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
לַמְנַצֵּחַ שִׁיר מִזְמוֹר הָרִיעוּ לֵאלֹהִים כָּל הָאָרֶץ
KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm.) Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
BN: For the Leader. To be sung, with musical accompaniment: Shout out to Elohim, all the Earth.
On this occasion it is the original Yehudit which amalgamates the first verse into the title; KJ merely follows suit.
More useful to list those Psalms that are not addressed LA MENATSE'ACH! (For who he was, see my note at Psalm 51:1).
Fascinating to observe, yet again, how many of these songs are addressed to Elohim rather than YHVH.
This time it is SHIR MIZMOR, rather than MIZMOR, or SHIR, or MIZMOR SHIR. Clearly each one is different. Based on my reading of the two words, this one has to be a poem set to music, rather than a piece of music provided with a libretto.
HARIY'U: I am also assuming that this will open with a long blast on the trumpet, as well as the "shouting out", though whether a Shofar or a Chatsotsrah is impossible to determine (click here for more on this). The root is RU'A, which means "to make a loud noise", but see Numbers 10:9, where it is a Chatsotsrah, and Joel 2:1, where it is a Shofar.
66:2 ZAMRU CHEVOD SHEMO SIYMU CHAVOD TEHILATO
זַמְּרוּ כְבוֹד שְׁמוֹ שִׂימוּ כָבוֹד תְּהִלָּתוֹ
KJ: Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.
BN: Sing praises to the glory of his name; make his praise glorious.
66:3 IMRU L'ELOHIM MAH NORA MA'ASEYCHA BE ROV UZCHA YECHACHASHU LECHA OYEVEYCHA
66:3 IMRU L'ELOHIM MAH NORA MA'ASEYCHA BE ROV UZCHA YECHACHASHU LECHA OYEVEYCHA
אִמְרוּ לֵאלֹהִים מַה נּוֹרָא מַעֲשֶׂיךָ בְּרֹב עֻזְּךָ יְכַחֲשׁוּ לְךָ אֹיְבֶיךָ
KJ: Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
BN: Say to Elohim, How wonderful are your deeds and your creations! Through your mighty greatness shall your enemies dwindle away before you.
MA'ASEYCHA: I have doubled on this ("deeds" and "creations"), because LA'ASOT has both meanings, "to do" and "to make", in the same way that "faire" does in French, and here it could mean either, and probably does. But also see MIPH'ALOT in verse 5.
66:4 KOL HA ARETS YISHTACHAVU LECHA VIYZAMRU LACH YEZAMRU SHIMCHA (SELAH)
כָּל הָאָרֶץ יִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְךָ וִיזַמְּרוּ לָךְ יְזַמְּרוּ שִׁמְךָ סֶלָה
KJ: All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.
BN: All the Earth shall prostrate itself before you, and sing praises to you; they shall sing praises to your name. (Selah)
LECHA...LACH: Despite studying and teaching Yehudit-Ivrit-Hebrew, inside and outside the Bible, for thirty years, there remain some very basic features of the text (not the language, the text) that I simply do not understand, even after asking countless Rabbis and teachers, and looking up countless books and websites. This verse provides the perfect illustration of one of them. Very basic Yehudit, distinguishing the masculine from the feminine: "to you", masculine, is LECHA; "to you", feminine, is LACH. No problem, no exceptions, no argument. As basic a piece of Yehudit grammar as you can teach the second lesson ever to a Kindergarten. Yet repeatedly, throughout the "pointed" versions of the Bible, we find LACH connected to the male deity, and the scholars assure me that it is not an error. Unpointed you can't tell a LACH from a LECHA, but "pointed" you can. There are, to me, only two viable explanations (discounting "repeated error", because there are dozens, and slipshod and sloppy would be two or three at most):
a) the "pointing" is incorrect, and it should be LECHA;
b) and this verse seems to me the right occasion to suggest it, it is LACH because, in the original, before the Redaction, a female deity was being addressed. Given that we have both, side-by-side in the same verse, and Elohim is the multiple plural, I am in no doubt that b) is the unequivocal explanation. And given that we are addressing Elohim, the polytheon, which includes both gods and goddesses, no reason why not.
66:5 LECHU U RE'U MIPH'ALOT ELOHIM NORA ALIYLAH AL BENEY ADAM
לְכוּ וּרְאוּ מִפְעֲלוֹת אֱלֹהִים נוֹרָא עֲלִילָה עַל בְּנֵי אָדָם
KJ: Come and see the works of God: he is terrible in his doing toward the children of men.
