TheBibleNet: Psalm 60

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

60:1 LA MENATSE'ACH AL SHUSHAN EDUT MICHTAM LE DAVID LELAMED

לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל שׁוּשַׁן עֵדוּת מִכְתָּם לְדָוִד לְלַמֵּד

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician upon Shushaneduth, Michtam of David, to teach; when he strove with Aramnaharaim and with Aramzobah, when Joab returned, and smote of Edom in the valley of salt twelve thousand.) O God, thou hast cast us off, thou hast scattered us, thou hast been displeased; O turn thyself to us again.

BN (BibleNet translation): For the Artistic Director. On Shushan Edut. A Michtam. For David. For teaching purposes.

As normal, KJ has merged verse 1 into the title, and on this occasion the verse containing the sub-title as well, adapting its verse-numbers accordingly.

LA MENATSE'ACH - for whom see my note at Psalm 51:1

AL: The last three Psalms were all entitled AL TASHCHET, and it was unclear whether this was AL meaning "do not" or AL meaning "upon", either of which is viable, but each dependent on the meaning of the partner word. And if "upon", then "upon" what: a well-known melody, given new words? a particular occasion in the liturgical calendar? certain instruments or voices in the orchestra or choir?As with TASHCHET, then, so with SHUSHAN EDUT now.

SHUSHAN: As in Persian Susa? In the epoch of King David? This would require some investigation! And anyway both the historical context and the geograpical location, as stated in the next verse, preclude that.

The root that yields SHUSHAN also yields the white lily known as Shoshana, whence the English names Susan, Suzanne and Susannah; but the source of these is likewise Persian Susa, so either Susa was already well-enough known to have become part of colloquial speech, or it is a much later Psalm, or a rewriting of a much later Psalm; or there is another root altogether that explains this phrase.

EDUT: means "witness" or "testimony", but in Temple contexts is generally asociated (click here for the list of references) with the Mishkan, the "Ark of the Testimony" which carried the two tablets on which the Ten Commandments had been carved; that "Ark" stood in the Holy of Holies of the First Temple, though sadly it was among the objects pillaged or destroyed when Nebuchadnezzar razed the Temple in 586 BCE.

But is that the intention here?

One last thought before we seek our answer inside the text itself: that this was a Psalm written either in Babylon (586-536 BCE), or after the return from exile, using the historical tale as the "storyline", but writing the Psalm to celebrate a particular event. What event? Is it possible that, while in exile, but after the Persians had defeated the Babylonians and begun to support the Jews, even to encourage them to return to Yehudah and rebuilt their Temple, is it possible that a replacement Mishkan was constructed, and even taken with by Zeru-Bavel and his followers, and installed in the Second Temple? And if so, what would have been the name for such an artefact. "The Persian Mishkan", obviously. And if they constructed it in Susa, the Persian capital, then "the Susan Mishkan", which in Yehudit could perfectly well be "Shushan Edut". I am merely speculating (and recognising that, grammatically, it would then need to be EDUT SHUSHAN, that way around).

MICHTAM: See my notes on this in the "Introduction to the Psalms", and at Psalm 56:12.

LELAMED: To teach what? Liturgy, morality, music, poetry? And to whom, in what context? And what is the difference between this and a MASKIL, which is also a "teaching-Psalm"?

60:2 BE HATSOTO ET ARAM NAHARAYIM VE ET ARAM TSOVAH VA YASHAV YO-AV VA YACH ET EDOM BE GEI MELACH SHENEYM ASAR ALEPH

בְּהַצּוֹתוֹ אֶת אֲרַם נַהֲרַיִם וְאֶת אֲרַם צוֹבָה וַיָּשָׁב יוֹאָב וַיַּךְ אֶת אֱדוֹם בְּגֵיא מֶלַח שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר אָלֶף

KJ: as above

BN: When he strove with Aram Naharayim and with Aram Tsovah, {N} and Yo-Av returned, and smote twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

There is a tale about this in 1 Chronicles 19, as well as 2 Samuel 8 and 1010. Are we once again out of chronology, and need to reorganise the order of these Book 2 Psalms?

This verse is still the title; or at least a sub-title.

ARAM NAHARA'IM: we know is a place - see under Aram; but particularly see Genesis 24:10, because it isn't just any place, but quite specifically the ancestral home of the Beney Yisra-El, after they fled the destruction of Ur. Naming this in the very title inexorably loads the ensuing with symbolic expectation - and should help us date the piece: if it is from after the time of Nebuchadnezzar, then it is also the ancestral home of the Shomronim (Samaritans), who were force-exiled to Kena'an when the Beney Yisra-El were force-exiled to Babylon, and the symbolism is transformed by that dating. We shall have to wait and see.

