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
Layout is complex on this occasion, because there is the envelope (LA MENATSE'ACH - for whom see my note at Psalm 51:1), the musical allusion (AL YONAT ELEM RECHOKIM), the dedication (LE DAVID), the denotion of the type of Psalm (MICHTAM), and the pseudo-historical setting of its mythological context (BE ECHOZ OTO PHELISHTIM BE GAT).
Just to make matters more complex, the King James then merges the opening verse into this one, making a single verse out of it, and shifting the verse-numbers accordingly.
56:1 LA MENATSE'ACH AL YONAT ELEM RECHOKIM LE DAVID MICHTAM BE ECHOZ OTO PHELISHTIM BE GAT
KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.) Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
BN (BibleNet translation): For the Leader; to the tune of "Yonat elem rechokim - the dove is bound in distant lands". For David. A Michtam. {N} When the Pelishtim took him in Gat.
YONAT ELEM RECHOKIM: Why do none of the translations even attempt to render this? And is it the name of an existing song, or the name of a festival, or...
YONAT: The same dove who took centre-stage in the last Psalm? If so, then the title suggests Yisra-El in exile, and we may need to reconsider its allegorical usage in the last Psalm. Why do I say that? Because Yonah occurs twice in the Tanach, and each time he is in Padan-Aram, around Nineveh: the first when No'ach's Ark sunsets on Mount Ararat (Genesis 8:8), the second when prophet Yonah de-whales. Odd coincidence perhaps, but the principal deity of Nineveh (Nin-Veh correctly) and its environs was Oannes, a water-god depicted as half-Man half-whale, the same as Dagon, the principal diety of the Pelishtim of Yafo (Jaffa), which city was Prophet Yonah's departure-point. There is a very strong possibility that the mythology of John the Baptist (Yohannes in Greek) was in fact a form of Oannes-worship by the Shomronim, the Samaritans who came to the Galil as a conquered people, at exactly the same time that the Babylonians removed the Yehudim - John's symbol, which became that of the early Christians, was the Ichthys, which you can see if you go to my link to Dagon, or surf Oannes on the Internet. The year of Jesus' birth was also - click here for the science on this - the dawn of the age of Pisces, the fish, replacing the now sacrificed paschal lamb of Aries. A Yonah is a dove.
ELEM: Either "bound" or "silent"; the word is used for both, and logically enough, since silence is what happens when the tongue and/or lips get bound.
MICHTAM: See my notes in the Introduction to the Psalms - but the truth is, we have no idea what a MICHTAM was.
BE ECHOZ OTO PHELISHTIM BE GAT: "plotology" again confirmed, the tales in Book 2 have thus far followed the journey into the Underworld according to the same order as in the Book of Samuel. There are two Gat stories at this juncture. The first is the hundred foreskins as a bride-price for Michal (1 Samuel 18:25 ff, but we only learn later that he went to Gat to obtain them), the second this one; and in the space between them the visit to the shrine at Nov, the report of Do'eg, the flight into the wilderness of the Ziyphim, all of which we have followed through the latter Psalms. Our current Psalm depends on the first of those two, because David fled to Gat seeking asylum (1 Samuel 21:10 ff), and he is fully aware that he will be recognised when he gets there, and so he feigns madness in the hope that this will enable him to survive any thoughts of vengeance for the massacre following the 100 foreskins.
But how would we know of any of this, if the sub-title had not told us? Nothing in the text makes even the remotest, the most obscure, allusion let alone reference. The Psalm is a generalisation; we can only assume that it was either written by a historical David in the aftermath of the incident, as poets do when "the blood-jet" needs tourniqueting, or that it was written for a liturgical or theatrical occasion later on, based on that incident. Given that David is not actually a historical character, we can take it as the latter.
56:2 CHANENI ELOHIM KI SHE'APHANI ENOSH KOL HA YOM LOCHEM YILCHATSENI
KJ (56:1): as above
BN: Have empathy for me, Elohim, for Humanity would swallow me up; all day long he fights with me, oppressing me.