BN: Go and witness the works of Elohim. He is awesome in meeting the aspirations of the human race.
LECHU: LALECHET is "to go", LAVO is "to come". Opposite directions. See verse 13.
MIPH'ALOT: I have written before about PO'AL and AVODAH, the former being daily work (a MIPH'AL, in today's world, is a factory; the names of the binyanim - the verb structures - come from the root PA'AL = "to do"; a worker, in the sense of an employee, is a PO'AL) where AVODAH may be slavery, or servitude, or worship. The works of the deity then are: making the rivers flow, the tectonic plates crash, the flowers bloom, the hurricane rage, the wife fertile, the sun shine, the snow fall, and people behave in the ways that people generally behave. A metaphorical deity in whom even the followers of "The God Delusion" should have no problem believing, though probably one in whom they are also likely to have very little faith!
LECHU: LALECHET is "to go", LAVO is "to come". Opposite directions. See verse 13.
MIPH'ALOT: I have written before about PO'AL and AVODAH, the former being daily work (a MIPH'AL, in today's world, is a factory; the names of the binyanim - the verb structures - come from the root PA'AL = "to do"; a worker, in the sense of an employee, is a PO'AL) where AVODAH may be slavery, or servitude, or worship. The works of the deity then are: making the rivers flow, the tectonic plates crash, the flowers bloom, the hurricane rage, the wife fertile, the sun shine, the snow fall, and people behave in the ways that people generally behave. A metaphorical deity in whom even the followers of "The God Delusion" should have no problem believing, though probably one in whom they are also likely to have very little faith!
ALIYLAH: And you will need a great deal of faith for this word, which can be reduced to "doings" if you insist on avoiding the issue, but is about the quenching of the thirst. Judges 19:25 uses it for the sexual appetite. Leviticus 19:10 requires vineyard-husbanders not to take everything they want at harvest-time, but to leave some for the poor. Jeremiah 6:9 says the same, but metaphorically.
66:6 HAPHACH YAM LE YABASHAH BA NAHAR YA'AVRU VE RAGEL SHAM NISMECHAH BO
66:6 HAPHACH YAM LE YABASHAH BA NAHAR YA'AVRU VE RAGEL SHAM NISMECHAH BO
הָפַךְ יָם לְיַבָּשָׁה בַּנָּהָר יַעַבְרוּ בְרָגֶל שָׁם נִשְׂמְחָה בּוֹ
KJ: He turned the sea into dry land: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.
BN: He turned the sea into dry land; they crossed the river on foot; there let us rejoice in him!
Confirming my definition of the "works" in the previous verse, but also adding one very controversial (as opposed to contraversial, which the first part of this must have been, I guess) extra: the constant interference of the deity in matters he had officially passed over in stewardship to human responsibility.
66:7 MOSHEL BIGVURATO OLAM EYNAV BA GOYIM TITSPEYNAH HA SORERIM AL YARIYMU LAMO (SELAH)
מֹשֵׁל בִּגְבוּרָתוֹ עוֹלָם עֵינָיו בַּגּוֹיִם תִּצְפֶּינָה הַסּוֹרְרִים אַל יָרִימוּ לָמוֹ סֶלָה
KJ: He ruleth by his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah.
BN: He rules by his might for ever. His eyes keep watch on the nations. {N} Do not allow the rebellious to exalt themselves. (Selah)
MOSHEL: Interesting to see that Yehudit plays the same word-games that English does. We have rules for a game, and we have rulers for our political lives, just as we have sentences in grammar, and sentences in courts of law, and poets long for the right parole, the mot juste, just as convicts do, especially, in the latter case, those who still refuse to admit guilt and insist they were framed, though whether by an art gallery or a police officer is unclear. So a sentence in Yehudit-Ivrit is a MISHPAT, so the simple rules of life, expressed in proverbs, are MOSHLIM.
MOSHEL: Interesting to see that Yehudit plays the same word-games that English does. We have rules for a game, and we have rulers for our political lives, just as we have sentences in grammar, and sentences in courts of law, and poets long for the right parole, the mot juste, just as convicts do, especially, in the latter case, those who still refuse to admit guilt and insist they were framed, though whether by an art gallery or a police officer is unclear. So a sentence in Yehudit-Ivrit is a MISHPAT, so the simple rules of life, expressed in proverbs, are MOSHLIM.
