TheBibleNet: Psalm 59

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

Psalms 57 and 58 were likewise sub-titled "al Tashchet", which we understood to mean "Do Not Destroy"; but see my closing comment at the end of Psalm 58, which suggests a different translation, the one I have used below.

Both of those were associated with the pursuit of David by King Sha'ul; this one likewise reflects that story, but it is out of sequence; or, at least, it is out of the sequence which we find in the First Book of Samuel, which tells in full the tale of that pursuit (it is entirely possible, of course, that it is the Book of Samuel which has the events out-of-sequence; though not on this occasion, which is the very beginning of David's flight). If we follow that sequence, this should come before the Psalms which relate Nov, Do'eg, Ziph, etc?

I am tempted, in my own final redaction of these Psalms, to create a separate section for the Sha'uline Psalms, and put them back into the chronological sequence of Samuel, and then see if that generates any theme, pattern, motif within the language, form etc of those Psalms, that we might not have noticed or considered otherwise.

This has a companion piece in 1 Samuel 19; I wonder which came first: the hymn to the god of the underworld, or the prose tale of the anthropomorphised "human being"?

59:1 LA MENATSE'ACH AL TASHCHET LE DAVID MICHTAM BISHLO'ACH SHA'UL VA YISHMERU ET HA BAYIT LAHAMITO

לַמְנַצֵּחַ אַל תַּשְׁחֵת לְדָוִד מִכְתָּם בִּשְׁלֹחַ שָׁאוּל וַיִּשְׁמְרוּ אֶת הַבַּיִת לַהֲמִיתוֹ

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David; when Saul sent, and they watched the house to kill him.) Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.

BN (BibleNet translation): For the Artistic Director. On "Destruction". A Michtam. For David, when Sha'ul sent men, {N} and they watched the house, to bring him to death.

As per normal, KJ has merged the first verse of the Psalm into the title, adjusting its numbering accordingly. I have noted this in brackets on each verse.

For who was the MENATSE'ACH, see my note at Psalm 51:1.

For what is a MICHTAM, see my Introduction to the Psalms, and my notes at Psalm 56:12

LEHAMITO: My translation may sound odd, but it is necessary - though perhaps I should have written "death" with a capital D to make it clearer. SHA'UL is the Lord of the Underworld, his kingdom SHE'OL, and he wants to bring David, the Earth-god, to that kingdom - as Jesus in the Christian version will likewise descend into the Underworld, in order, so to speak, to pass through its Inferno, cross its Purgatorio, and reach its Paradiso, where he will serve as Mashiyach, the anointed king. If this were killing in a standard human tale, rather than a mythological fable, we would expect the verb used here to be RETSACH. "Bring him to death" is a literal translation of LEHAMITO.

59:2 HATSIYLENI ME OYEVAI ELOHAI MI MITKOMEMAI TESAGVENI

הַצִּילֵנִי מֵאֹיְבַי אֱלֹהָי מִּמִתְקוֹמְמַי תְּשַׂגְּבֵנִי

KJ: as above

BN: Deliver me from my enemies, O my gods; lift me so high that those who are rising up against me cannot reach me.

As I am not planning a translation and commentary on the Books of Samuel, any comments on that text will have to come with the accompanying Psalms. So, in this instance, note that David's flight from Sha'ul takes place immediately before Ayelet ha Shachar the crack of dawn, which is entirely mytho-logical (1 Samuel 19:12/13). Sha'ul, as Lord of the Underworld, inhabits and rules the Netherworld (the night sky, the northern sky, the winter, the Underworld) but has no power over the Earth once the sun has risen (compare Ya'akov's wrestling with the night-spirit at Penu-El in Genesis 32). David leaves with nothing to protect him, except perhaps a dagger; but he has the daylight, and he knows that there he is entirely safe.

59:3 HATSIYLENI MI PO'ALEY AVEN U ME ANSHEY DAMIM HOSHIY'ENI

הַצִּילֵנִי מִפֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן וּמֵאַנְשֵׁי דָמִים הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי

KJ (59:2): Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.