Which does seem to resume the "complaint" of the previous Psalm, though it appeared to have been resolved by its closing verses (though of course, this being life in the human universe, it never is).
56:3 SHA'APHU SHORERAI KOL HA YOM KI RABIM LOCHAMIM LI MAROM
KJ (56:2): Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High
BN: All day long they pant breathlessly to twist and turn me; for they are many who fight against me, O Most High.
SHA'APHU: The root means "to pant", and it can be from anger, as in Isaiah 42:14, which simultaneously metaphors it as the panting of a woman in labour, giving us a second usage; but there is also Ecclesiastes 1:5, where it is blowing very much more gently. But the sense here is none of these: they are "panting" for his blood, "devouring them", as in Amos 8:4, Ezekiel 36:3, Job 5:5.
56:4 YOM IYR'A ANI ELEYCHA EVTACH
KJ (56:3): What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
BN: On the day that I feel fear, I will put my trust in you...
Is "putting trust" the same as "having faith" or "believing in"?
56:5 B'ELOHIM AHALEL DEVARO B'ELOHIM BATACHTI LO IYR'A MAH YA'ASEH VASAR LI
KJ (56:4): In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
BN: ...in Elohim. I will praise his word. {N}In Elohim I have placed my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Lots of echoes and parallels and repetitions in these verses; Adon Olam especially.
DEVARO: As commented many times, the DAVAR of the deity is whatever happens in Life itself: the understanding being, from Genesis 1, that the metaphorical deity "speaks", and the abracadabra of the Periodic Table turns it into reality. The Gospeller John called it the LOGOS, which is simply a Greek way of saying the same thing; he got the term from Heraclitus.
56:6 KOL HA YOM DEVARAI YE'ATSEVU ALAI KOL MACHSHEVOTAM LA RA
KJ (56:5): Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
BN: All day long they twist my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
DEVARAI: But when it comes to humans, the words are literal. The deity articulates life through wind and rain and fertile fields and offspring; human beings may love images, and sculptures, and symphonies, and gardens and... but in the end, when we want to articulate life, we require language.
56:7 YAGURU YATSPIYNU HEMAH AKEVAI YISHMORU KA ASHER KIVU NAPHSHI
KJ (56:6): They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
BN: They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they track my steps; just as they have waited for my soul.
AKEVAI: Which is the root of the name YA'AKOV, but more significantly here a homophone of KIVU.
56:8 AL AVEN PALET LAMO BE APH AMIM HORED ELOHIM
KJ (56:7): Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
BN: Throw them out for their iniquities; in anger bring down the peoples, Elohim.
56:9 NODI SAPHARTAH ATAH SIYMAH DIM'ATI VE NO'DECHA HA LO BE SIPHRETECHA
KJ (56:8): Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
BN: You have told the tale of my wanderings; now put my tears into your bottle. Are they not already in your scroll?
SIPHRETECHA: ""Book" is an anachronism; "on your papyrus scroll" perhaps.
56:10 AZ YASHUVU OYEVAI ACHOR BE YOM EKRA ZEH YAD'ATI KI ELOHIM LI
KJ (56:9): When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
BN: So my enemies will turn back on the day that I call out. This I know, that Elohim is on my side.
56:11 B'ELOHIM AHALEL DAVAR B'YHVH AHALEL DAVAR
KJ (56:10): In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word
BN: In Elohim - I will praise his word. In YHVH - I will praise his word.
B'ELOHIM: The previous verse ended ELOHIM LI, so there is a mirroring in place here. And then a second mirroring, as the verse is split in two identical halves; identical save only the change of apellation of the deity. And actually a third mirroring, because this is also how verse 4 became verse 5; and the same again in the very next verse.
Once again that differentiation-yet-pairing of ELOHIM and YHVH that seems to me to confirm that the Wellhausen Doctrine is simply incorrect in this matter.
56:12 B'ELOHIM BATACHTI LO IYRA MAH YA'ASEH ADAM LI
KJ (56:11): In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
BN: In Elohim I have placed my trust. I will not be afraid. What can humans do to me?
BATACHTI: More echoes; and again this goes back to verses 4 and 5.
