְ יָפְיֵךְ כִּי הוּא אֲדֹנַיִךְ וְהִשְׁתַּחֲוִי לוֹ
KJ (45:11): So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
BN: So shall the king desire your beauty; for he is your lord. Prostrate yourself before him.
At some point this turned from worship of a goddess, to the worship of a god, but is now most definitely the worship of a human female, and her worship of the human male. Clearly she is about to be presented to the king as a concubine, with the court in attendance, including the official queen - a hierodule for the sacred fertility rite, and the king serving as hierophant. Norms of the fertility cult - public coition to stimulate fertility in all the witnesses. The name of this woman is not given, but it may as well be Hadassah or Vashti - or, based on verse 15, Na'amah.
HISHTACHAVI LO: Is that also a stage direction?
45:13 U VAT TSOR BE MINCHAH PANAYICH YECHALU ASHIYREY AM
וּבַת צֹר בְּמִנְחָה פָּנַיִךְ יְחַלּוּ עֲשִׁירֵי עָם
KJ (45:12): And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
BN: And now, daughter of Tsur, with the gift of your face ask him for prosperity for your people.
TSUR: Tyre, which is slightly suprising; Tyre connects to the tribe of Asher, which was sometimes in its domain, and sometimes in Kena'an. Asher sounds like it alludes to Osher (Osiris), of whom David is a mythological variant, but the spelling in fact links it with Asherah, and it is precisely the rites of Asherah that appear to be described in this ritual, while the word ASHIYREY in this verse picks up the sense of "wealth", "happiness" and "prosperity" which belong to the Ashrey Psalms. Just as it was Eshmun-Azar of Tsur (Hu-Ram or Hi-Ram simply means "the Great") whose architects and engineers designed and built Shelomoh's Temple, so it is highly probable that his liturgy provided the Temple which much of its liturgy, and the same, at least in its early days before it could make its own, its dances, its music, et cetera.
Is the Shegal here then intended as Eshet (Isis) - the goddess herself, present in the way that Athena was at the Dionysus festival - or as Michal - the number one human queen - or as Avi-Shag (1 Kings 1:1-3): the goddess, the wife, or the hierodule? The next verse suggests none of these: the king's daughter (which Michal was, as it happens; but the previous king, Sha'ul); but if that is so, then this is the king of Tsur, and our Psalm does not belong with the Yisra-Eli liturgy at all.
Or perhaps what we have here is the marriage of Shelomoh to a daughter of the king of Tsur - in which case, go back to "City of Peace" and my account of the visits to Eshmun-Azar Hu Ram in volume 2.
But also, do not forget, the king in Yisra-El is addressed as Adonis - my Lord, but a very specific Lord - and the Lebanon is the heart of the realm of Adonis (and the name of Adonis' mother was... see verse 9). Are we then, perhaps, singing a borrowed Phoenician hymn (it is, after all, being sung in a borrowed Phoenician temple, and written down here in a borrowed Phoenician alphabet)?
My translation is radically different from KJ; may be worth a look at some others to see what they make of this verse.
45:14 KOL KEVUDAH VAT MELECH PENIYMAH MI MISHBETSOT ZAHAV LEVUSHAH
כָּל כְּבוּדָּה בַת מֶלֶךְ פְּנִימָה מִמִּשְׁבְּצוֹת זָהָב לְבוּשָׁהּ
KJ (45:13): The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
BN: A symbol of magnificence is the king's daughter within the palace; her raiment is of chequer-work inwrought with gold.
45:15 LIRKAMOT TUVAL LA MELECH BETULOT ACHAREYHA RE'OTEYHA MUVA'OT LACH
לִרְקָמוֹת תּוּבַל לַמֶּלֶךְ בְּתוּלוֹת אַחֲרֶיהָ רֵעוֹתֶיהָ מוּבָאוֹת לָךְ
KJ (45:14): She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
BN: She shall be led to the king in richly woven cloth; the virgins who are the companions in her train being brought unto thee.
No question now that this is the script for a religious ceremony, and the text partially liturgical accompaniment, partly stage direction.