I am still struggling to understand why there is a Nun break and a Selah; the former is an end-point for the lyric, the latter for the music, which as a songwriter I can't see working in the order given here. I am tempted to suggest that the people who invented the Pey, Samech and Nun breaks did not understand properly what the Selah is, and really the Nun and Selah should go together here, both at the end of the verse.
66:8 BARCHU AMIM ELOHEYNU VE HASHMIY'U KOL TEHILATO
בָּרְכוּ עַמִּים אֱלֹהֵינוּ וְהַשְׁמִיעוּ קוֹל תְּהִלָּתוֹ
KJ: O bless our God, ye people, and make the voice of his praise to be heard:
BN: Bless our gods, you nations, and cause the sound of praising him to be heard.
BARCHU: another of the small anomalies of modern pronunication; most Jews today pronounce the sheva under the Reysh (ר - Barechu), but in fact it should be silent.
Based on the order of the first three words this looks like it ought to be the other way around: "Bless (barchu) the nations (amim) O our gods (Eloheynu)". If it had said Elohim, which is a multiple plural, we would expect a singular verb (baruch); but the verb is plural, which is equally correct for AMIM or ELOHEYNU. So, actually, it could be either way around. (See verse 20)
HASHMIY'U KOL TEHILATO: The second half resolves the matter. HASHMIY'U is plural, which simply continues the problem. But then TEHILATO is singular; AMIM would have to continue in the plural, where ELOHEYNU - a touch naughtily, but TEHILATAM would be unacceptable - can revert to the singular.
66:9 HA SAM NAPHSHENU BA CHAYIM VE LO NATAN LAMOT RAGLENU
הַשָּׂם נַפְשֵׁנוּ בַּחַיִּים וְלֹא נָתַן לַמּוֹט רַגְלֵנוּ
KJ: Which holdeth our soul in life, and suffereth not our feet to be moved.
BN: Who has kindled our soul into life, and will not suffer our foot to be moved.
LAMOT: That idiom yet again.
66:10 KI VECHANTANU ELOHIM TSERAPHTANU KI TSERAPH KASEPH
LAMOT: That idiom yet again.
66:10 KI VECHANTANU ELOHIM TSERAPHTANU KI TSERAPH KASEPH
כִּי בְחַנְתָּנוּ אֱלֹהִים צְרַפְתָּנוּ כִּצְרָף כָּסֶף
KJ: For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
BN: For you, Elohim, have tested us to prove us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
I am not entirely certain how to interpret this figure of speech, whence my slightly extended translation. Silver can be tested, in its purest mineral form, by melting it, and then seeing what other minerals have been absorbed into it, and what quality of silver it comprises; once turned into a coin it can be weighed on a set of scales, to make sure that it hasn't been cheated in the refinement; or it can be bitten, to see whether it is as solid as it should be; or it can be examined with the eyes, to see if it has been "clipped". Which of these is the intention here?
66:11 HAVE'TANU VAM'TSUDAH SAMTA MU'AKAH VE MATNEYNU
הֲבֵאתָנוּ בַמְּצוּדָה שַׂמְתָּ מוּעָקָה בְמָתְנֵינוּ
KJ: Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins.
BN: You brought us into the stronghold; you laid heavy weights upon our muscles.
VAM'TSUDAH: Or VA METSUDAH? Especially in the echo of VE MATNEYNU, which should then really be written here as VEMATNEYNU if VAM'TSUDAH is correct (it is written that way in the Yehudit, but my general practice in TheBibleNet is to separate the conjunctions in order to make clear the word-structure).
As to its meaning, lots of options, but "net" is not really one of them; distantly perhaps, because someone poaching fish might use a net; and even that could only be the case if this were from the root MATSOD, which is about "prey" and "hunting", and does indeed get used for a "net" in a horribly mysogynistic paragraph in Ecclesiastes 7:26. But this is from the root MATSAD, which is confusingly similar, but still different. From it the great fortress built by Herod in the Yehudan desert, mispronounced in English as Masada; and indeed the mountain fortress provides both usages here, for it could be the human one, like Herod's, or the divine equivalent, on Olympus or Valhalla, or more likely Chorev.