56:14 KI HITSALTA NAPHSHI MI MAVET HA LO RAGLAI MI DECHI LEHIT'HALECH LIPHNEY ELOHIM BE OR HA CHAYIM
KJ (56:13): For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
BN: For you have delivered my soul from death. Have you not also delivered my feet from stumbling {N} that I may walk before the gods in the light of the living? {P}
56:1 LA MENATSE'ACH AL YONAT ELEM RECHOKIM LE DAVID MICHTAM BE ECHOZ OTO PHELISHTIM BE GAT
לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל יוֹנַת אֵלֶם רְחֹקִים לְדָוִד מִכְתָּם בֶּאֱחֹז אֹתוֹ פְלִשְׁתִּים בְּגַת
KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician upon Jonathelemrechokim, Michtam of David, when the Philistines took him in Gath.) Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me.
BN (BibleNet translation): For the Leader; to the tune of "Yonat elem rechokim - the dove is bound in distant lands". For David. A Michtam. {N} When the Pelishtim took him in Gat.
YONAT ELEM RECHOKIM: Why do none of the translations even attempt to render this? And is it the name of an existing song, or the name of a festival, or...
YONAT: The same dove who took centre-stage in the last Psalm? If so, then the title suggests Yisra-El in exile, and we may need to reconsider its allegorical usage in the last Psalm. Why do I say that? Because Yonah occurs twice in the Tanach, and each time he is in Padan-Aram, around Nineveh: the first when No'ach's Ark sunsets on Mount Ararat (Genesis 8:8), the second when prophet Yonah de-whales. Odd coincidence perhaps, but the principal deity of Nineveh (Nin-Veh correctly) and its environs was Oannes, a water-god depicted as half-Man half-whale, the same as Dagon, the principal diety of the Pelishtim of Yafo (Jaffa), which city was Prophet Yonah's departure-point. There is a very strong possibility that the mythology of John the Baptist (Yohannes in Greek) was in fact a form of Oannes-worship by the Shomronim, the Samaritans who came to the Galil as a conquered people, at exactly the same time that the Babylonians removed the Yehudim - John's symbol, which became that of the early Christians, was the Ichthys, which you can see if you go to my link to Dagon, or surf Oannes on the Internet. The year of Jesus' birth was also - click here for the science on this - the dawn of the age of Pisces, the fish, replacing the now sacrificed paschal lamb of Aries. A Yonah is a dove.
ELEM: Either "bound" or "silent"; the word is used for both, and logically enough, since silence is what happens when the tongue and/or lips get bound.
MICHTAM: See my notes in the Introduction to the Psalms - but the truth is, we have no idea what a MICHTAM was.
BE ECHOZ OTO PHELISHTIM BE GAT: "plotology" again confirmed, the tales in Book 2 have thus far followed the journey into the Underworld according to the same order as in the Book of Samuel. There are two Gat stories at this juncture. The first is the hundred foreskins as a bride-price for Michal (1 Samuel 18:25 ff, but we only learn later that he went to Gat to obtain them), the second this one; and in the space between them the visit to the shrine at Nov, the report of Do'eg, the flight into the wilderness of the Ziyphim, all of which we have followed through the latter Psalms. Our current Psalm depends on the first of those two, because David fled to Gat seeking asylum (1 Samuel 21:10 ff), and he is fully aware that he will be recognised when he gets there, and so he feigns madness in the hope that this will enable him to survive any thoughts of vengeance for the massacre following the 100 foreskins.
But how would we know of any of this, if the sub-title had not told us? Nothing in the text makes even the remotest, the most obscure, allusion let alone reference. The Psalm is a generalisation; we can only assume that it was either written by a historical David in the aftermath of the incident, as poets do when "the blood-jet" needs tourniqueting, or that it was written for a liturgical or theatrical occasion later on, based on that incident. Given that David is not actually a historical character, we can take it as the latter.
Though it may also be that AL YONAT ELEM RECHOKIM was such a well-known song that, for the Beney Yisra-Elim of that epoch, the story was simply taken for granted: there would be no need to speak about the events of the Battle of Britain if a song told you it was written to the tune of "There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover."