LIRKAMOT: Is this another example of the famous "coat of many colours" given to Yoseph by his father in Genesis 37:3. It was a Phoenician speciality, made primarily in Tsur, though also in Tsidon, using the dyes created from the juices of the murex snail (you can actually see the purple extrusion in the photos at the link), and provided the Phoenicians with the principal source of their vast trading empire. The "royal purple" derives from it, and we can assume that, if she was not wearing a coat of many colours, then she would have been wearing purple (argaman), or lapis lazuli blue (techelet - like Mary in the mediaeval paintings) or scarlet (tola'at shani - like Mary Magdalene in the same) - see Exodus 28:33 for clarification of this.
TUVAL: And TUVALNAH in the next verse. See the link, and my note at verse 12. Na'amah is also a key name in the David story - click here. Though of course that is all pure coincidence; TUVAL here is from the root YAVAL, which is usually used for childbirth, but here for the royal procession.
BETULOT: The May-Queen will have been sequestered for a period so that she could be trained both for the event on the day, and for her role afterwards. This is almost certainly the explanation for the sequestration requested by Yiphtach's daughter in Judges 11:37. She will have been required to be a virgin in order to be eligible, and these are her companion "vestal virgins".
45:16 TUVALNAH BI'SMACHOT VA GIYL TEVO'EYNAH BE HEYCHAL MELECH
KJ (45:15): With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.
BN: They shall be led with gladness and rejoicing; they shall enter into the king's palace.
TUVAL: And TUVALNAH in the next verse. See the link, and my note at verse 12. Na'amah is also a key name in the David story - click here. Though of course that is all pure coincidence; TUVAL here is from the root YAVAL, which is usually used for childbirth, but here for the royal procession.
BETULOT: The May-Queen will have been sequestered for a period so that she could be trained both for the event on the day, and for her role afterwards. This is almost certainly the explanation for the sequestration requested by Yiphtach's daughter in Judges 11:37. She will have been required to be a virgin in order to be eligible, and these are her companion "vestal virgins".
45:16 TUVALNAH BI'SMACHOT VA GIYL TEVO'EYNAH BE HEYCHAL MELECH
תּוּבַלְנָה בִּשְׂמָחֹת וָגִיל תְּבֹאֶינָה בְּהֵיכַל מֶלֶךְ
KJ (45:15): With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace.
BN: They shall be led with gladness and rejoicing; they shall enter into the king's palace.
Still more stage directions, created so that they can function as sung liturgy?
45:17 TACHAT AVOTEYCHA YIHEYU VANEYCHA TESHIYTEMU LE SARIM BE CHOL HA ARETS
KJ (45:16): Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
BN: Instead of your fathers there shall be your sons, whom you shall make princes across the land.
And the purpose of all this is not love, not even sex, but the ultimate raison d'être of the cult: fertility.
45:17 TACHAT AVOTEYCHA YIHEYU VANEYCHA TESHIYTEMU LE SARIM BE CHOL HA ARETS
תַּחַת אֲבֹתֶיךָ יִהְיוּ בָנֶיךָ תְּשִׁיתֵמוֹ לְשָׂרִים בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ
KJ (45:16): Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
BN: Instead of your fathers there shall be your sons, whom you shall make princes across the land.
And the purpose of all this is not love, not even sex, but the ultimate raison d'être of the cult: fertility.
Worth noting, for Christians reading this, that she is a virgin, which is BETULAH. At the moment of consummation she will become ALMAH - for which see Isaiah 7:14, which is mis-translated as "virgin" in all Christian texts, and is the only prophecy of the Virgin Mary that they have, however incorrectly. She will remain an ALMAH until the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 is fulfilled: she becomes pregnant, and a child is YAVAL, brought forth, at which moment she becomes fully a woman, ISHAH, or if you prefer: Madonna.
45:18 AZKIYRAH SHIMCHA BE CHOL DOR VA DOR AL KEN AMIM YEHODUCHA LE OLAM VA ED
אַזְכִּירָה שִׁמְךָ בְּכָל דֹּר וָדֹר עַל כֵּן עַמִּים יְהוֹדֻךָ לְעֹלָם וָעֶד
KJ (45:17): I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
BN: I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations; therefore shall the peoples praise thee for ever and ever. {P}
No mention of YHVH anywhere. Barely a mention of Elohim. This is all about the mother goddess, Asherah, though even she is only hinted at rather than named.
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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