ARAM TSOVAH: From the construction of the sentence at 1 Samuel 14:47, Tsovah appears to be adjacent to the territory of the Pelishtim, which is to say along or just inland from the the Mediterranean coast. 2 Samuel 8:3 has David pursuing the king of Tsovah along the Perat (Euphrates), though from verse 1 this could perfectly well be the same Tsovah as in the previous reference, just building his empire a long way from home. The tale is interrupted at 2 Samuel 9 by a completely separate tale, but then resumes at 2 Samuel 10. See also 1 Chronicles 18 and 19, which tell the same tale, but without the interruption.

YO-AV: 2 Samuel 8:16 confirms that this is the tale intended by this Psalm; with Yo-Av, David's nephew, appointed commander of the army.

EDOM: See the link.

GEY MELACH: The lands along east bank of the Dead Sea.

60:3 ELOHIM ZENACHTANU PHERATSTANU ANAPHTA TESHOVEV LANU

אֱלֹהִים זְנַחְתָּנוּ פְרַצְתָּנוּ אָנַפְתָּ תְּשׁוֹבֵב לָנוּ

KJ (still 60:1): as above.

BN: Elohim, you have cast us off. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us.

Look closely at the form and structure of each verse in this Psalm; the triple internal rhyme is the most noteworthy on this occasion.

60:4 HIR'ASHTAH ERETS PETSAMTAH REPHAH SHEVAREYHA CHI MATAH

הִרְעַשְׁתָּה אֶרֶץ פְּצַמְתָּהּ רְפָה שְׁבָרֶיהָ כִי מָטָה

KJ (60:2): Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.

BN: You have caused the land to quake. You have cleft it open. Heal its breaches, for it is tottering.

This verse comes as 2 + 2 + 3, with the final word picking up the rhyme of the opening word in the previous parts, and echoing ANAPHTA in the previous verse as well; plus a softer version of the same rhyme at words 4 and 5.

HIR'ASHTAH: But there is also content! Everything about the story of the destruction of the Cities of the Plain (Genesis 19), suggests that it was a volcanic eruption, and everything about the ecology of the area to this day appears to confirm it - the potash and bitumen sea-bed of the Yam ha Melach, the vast quantities of salt in the region which suggest calcinated lava, etc. And here we are, in a Davidic Psalm, set right there amid the salt-plains of Gey ha Melach, and the imagery is of volcanic activity.

60:5 HIR'IYTAH AMCHA KASHAH HISHKIYTANU YAYIN TAR'ELAH

הִרְאִיתָה עַמְּךָ קָשָׁה הִשְׁקִיתָנוּ יַיִן תַּרְעֵלָה

KJ (60:3): Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment.

BN: You have made your people see difficult things. You have made us drink wine until we were reeling.

This is much more complex, 2 +2 + 2, but the first two pairs are mirror-images, the first syllable of the first two "images" echoing, the second syllable rhyming, while the last syllable of the verse picks up the same rhyme, and the extra component of the previous verse is replaced here - presumably for musical reasons - with an extended second part. Pretty sophisticated for the "primitive people" of 3000 years ago!

60:6 NATATAH LIYRE'EYCHA NES LEHITNOSES MIPNEY KOSHET (SELAH)

נָתַתָּה לִּירֵאֶיךָ נֵּס לְהִתְנוֹסֵס מִפְּנֵי קֹשֶׁט סֶלָה

KJ (60:4): Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

BN: You have given a sign to those who believe in you, that they should make their escape from the approaching arrows. (Selah)

LIYRE'EYCHA: Yes, fear, but it is the term used for what we today would call "faith". They may well "fear" the enemy, in the sense of being "frightened", but LIYRE'EYCHA is in fact the opposite: total confidence that the deity will protect them, precisely because of the "sign" that they have been given.

NES: Today the word is understood to mean "a miracle" (as in Nescafé, "miracle coffee"?); but that is a late development. Originally it was "a banner", something you hold up as a sign; and a miracle is a sign from the deity... See Numbers 26:10 - there are many references to "signs" of this kind (Isaiah 5:26, Jeremiah 4:6...) but you will understand why I chose this one when you get there.

LEHITNOSES: Is that the Hit'pael form of NES, or a completely different root being word-played? Because there is also NUS, which means "to flee" or "to escape", and that could lead to the saving of the king at the start of the next verse - you can see it at 2 Samuel 23:11, which is David again, in a later battle with the Pelishtim.