So is it a hymn to Oannes, transferred to Yehudit liturgy, or is it a piece of pseudo-history to the tune of a well-known song? Traditional Jewish translations regard "al yonat elem rechokim", as the latter; either "set to 'The Dove of the Distant Terebinth'", or, according to the pointing in the Masoretic text, "set to 'The Silent Dove of those who are far off'". The Septuagint renders it "hyper tou laou tou apo ton hagion memakrymmenou", which the Vulgate Latinises as "pro populo qui a sanctis longe factus est" - "for the folk that are afar from the sanctuary." Baethgen explains that the Septuagint understands Israel to be the dove, reads elim for elem, and interprets the word to mean gods or sanctuary. Probably the translators of the Septuagint knew nothing about Oannes, and therefore needed to make sense of what to them was not obviously meaningful.
So is it a hymn to Oannes, transferred to Yehudit liturgy, or is it a piece of pseudo-history to the tune of a well-known song? Traditional Jewish translations regard "al yonat elem rechokim", as the latter; either "set to 'The Dove of the Distant Terebinth'", or, according to the pointing in the Masoretic text, "set to 'The Silent Dove of those who are far off'". The Septuagint renders it "hyper tou laou tou apo ton hagion memakrymmenou", which the Vulgate Latinises as "pro populo qui a sanctis longe factus est" - "for the folk that are afar from the sanctuary." Baethgen explains that the Septuagint understands Israel to be the dove, reads elim for elem, and interprets the word to mean gods or sanctuary. Probably the translators of the Septuagint knew nothing about Oannes, and therefore needed to make sense of what to them was not obviously meaningful.
56:2 CHANENI ELOHIM KI SHE'APHANI ENOSH KOL HA YOM LOCHEM YILCHATSENI
חָנֵּנִי אֱלֹהִים כִּי שְׁאָפַנִי אֱנוֹשׁ כָּל הַיּוֹם לֹחֵם יִלְחָצֵנִי
KJ (56:1): as above
BN: Have empathy for me, Elohim, for Humanity would swallow me up; all day long he fights with me, oppressing me.
Which does seem to resume the "complaint" of the previous Psalm, though it appeared to have been resolved by its closing verses (though of course, this being life in the human universe, it never is).
56:3 SHA'APHU SHORERAI KOL HA YOM KI RABIM LOCHAMIM LI MAROM
שָׁאֲפוּ שׁוֹרְרַי כָּל הַיּוֹם כִּי רַבִּים לֹחֲמִים לִי מָרוֹם
KJ (56:2): Mine enemies would daily swallow me up: for they be many that fight against me, O thou most High
BN: All day long they pant breathlessly to twist and turn me; for they are many who fight against me, O Most High.
SHA'APHU: The root means "to pant", and it can be from anger, as in Isaiah 42:14, which simultaneously metaphors it as the panting of a woman in labour, giving us a second usage; but there is also Ecclesiastes 1:5, where it is blowing very much more gently. But the sense here is none of these: they are "panting" for his blood, "devouring them", as in Amos 8:4, Ezekiel 36:3, Job 5:5.
SHOREREY: Hmmm! How does this get to be "mine enemies", let alone my rendition? In Song of Songs 7:3 the SHORER is the navel, though from the description it is more likely the belly than the button. On the other hand, in 2 Samuel 23:33, SHARAR is a man's name, and people are not generally named "enemy" by their parents. See also Psalms 27:11 and 54:7, where it definitely meant "liers in wait", and ditto when we get there at 59:11.
All of which validates the KJ translation. But what about mine? The root of the root is SHOR, which means "to twist" or "twine", and is used for rope; it is also the Biblical word for the umbilical cord, which suggests that the Song of Songs... you can complete this commentary without needing my assistance.
Except that I will add one further thought. This is about the dove in exile, according to the sub-title. What happens to a people when they are taken from their land, bound in the galleys of ships, and planted in the cotton and tobacco fields of someone else's geography, history, language and culture, the four elements essential to provide a commonality among humans? They become deracinated, and no longer know why they are, let alone who. It is as if their ego-umbilicus has been cut, and they are no longer joined to the motherland.