BN: Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from the men of blood.

PO'ALEY AVEN: See my note on TIPH'ALUN at Psalm 58:3.

HATSIYLENI...HOSHIY'ENI: Two different forms of "salvation", the first physical, the second spiritual, or might that be better phrased as a distinction between the affairs of the outer life, and those of the inner. Either way, note that David, when he completes his journey through the Underworld and supplants Sha'ul as king, will become the Mashiyach, the anointed king on Earth, but it is always and only the deity who can be the Moshi'a, the Messiah.

59:4 KI HINEH ARVU LE NAPHSHI YAGURU ALAI AZIM LO PHISH'I VE LO CHATA'TI YHVH

כִּי הִנֵּה אָרְבוּ לְנַפְשִׁי יָגוּרוּ עָלַי עַזִים לֹא פִשְׁעִי וְלֹא חַטָּאתִי יְהוָה

KJ (59:3): For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.

BN: For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul; the impudent gather themselves together against me; {N} but not for my transgression, YHVH, nor for my sin.

Which picks up the main theme of the last two Psalms, and confirms again that Book Two should be read as a single work, each Psalm providing a canto. That main theme being: "destruction" - but more fully: "I know that I do lots of bad things, some deliberately, some by accident, for all manner of reasons; but I am fully ready to take responsibility for them, deal with them, expiate them, move on, try to do better". But I am being destroyed by things beyond my control let alone my responsibility, by nasty people mostly, or the activities of Nature - and that just isn't fair!

59:5 BELI AVON YERUTSUN VE YIKONANU URAH LIKRA'TI U RE'EH

בְּלִי עָוֹן יְרוּצוּן וְיִכּוֹנָנוּ עוּרָה לִקְרָאתִי וּרְאֵה

KJ (59:4): They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.

BN: Through no fault of mine is all this running about and preparing themselves; I need you to wake up and help me, and see.

YERUTSUN: The Bible scholars have invented a term, the "Paragogic Nun", which is defined as "a nun letter added at the end of certain verb forms, without changing the general meaning of the conjugation." This is then qualified with "Its function is debated and may involve a modal change to the meaning of the verb." My source is Wikipedia, the obvious place to go if you want the incorrect and the load of old....

In fact, YERUTSUN is a gerund, and we have seen innumerable examples (all of them described as "Paragogic Nuns" by the mis-translators. The Vav-Nun ending is the standard form for the gerund.

URAH: AS noted above, it is still before dawn.

RE'EH: Which simply makes this verse a more complex way of saying YEVARECHECHA.

59:6 VE ATAH YHVH ELOHIM TSEVA'OT ELOHEY YISRA-EL HAKIYTSAH LIPHKOD KOL HA GOYIM AL TACHON KOL BOGDEY AVEN (SELAH)

וְאַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל הָקִיצָה לִפְקֹד כָּל הַגּוֹיִם אַל תָּחֹן כָּל בֹּגְדֵי אָוֶן סֶלָה

KJ (59:5): Thou therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.

BN: You, YHVH, the lord god of the hosts of the heavens, the deity of Yisra-El, arouse yourself to punish all the nations; {N} show no mercy to any iniquitous traitors. (Selah)

YHVH ELOHIM TSEVA'OT ELOHEY YISRA-EL: rather more complex than we have previously encountered; the entire pantheon, the entire cosmos, and then specifically the Milky Way; but at a point in time when YHVH has risen from the minor ranks of an obscure volcano god to becoming the Prime Minister of this particular Cabinet.

59:7 YASHUVU LA EREV YEHEMU CHA KALEV VIY'SOVEVU IR

יָשׁוּבוּ לָעֶרֶב יֶהֱמוּ כַכָּלֶב וִיסוֹבְבוּ עִיר

KJ (59:6): They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

BN: They return at evening, they howl like a dog, and go round about the city.

YASHUVU LA EREV: Well, obviously. They are night-spirits. Delilah brings them with her when she brings the moon and the stars, and of course Lilit, their chief lady.