KOSHET: Not originally a Yehudit word at all, but borrowed from the Chaldean, which writes it as KUSHTA (קושטא would be the Yehudit transliteration). In Chaldean, and later in AramaicAramaic, it meant "truth" as per the KJ translation, but we are on a battle field, and if they are fleeing, it will be from the arrows that are being fired; the bow that fires those arrows is known in Yehudit is a KESHET (קשת).

SELAH: As always, a word not pronounced when reciting the Psalm, it is simply the indication of a closing bar, which is to say musical notation informing us that we are moving to a new musical section; on this occasion the form and content of the text will change too.

60:7 LEMA'AN YECHALTSUN YEDIYDEYCHA HOSHIY'AH YEMIYNCHA VA ANENU

לְמַעַן יֵחָלְצוּן יְדִידֶיךָ הוֹשִׁיעָה יְמִינְךָ וַעֲנֵנוּ

KJ (60:5): That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me.

BN: That your beloved may be delivered, save him with your right hand, and answer us.

YEDIYDEYCHA: Self-referential, but complex. David's full name is YEDID-YAH, "the beloved of Yah", and likewise he is the right hand, the Bin Yamin, in the poetical-mythological sense. So really he is asking for the metaphorical deity to imbue him with the innate capacity to work this out on his own.

ANENU: It doesn't say ANENI, which would translate (as in most versions) as "answer me" - this is 1st person plural: he is addressing the multiple deities of the polytheon, not a single Omnideity.

How many Yuds (that should really be YUDIM) in this verse? Even ANENU tends to get pronounced as though it had one - ANEYNU.

Note that verses 7-14 will be repeated as verses 7-14 in Psalm 108; I will note any textual variations when we get to the latter.

60:8 ELOHIM DIBER BE KADSHO E'ELOZAH ACHALKAH SHECHEM VE EMEK SUKOT AMADED

אֱלֹהִים דִּבֶּר בְּקָדְשׁוֹ אֶעְלֹזָה אֲחַלְּקָה שְׁכֶם וְעֵמֶק סֻכּוֹת אֲמַדֵּד

KJ (60:6): God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

BN: Elohim has spoken in his holiness. I am to be victorious! I am to divide Shechem, and share out the valley of Sukot.

E'ELOZAH: Or E'LOZAH? Normally a sheva below the second letter in a syllable is silent, indicating the end of the syllable (as in ACHALKA which follows), whereas it is pronounced as a vowel otherwise (as in SHECHEM, which follows next); but are we counting the Aleph (א) as a prefix or as part of the verb - it is of course both, because of the structure of Yehudit verbs, whence the problem. The problem is also exacerbated by the consonant here being an Ayin (ע), which like the Aleph is semi-aspirate.

SHECHEM...SUKOT: Odd that these are the issue when this was presented as being about the war in either Aram Naharayim, which is to say 1000 miles to the east, or Gey ha Melach and Edom, which are a long way south of Sukot, and even further south of Shechem, today's Nablus (see the links, and also the map below).

And this time count the Kuphs and Kaphs. There could be four (cough, cough); but could it not be contrived to calculate five: SHECHEM like SUKOT has a Kaf, but pronounced as a Chaf, which echoes the Chet in the first half of ACHALKA (five is CHAMESH, which is definitely another Chet, and anyway not in-kluded). And MECHOKEKI in the next verse to complete it: one Chet and two Kuphs. Word-games - or on this okasion letter-games.

60:9 LI GIL'AD VE LI MENASHEH VE EPHRAYIM MA'OZ ROSHI YEHUDAH MECHOKEKI

לִי גִלְעָד וְלִי מְנַשֶּׁה וְאֶפְרַיִם מָעוֹז רֹאשִׁי יְהוּדָה מְחֹקְקִי

KJ (60:7): Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;

BN: Gil'ad is mine, and Menasheh is mine; Ephrayim also is the defence of my head; Yehudah is my sceptre.

Gil'ad lies east of the Yarden (Jordan); Menasheh is in two areas, one on either side of the Yarden, the west more or less today's West Bank, but then extended to the coast. Ephrayim fills the space north of David's capital, Yeru-Shala'im, whence the "head" comment; so, in this verse, Re'u-Ven and Gad, which stand alongside Menasheh on the east of the Yarden, are surprisingly not mentioned, while the rest of the Tribes are simply, perhaps understandably in the context, ignored. This is to the map of Yisra-El what London politics are to the Welsh, Scots, Irish, Cornish and Viking territories: Anglo-Saxondom and its tributaries.