MU'AKAH VE MATNEYNU: Feels like we are in the gym! The root of MU'AKAH is UK, a Chaldean word rarely used in Yehudit - the only Biblical usage is in Amos 2:13. MATNEYNU comes from MATAN, not MATANAH, which would mean "a gift". MATAN means "strength" in the physical sense, as opposed to OZ in the political or GEVURAH in the spiritual. Strength of the loins, as in the KJ, or strength of the abdomen, as in my translation? Both probably. "Testing and proving" our powers either way, as in verse 10.
66:12 HIRKAVTA ENOSH LE RO'SHENU BA'NU VA ESH U VA MAYIM VA TOTSIY'ENU LA REVAYAH
הִרְכַּבְתָּ אֱנוֹשׁ לְרֹאשֵׁנוּ בָּאנוּ בָאֵשׁ וּבַמַּיִם וַתּוֹצִיאֵנוּ לָרְוָיָה
KJ: Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
BN: You allowed men in chariots to ride over our heads; we came through fire and through water; but you brought us out to abundance.
ENOSH: See my previous notes, of which there are already several in these Psalms. Its root is ISH = "man", whence ISHAH = "woman", and ANASHIM in the plural; ENOSH thus means "Humankind" and is a much more logical term than BEN ADAM, which means "son of Adam", and is generally not used before the epoch of the Major Prophets. Not to be confused with ENOCH, which is an entirely different name (and anyway it is CHANOCH in the Yehudit, and only ENOCH by mispronunciation and incorrect spelling in the English).
VA ESH U VA MAYIM: see the Yom Kippur liturgy (here), and the Leonard Cohen song (here).
REVAYAH: I nearly made this comment at verse 6, but decided to wait, to see if there were substantiating verses later on; and here one is. At 6 Elohim "turned the sea into dry land", which suggests the Mosaic crossing of the Reed Sea (Exodus 14:16); then "they crossed the river on foot", which suggests Yehoshu'a at Gil-Gal (Joshua 3). And now, here he is, bringing them into the land of cows and bees.
ENOSH: See my previous notes, of which there are already several in these Psalms. Its root is ISH = "man", whence ISHAH = "woman", and ANASHIM in the plural; ENOSH thus means "Humankind" and is a much more logical term than BEN ADAM, which means "son of Adam", and is generally not used before the epoch of the Major Prophets. Not to be confused with ENOCH, which is an entirely different name (and anyway it is CHANOCH in the Yehudit, and only ENOCH by mispronunciation and incorrect spelling in the English).
VA ESH U VA MAYIM: see the Yom Kippur liturgy (here), and the Leonard Cohen song (here).
REVAYAH: I nearly made this comment at verse 6, but decided to wait, to see if there were substantiating verses later on; and here one is. At 6 Elohim "turned the sea into dry land", which suggests the Mosaic crossing of the Reed Sea (Exodus 14:16); then "they crossed the river on foot", which suggests Yehoshu'a at Gil-Gal (Joshua 3). And now, here he is, bringing them into the land of cows and bees.
66:13 AVO VEIT'CHA VE OLOT ASHALEM LECHA NEDARAI
אָבוֹא בֵיתְךָ בְעוֹלוֹת אֲשַׁלֵּם לְךָ נְדָרָי
KJ: I will go into thy house with burnt offerings: I will pay thee my vows,
BN: I will come into your house with burnt offerings; I will reimburse you through my vows...
AVO: See my note to verse 5. This is LAVO = "to come", and KJ has it wrong again.
OLOT: And specifically "burnt offerings", rather than any of the other forms of KURBAN. For a full explanation of these, click here.
ASHALEM: does not mean "perform"; properly it means "to pay", but this is a mutual covenant, and both sides are getting something from the transaction; whence my translation.
66:14 ASHER PATSU SEPHATAI VE DIBER PI BA TSAR LI
אֲשֶׁר פָּצוּ שְׂפָתָי וְדִבֶּר פִּי בַּצַּר לִי
KJ: Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.
BN: Which my lips uttered, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.
Interesting intellectual construct this: we tend to call on the deity for help when we are in deep distress, and we don't necessarily mean it! (the difference between a pledge and a vow). But, to show his sincerity, the Psalmist now vows to fulfill those pledges anyway.
This verse sounds like a generalised statement, but is in fact a deliberate allusion to Psalm 51:17, which is the phrase that is used to prologue the Amidah.