KI KALEV: Why is that not CHA CHALEV? Or if it is CHA KALEV, does that mean we have a definite rather than an indefinite article: "the dog". Given that the tale of the pursuit of David ends with him as king in Chevron, which is Kalev's city... and Naval, one of the central figures along the journey, is a Calebite... which commenary also requires us to do some research on the dog-star, who is known in Latin as Alpha Canis Majoris, but in Greek as Sirius, and who just happens to be the nighttime rival of the Star of David, the brightest star in the night sky in the spring and autumn, where Vega, David's star, rules the summer and winter. Oh, and according to the telescope-gazers, who know for certain what we can now assume the ancients believed, but couldn't prove: Sirius is brighter than Vega, but much further away, so yes, Sirius is the brightest for a telescope-gazer, but Vega is the brightest to the naked eye (allowing again for those seasonal variations) - click here.

59:8 HINEH YABIY'UN BE PHIHEM CHARAVOT BE SIPHTOTEYHEM KI MI SHOME'A

הִנֵּה יַבִּיעוּן בְּפִיהֶם חֲרָבוֹת בְּשִׂפְתוֹתֵיהֶם כִּי מִי שֹׁמֵעַ

KJ (59:7): Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, doth hear?

BN: See the belching of their mouths. Swords are in their lips. Who hears them anyway?

YABIY'UN: From the root NAV'A, which has nothing to do with "prophets", who are NEVIY'IM, but with an Aleph, and nothing to do with Naval either, who ends with an Aleph rather than an Ayin; and yet it seems to me that both are in mind, because much of the "bubbling" is the froth of "foolish" people making "false prophecies" or delivering "lying oracles". Generally it is mountain springs that YABIY'UN, as in Proverbs 18:4, but the word is used poetically, exactly as it is being used here, in Proverbs 15:2 (IVELET there comes from the root NAVAL), though the tone here is rather more Ecclesiastes 10:1.

And yes, YABIYUN is a gerund.

59:9 VE ATAH YHVH TISCHAK LAMO TIL'AG LE CHOL GOYIM

וְאַתָּה יְהוָה תִּשְׂחַק לָמוֹ תִּלְעַג לְכָל גּוֹיִם

KJ (59:8): But thou, O LORD, shalt laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen in derision.

BN: But you, YHVH, will sport with them; you will mock all the nations.

YISCHAK: Not Yitschak, though both names are used in different versions of the tale for Av-Raham and Sarah's second son.

59:10 UZO ELEYCHA ESHMORAH KI ELOHIM MISGAVI

עֻזּוֹ אֵלֶיךָ אֶשְׁמֹרָה כִּי אֱלֹהִים מִשְׂגַּבִּי

KJ (59:9): Because of his strength will I wait upon thee: for God is my defence.

BN: I will wait for his strength to return to you, for Elohim is my high tower.

UZO ELEYCHA ESHMORAH: UZO means "his strength", though the root, OZ, is frequently applied to the deity himself: eg "Adonai oz le amo yiten... May my lord give strength to his people", in Psalm 29. But here it is "his" strength", referring to... but the night-spirits have been plural until now, so perhaps it is the deity's strength that "I will await" (ESHMORAH). But then it would need to be UZECHA. Then maybe, because at night the sun has no strength, and the Lilim and the moon have all of it, "I will wait for his strength to return to you".

Worth looking again at the Shimshon and Delilah tale in Judges 16 ff, to witness there how Shimshon continuously loses and regains his strength

MISGAVI: In the Ya'akov version of star-gazing (Genesis 28), he sees it as a ladder rather than a tower; but he was at a shrine that only had a small meteoric stone, a baetyl, where the Beney Yisra-El of the Temple period had full observation towers for their daily - and especially nightly - monitoring of the movements in the heavens: the MISGAV, the MITSPEH and the MIGDAL all providing for the multiple needs of the strongtower, though the MISGAV also served specifically as a "refuge", today for battered women and those with disabilities (click here), in Biblical times for asylum seekers.