56:4 YOM IYR'A ANI ELEYCHA EVTACH
יוֹם אִירָא אֲנִי אֵלֶיךָ אֶבְטָח
KJ (56:3): What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
BN: On the day that I feel fear, I will put my trust in you...
Is "putting trust" the same as "having faith" or "believing in"?
56:5 B'ELOHIM AHALEL DEVARO B'ELOHIM BATACHTI LO IYR'A MAH YA'ASEH VASAR LI
בֵּאלֹהִים אֲהַלֵּל דְּבָרוֹ בֵּאלֹהִים בָּטַחְתִּי לֹא אִירָא מַה יַּעֲשֶׂה בָשָׂר לִי
KJ (56:4): In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will not fear what flesh can do unto me.
BN: ...in Elohim. I will praise his word. {N}In Elohim I have placed my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Lots of echoes and parallels and repetitions in these verses; Adon Olam especially.
DEVARO: As commented many times, the DAVAR of the deity is whatever happens in Life itself: the understanding being, from Genesis 1, that the metaphorical deity "speaks", and the abracadabra of the Periodic Table turns it into reality. The Gospeller John called it the LOGOS, which is simply a Greek way of saying the same thing; he got the term from Heraclitus.
BATACHTI: Note the swift changes of tense - EVTACH in the previous verse - from the future (intention) to the past (done already).
56:6 KOL HA YOM DEVARAI YE'ATSEVU ALAI KOL MACHSHEVOTAM LA RA
כָּל הַיּוֹם דְּבָרַי יְעַצֵּבוּ עָלַי כָּל מַחְשְׁבֹתָם לָרָע
KJ (56:5): Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
BN: All day long they twist my words; all their thoughts are against me for evil.
DEVARAI: But when it comes to humans, the words are literal. The deity articulates life through wind and rain and fertile fields and offspring; human beings may love images, and sculptures, and symphonies, and gardens and... but in the end, when we want to articulate life, we require language.
YE'ATSEVU: More twisting, as with the SHORERAI of verse 3.
56:7 YAGURU YATSPIYNU HEMAH AKEVAI YISHMORU KA ASHER KIVU NAPHSHI
יָגוּרוּ יַצְפִּינוּ הֵמָּה עֲקֵבַי יִשְׁמֹרוּ כַּאֲשֶׁר קִוּוּ נַפְשִׁי
KJ (56:6): They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps, when they wait for my soul.
BN: They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they track my steps; just as they have waited for my soul.
AKEVAI: Which is the root of the name YA'AKOV, but more significantly here a homophone of KIVU.
KIVU: Note that this is not the double-Vav again, despite the dagesh in both of them; only apparently so; this is the 3rd person plural ending to a verb that happens, most unusually (and even more so for being bi rather than triliteral) to end with a Vav.
56:8 AL AVEN PALET LAMO BE APH AMIM HORED ELOHIM
עַל אָוֶן פַּלֶּט לָמוֹ בְּאַף עַמִּים הוֹרֵד אֱלֹהִים
KJ (56:7): Shall they escape by iniquity? in thine anger cast down the people, O God.
BN: Throw them out for their iniquities; in anger bring down the peoples, Elohim.
56:9 NODI SAPHARTAH ATAH SIYMAH DIM'ATI VE NO'DECHA HA LO BE SIPHRETECHA
נֹדִי סָפַרְתָּה אָתָּה שִׂימָה דִמְעָתִי בְנֹאדֶךָ הֲלֹא בְּסִפְרָתֶךָ
KJ (56:8): Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?
BN: You have told the tale of my wanderings; now put my tears into your bottle. Are they not already in your scroll?
SIPHRETECHA: ""Book" is an anachronism; "on your papyrus scroll" perhaps.
56:10 AZ YASHUVU OYEVAI ACHOR BE YOM EKRA ZEH YAD'ATI KI ELOHIM LI
אָז יָשׁוּבוּ אוֹיְבַי אָחוֹר בְּיוֹם אֶקְרָא זֶה יָדַעְתִּי כִּי אֱלֹהִים לִי
KJ (56:9): When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me.