66:15 OLOT MECHIM A'ALEH LACH IM KETORET EYLIM E'ESEH VAKAR IM ATUDIM (SELAH)
עֹלוֹת מֵחִים אַעֲלֶה לָּךְ עִם קְטֹרֶת אֵילִים אֶעֱשֶׂה בָקָר עִם עַתּוּדִים סֶלָה
KJ: I will offer unto thee burnt sacrifices of fatlings, with the incense of rams; I will offer bullocks with goats. Selah.
BN: I will bring you burnt-offerings of fattened sheep, with the sweet smoke of rams; {N} I will offer bullocks with the goats. (Selah)
LACH again.
66:16 LECHU SHIM'U VA ASAPRAH KOL YIR'EY ELOHIM ASHER ASAH LE NAPHSHI
LACH again.
66:16 LECHU SHIM'U VA ASAPRAH KOL YIR'EY ELOHIM ASHER ASAH LE NAPHSHI
לְכוּ שִׁמְעוּ וַאֲסַפְּרָה כָּל יִרְאֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְנַפְשִׁי
KJ: Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.
BN: Go and listen, and I will recount, to all you who fear the gods, what he has done for my spirit.
LECHU: Again!
NAPHSHI: soul? or spirit? these are not the same.
We translators also need to be aware of word-order! Ditto the next verse
66:17 ELAV PI KARA'TI VE ROMAM TACHAT LESHONI
66:17 ELAV PI KARA'TI VE ROMAM TACHAT LESHONI
אֵלָיו פִּי קָרָאתִי וְרוֹמַם תַּחַת לְשׁוֹנִי
KJ: I cried unto him with my mouth, and he was extolled with my tongue.
BN: My mouth called to him, and their greatness was under my tongue.
ROMAM: Singular noun (RAM) with 3rd person plural possessive ending? The KJ translation, and most of the commentators, prefer to regard this as the root RUM extended to RAMAM (as in Psalm 99:9, or the modern song ROMEMU derived from it), but here rendered passive: but that would have to be RUMAM, and the Masoretic pointing insists on ROMAM.
66:18 AVEN IM RA'IYTI VE LIBI LO YISHM'A ADONAI
66:18 AVEN IM RA'IYTI VE LIBI LO YISHM'A ADONAI
אָוֶן אִם רָאִיתִי בְלִבִּי לֹא יִשְׁמַע אֲדֹנָי
KJ: If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
BN: If I had simply seen the sin in my own heart, my Lord would not have heard.
Another interesting intellectual construction. "Seeing in my heart", which is to say "knowing I have done wrong" is not enough; it is necessary to verbalise it, to make confession of it, whether in the solitude of prayer, the one-on-one of a confession-booth, or in the midst of a congregation.
ADONAI: Not YHVH, whose name is often pronounced by orthodox Jews as "Adonai".
66:19 ACHEN SHAM'A ELOHIM HIKSHIV BE KOL TEPHILATI
Another interesting intellectual construction. "Seeing in my heart", which is to say "knowing I have done wrong" is not enough; it is necessary to verbalise it, to make confession of it, whether in the solitude of prayer, the one-on-one of a confession-booth, or in the midst of a congregation.
ADONAI: Not YHVH, whose name is often pronounced by orthodox Jews as "Adonai".
66:19 ACHEN SHAM'A ELOHIM HIKSHIV BE KOL TEPHILATI
אָכֵן שָׁמַע אֱלֹהִים הִקְשִׁיב בְּקוֹל תְּפִלָּתִי
KJ: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.
BN: But Elohim has indeed heard; he has paid heed to the voice of my prayer.
66:20 BARUCH ELOHIM ASHER LO HESIR TEPHILATI VE CHASDO ME ITI
66:20 BARUCH ELOHIM ASHER LO HESIR TEPHILATI VE CHASDO ME ITI
בָּרוּךְ אֱלֹהִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא הֵסִיר תְּפִלָּתִי וְחַסְדּוֹ מֵאִתִּי
KJ: Blessed be God, which hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me.
BN: Blessed be Elohim, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me. {P}
Once again we witness this fundamental difference between Biblical liturgy and that since the start of the Talmudic era. Baruch here is in the 3rd person; but post-Talmudic Judaism speaks to, not about, and so the Baruch would be in the 2nd person: Baruch atah adonai...
Once again we witness this fundamental difference between Biblical liturgy and that since the start of the Talmudic era. Baruch here is in the 3rd person; but post-Talmudic Judaism speaks to, not about, and so the Baruch would be in the 2nd person: Baruch atah adonai...
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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