59:11 ELOHEY CHASDO YEKADMENI ELOHIM YAR'ENI VE SHORERAI

אֱלֹהֵי חַסְדּוֹ יְקַדְּמֵנִי אֱלֹהִים יַרְאֵנִי בְשֹׁרְרָי

KJ (59:10): The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.

BN: The gods in their mercy will come out to meet me; the gods will let me gaze upon my adversaries.

Yes, but who precisely are these adversaries? If this is the tale of David's flight from Sha'ul, there is only one adversary, Sha'ul himself. For SHORERAI see my notes at Psalm 56:3.

59:12 AL TAHARGEM PEN YISHKECHU AMI HANIY'EMO VE CHEYLCHA VE HORIYDEMO MAGINENU ADONAI

אַל תַּהַרְגֵם פֶּן יִשְׁכְּחוּ עַמִּי הֲנִיעֵמוֹ בְחֵילְךָ וְהוֹרִידֵמוֹ מָגִנֵּנוּ אֲדֹנָי

KJ (59:11): Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by thy power; and bring them down, O Lord our shield.

BN: Do not slay them, lest my people forget. Make them wander to and fro by your power, and bring them down, YHVH our shield.

AL TAHARGEM: Is this different from the sub-title "AL TASHCHET"? The root of TASHCHET yields SHECHITAH, which is the sacred form of killing, where HARAG is straightforward murder.

HANI'EMO... HORIDEMO, and PIYMO... SEPHATEYMO in the next verse; variations on HEM ("them") that we have witnessed many times before.

MAGINENU: The "Star of David" is known in Yehudit as the Magen David - so while it may well be star-shaped, because that was how the bodyguard locked their swords, it should really be translated as the "shield of David".

The problem with this verse is that Nebuchadnezzar practiced it against the Yehudim in 586 BCE, and St Paul offered the same advice to the Christians, and look where that led (click here for the "about-time-too" response to that).

59:13 CHATA'T PIYMO DEVAR SEPHATEYMO VE YILACHDU VIG'ONAM U ME'ALAH U MI KACHASH YESAPERU

חַטַּאת פִּימוֹ דְּבַר שְׂפָתֵימוֹ וְיִלָּכְדוּ בִגְאוֹנָם וּמֵאָלָה וּמִכַּחַשׁ יְסַפֵּרוּ

KJ (59:12): For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride: and for cursing and lying which they speak.

BN: For the sin of their mouth, and the words of their lips, {N} let them even be taken in their pride, and for the curses and the lies which they utter.

This verse provides a splendid antiphony to Psalm 19:15.

ME'ALAH: Or ME ALAH? One word or two?

We tend to think of "sin" as lying at the heart of the Catholic world-view, and we have very little sense of it being Jewish from the other books of the Bible, not even in those tales where laws are given, the laws to prevent sin getting most of the emphasis. But sin is nonetheless present as the explanation of many bad things that happen to people - Korach's rebellion, Mir-Yam's leprosy, Mosheh's denial of entry into Kena'an, etc. But here in the Psalms, and in the modern liturgy of Vidu'i and Selichot and Kapparah which echo the rites and rituals for which these Psalms were intended, it is all about sin, and it is clearly just as central to Judaism as it is to Catholicism.

59:14 KALEH VE CHEMAH KALEH VE EYNEMO VE YED'U KI ELOHIM MOSHEL BE YA'AKOV LE APHSEY HA ARETS (SELAH)

כַּלֵּה בְחֵמָה כַּלֵּה וְאֵינֵמוֹ וְיֵדְעוּ כִּי אֱלֹהִים מֹשֵׁל בְּיַעֲקֹב לְאַפְסֵי הָאָרֶץ סֶלָה

KJ (59:13): Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.

BN: Do not consume them in anger. Consume them, that they be no more; {N} and let them know that Elohim rules in Ya'akov, unto the ends of the Earth. (Selah)

EYNEMO: We would expect EYNEYHEM - see my note to verse 12.