Picking up my comment at verse 2, this is David the king, post Chevron let along post-Tsiklag, ruling from Yeru-Shala'im, triumphing over his established kingdom. It is surely out of order in the plotology of Book 2 of the Psalms?

60:10 MO-AV SIYR RACHTSI AL EDOM ASHLIYCH NA'ALI ALAI PELESHET HITRO'A'AI

מוֹאָב סִיר רַחְצִי עַל אֱדוֹם אַשְׁלִיךְ נַעֲלִי עָלַי פְּלֶשֶׁת הִתְרֹעָעִי

KJ (60:8) Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe: Philistia, triumph thou because of me.

BN: Moab is my washpot; upon Edom do I cast my shoe; Philistia, cry aloud because of me!

Mo-Av and Edom are likewise located east of the Yarden, while Peleshet is the Gaza Strip.

A special mention for comedian-actor Stephen Fry, who had the genius to name his autobiography after this verse (and God, who he rejects "blasphemously", and Stephen himself, alone know why).

Let me return though to E'ELOZAH in verse 8. Many translations render it as "exult". The verse we have just read may well validate that alternative.

HITRO'A'AI: Double-Ayin last word, mirroring the double-Kuph of the last word of the previous verse. Both very unusual, except in poetry.

60:11 MI YOVILENI IR MATSOR MI NACHANI AD EDOM

מִי יֹבִלֵנִי עִיר מָצוֹר מִי נָחַנִי עַד אֱדוֹם

KJ (60:9): Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?

BN: Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?

This time the line comes in two equal parts, mirroring each other.

At times I find myself wondering if the king is praying for success, or merely sharing his battle-plans with the deity.

60:12 HA LO ATAH ELOHIM ZENACHTANU VE LO TETS'E ELOHIM BE TSIV'OTEYNU

הֲלֹא אַתָּה אֱלֹהִים זְנַחְתָּנוּ וְלֹא תֵצֵא אֱלֹהִים בְּצִבְאוֹתֵינוּ

KJ (60:10): Wilt not thou, O God, which hadst cast us off? and thou, O God, which didst not go out with our armies?

BN: Have you now rejected us, Elohim? Are you not going out as Commander-in-Chief?

This needs thinking about. The "hosts" are the key, albeit that this is Elohim and not YHVH. I want to translate this as "are you not marching in the vanguard of our troops?" YHVH until Hasmonean times was YHVH TSEVA'OT, "the lord god of the hosts of the heavens", which is to say the Prime Minister at the Arthurian Round Table. But we are in battle, and TSEVA'OT on Earth are the military. So we have both here, and need an English equivalent that carries the ambivalence. "Are you not going out as the head of the hosts" doesn't do it for me; I have gone for the above, which will be easily understood by an American, where their President has that double-role, though it is still not fully an equivalent.

60:13 HAVAH LANU EZRAT MI TSAR VE SHAV TESHU'AT ADAM

הָבָה לָּנוּ עֶזְרָת מִצָּר וְשָׁוְא תְּשׁוּעַת אָדָם

KJ (60:11): Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

BN: Give us help against our troubles; for vain is the help of Man.

MI TSAR: or MITSAR? Note that this is word-playing with MATSOR in verse 11.

TESHU'AT ADAM: In what sense "vain" - does he mean that human beings are ultimately not dependable? In which case "Please help us against the enemy, because there ain't no point relying on my fellow-humans". Sad statement from a king if so.

60:14 B'ELOHIM NA'ASEH CHAYIL VE HU YAVUS TSAREYNU

בֵּאלֹהִים נַעֲשֶׂה חָיִל וְהוּא יָבוּס צָרֵינוּ

KJ (60:12): Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

BN: Through Elohim we shall do valiantly, for he will deal with our difficulties. {P}

YAVUS: Is there an etymological link to YEVUS? Indeed there is. Besides being the name for one of the seven villages that evenually conurbated as Yeru-Shala'im, and specifically the site for the future Temple, a YEVUS was a threshing-floor (Christians would prefer to say "manger"), the place where the corn was taken at harvest-time to be threshed - and the process of threshing, like that of grape-harvesting, includes the stamping down of the hobs (the crucified sacrecrow known as Guy Faux, but pronounced Guy Fawkes, will be made, and burned, from the leftovers).

I failed to point out at the time that Psalm 57:8-12 is repeated at Psalm 108:2-6, while 108:7-14 repeats the equivalent seven here. For those interested in the abstruse esoterics of this, click here.

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