BN: So my enemies will turn back on the day that I call out. This I know, that Elohim is on my side.
56:11 B'ELOHIM AHALEL DAVAR B'YHVH AHALEL DAVAR
בֵּאלֹהִים אֲהַלֵּל דָּבָר בַּיהוָה אֲהַלֵּל דָּבָר
KJ (56:10): In God will I praise his word: in the LORD will I praise his word
BN: In Elohim - I will praise his word. In YHVH - I will praise his word.
B'ELOHIM: The previous verse ended ELOHIM LI, so there is a mirroring in place here. And then a second mirroring, as the verse is split in two identical halves; identical save only the change of apellation of the deity. And actually a third mirroring, because this is also how verse 4 became verse 5; and the same again in the very next verse.
Once again that differentiation-yet-pairing of ELOHIM and YHVH that seems to me to confirm that the Wellhausen Doctrine is simply incorrect in this matter.
56:12 B'ELOHIM BATACHTI LO IYRA MAH YA'ASEH ADAM LI
בֵּאלֹהִים בָּטַחְתִּי לֹא אִירָא מַה יַּעֲשֶׂה אָדָם לִי
KJ (56:11): In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.
BN: In Elohim I have placed my trust. I will not be afraid. What can humans do to me?
BATACHTI: More echoes; and again this goes back to verses 4 and 5.
The source of a phrase much-used in America: "In God We Trust" (cynical store-owners usually add: "but the rest of you can pay cash").
A three-part verse, mirroring verse 5 in this as well, and presumably picking up some sort of musical build-up towards the piece's conclusion; the technique of compiling short blasts in this manner is a standard of the popular song to this day. Most of the intervening verses have been two-part, though seven came as four. 8 and 14 are also three-part. I wonder if this musical constructuon might provide our missing explanation for "what is a MICHTAM?" (easy to check - see if the others labelled MICHTAM do the same. I shall return to this when I have translated them.)
56:13 ALAI ELOHIM NEDAREYCHA ASHALEM TODOT LACH
KJ (56:12): Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
BN: I am committed to my vows towards you, Elohim. I will render thanksgiving offerings to you.
NEDAREYCHA...TODOT: We have witnessed the argument between the "sacrificers" and the "obediencers" in several of the Book Two Psalms. Here we get the affirmation of both at once.
A three-part verse, mirroring verse 5 in this as well, and presumably picking up some sort of musical build-up towards the piece's conclusion; the technique of compiling short blasts in this manner is a standard of the popular song to this day. Most of the intervening verses have been two-part, though seven came as four. 8 and 14 are also three-part. I wonder if this musical constructuon might provide our missing explanation for "what is a MICHTAM?" (easy to check - see if the others labelled MICHTAM do the same. I shall return to this when I have translated them.)
56:13 ALAI ELOHIM NEDAREYCHA ASHALEM TODOT LACH
עָלַי אֱלֹהִים נְדָרֶיךָ אֲשַׁלֵּם תּוֹדֹת לָךְ
KJ (56:12): Thy vows are upon me, O God: I will render praises unto thee.
BN: I am committed to my vows towards you, Elohim. I will render thanksgiving offerings to you.
NEDAREYCHA...TODOT: We have witnessed the argument between the "sacrificers" and the "obediencers" in several of the Book Two Psalms. Here we get the affirmation of both at once.
56:14 KI HITSALTA NAPHSHI MI MAVET HA LO RAGLAI MI DECHI LEHIT'HALECH LIPHNEY ELOHIM BE OR HA CHAYIM
כִּי הִצַּלְתָּ נַפְשִׁי מִמָּוֶת הֲלֹא רַגְלַי מִדֶּחִי לְהִתְהַלֵּךְ לִפְנֵי אֱלֹהִים בְּאוֹר הַחַיִּים
KJ (56:13): For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
BN: For you have delivered my soul from death. Have you not also delivered my feet from stumbling {N} that I may walk before the gods in the light of the living? {P}
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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