YA'AKOV: Very rarely do we find Ya'akov's birthname used for the nation; sometimes Beney Ya'akov, meaning his sons who eponym the tribes; but usually Yisra-El, his coronation name after being initiated as priest-king at Penu-El. And of course the epic journey of Ya'akov to the land ruled by "White" (Lavan/Laban means "white") echoes in many ways the epic journey of David in the Underworld ruled by "black". Using the birthname suggests that he has taken his flocks, his wives and concubines and children, and left Padan Aram at exactly the same hour that David fled Giv'ah (Genesis 31), which was the crack of dawn, the instant of separation between black and white, but has not yet reached Penu-El, has not yet begun the "wrestling-match" with one of the Lilim (presumably one of the Lilim whom he saw on the ladder at Beit-El earlier); and this is equally true of David in this context.

59:15 VE YASHUVU LA EREV YEHEMU CHA KALEV VIY'SOVEVU IR

וְיָשׁוּבוּ לָעֶרֶב יֶהֱמוּ כַכָּלֶב וִיסוֹבְבוּ עִיר

KJ (59:14): And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.

BN: And they return at evening, they howl like a dog, and go round about the city;

Verse 7 repeated, providing us with a structure for the whole piece; presumably it was five verses (leave out the title and dedication) then 7 and 8 as a pair, followed by six verses then 15 and 16 as a pair, and 17 as the pair's completion, but also the concluding out-line.

59:16 HEMAH YENU'UN LE'ECHOL IM LO YISBE'U VA YALINU

הֵמָּה יְנוּעוּן לֶאֱכֹל אִם לֹא יִשְׂבְּעוּ וַיָּלִינוּ

KJ (59:15): Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.

BN: Their tremblings are for hunger, if they are not sated; they wait the whole night.

I quite like the KJ rendition of this as "let them", though I am not sure it is justified by the original text.

YENU'UN: The root is NO'A, which could be any kind of wandering movement, from a trek through the labyrinthine woods to the body shaking, and in modern Ivrit the kind of trembling you see and hear from an electric generator or other kind of motor (whence MAN'OA - מָנוֹעַ for "motor"). Here the dogs may be wandering the streets in search of food, or simply shaking from the effect of hunger; or indeed both.

And yes, this is a gerund.

And actually they wait the whole day as well, because the stars and planets and meteors are always there; it's just that the great strength of the sun has the tendency, as far as our eyes are concerned... what phrase shall I use?... "to blot them out". But please don't (as per verse 12, as per the sub-title), because they serve an important function in the Cosmos, and we need both night and day, winter and summer...

59:17 VA ANI ASHIR UZECHA VA ARANEN LA BOKER CHASDECHA KI HAYITA MISGAV LI U MANOS BE YOM TSAR LI

וַאֲנִי אָשִׁיר עֻזֶּךָ וַאֲרַנֵּן לַבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ כִּי הָיִיתָ מִשְׂגָּב לִי וּמָנוֹס בְּיוֹם צַר לִי

KJ (59:16): But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.

BN: But as for me, I will sing of your strength; yea, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning; {N} for you have been my high tower, and a refuge in the day of my distress.

59:18 UZI ELEYCHA AZAMERAH KI ELOHIM MISGABI ELOHEY CHASDI

עֻזִּי אֵלֶיךָ אֲזַמֵּרָה כִּי אֱלֹהִים מִשְׂגַּבִּי אֱלֹהֵי חַסְדִּי

KJ (59:17): Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.

BN: O my strength, to you will I sing praises; for the gods are my high tower, the gods are my piety. {P}

UZI: Completion, after UZO ELEYCHA in verse 10.

MISGABI: I don’t understand why this is rendered with a Bet-medugash, when the word is MISGAV.

CHASDI: The word has occurred three times (verses 6, 11 and 17), and in each case it clearly meant "mercy". Why then have I translated it as "piety" here? Because this verse is the completion of the struggle, the inner wrestling-match with the Lilim of the sub-conscious. Dawn has broken. Shacharit can now be prayed. Ya'akov is renamed Yisra-El. Shimshon has brought the house down. And those in Hasmonean times who wished it to be known that they were totally devout and committed to the covenant with their deity, named themselves the Chasidim, "the pious ones", a term still in use among the orthodox to this day.

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