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 introductory essay
Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles
Essays: Intro - Music - Form & Language
76:1 LA MENATSE'ACH BIN'GIYNOT MIZMOR LE ASAPH SHIR
לַמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינֹת מִזְמוֹר לְאָסָף שִׁיר
KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician on Neginoth, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.) In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.
BN (BibleNet translation): For the Leader of the string section. An accompanied song. To Asaph.
Once again, KJ merges the opening verse into the title, shifting verse-numbers by doing so. Once again we have a 12-verse song, though the Yehudit numbering, because it includes the title, makes it appear to be 13. Twelve is always a significant number!
BIN'GIYNOT: See my note to this at Psalm 4:1.
76:2 NODA BIY'HUDAH ELOHIM BE YISRA-EL GADOL SHEMO
נוֹדָע בִּיהוּדָה אֱלֹהִים בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל גָּדוֹל שְׁמוֹ
KJ (76:1): as above
BN: Elohim is known in Yehudah; his name is great in Yisra-El.
ELOHIM: And once again Elohim, the full polytheon.
YEHUDAH: If this belonged to the epoch of King David, why would Yehudah be specially mentioned - Chevron, where he was king for seven years, was in the tribal territory of Yehudah, but Yeru-Shala'im, where he ruled for the rest of his life, was not, it was in the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin, and politically it would have been very foolish to make the Yehudah-Yisra-El statement. And besides, one of David's principal goals as king, restated repeatedly in the Book of Samuel, was to bring the whole people together as a unified confederation; and speaking of Yehudah separately from Yisra-El, as here, would have had precisely the opposite effect, arousing hostility, and not just in Bin-Yamin.
I have shown evidence in each of the last two Psalms that they belong to the epoch of the Major Prophets, five centuries after David, and if that is correct, then the reference to Yehudah here, and in this manner, makes perfect sense. After the death of Shelomoh the kingdom became divided, the southern kingdom named Yehudah, with Bin-Yamin and Shim'on now absorbed, the northern named Yisra-El, or sometimes Ephrayim. This state of affairs continued until the tribes of the northern kingdom were carried away into captivity, and disappeared from history, around 720 BCE. So this Psalm must belong either to the two-hundred year epoch between the death of Shelomoh (circa 920 BCE) and Sennacherib's conquest (circa 720 BCE); or even, perhaps, to the later period, after the other tribes had disappeared.
HOWEVER! The next verse throws up a possible source of conflict with this conclusion.
76:3 VA YEHI VE SHALEM SUKO U ME'ONATO VE TSI'ON
וַיְהִי בְשָׁלֵם סֻכּוֹ וּמְעוֹנָתוֹ בְצִיּוֹן
KJ (76:2): In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.
BN: His tabernacle was in Shalem, and his dwelling-place in Tsi'on.
VA YEHI: The use of the Vav Consecutive or a prediction of the future? The former is a standard grammatical device that we encounter throughout the Tanach, and is only an apparent problem here because the tabernacle of YHVH was never in Shalem - one of the seven hilltop villages conurbated as Yeru-Shala'im by King David. But this is not YHVH, this is Elohim, and we know from Av-Raham's meeting with Malki-Tsedek in Genesis 14:18 that Shalem was indeed a "tabernacle" of the gods.
This, therefore, is not really a problem - an ancient hymn from pre-Davidic times adopted and adapted: we have seen many of those already, and anyone familiar with the Christian hymnal will know how many Judaic Psalms they have adopted and adapted in similar manner. But Tsi'on is - if this is the Vav Consecutive. Why? Because the deity who ruled on the summit of Mor-Yah in the days before it too was conurbated into Yeru-Shala'im, was worshipped in the form of a gigantic obelisk that was known as the Tsi'un: Moloch, not Elohim. See my notes at Leviticus 20:2.
Should we then read Shalem and Tsi'on as Yeru-Shala'im, post-conurbation, but with the Psalmist wanting to separate the different parts of the city? Or simply, as suggested, a rewriting of an ancient hymn - which may well have been to Moloch originally, and so what?
76:4 SHAMAH SHIBAR RISHPHEY KASHET MAGEN VE CHEREV U MILCHAMAH (SELAH)
שָׁמָּה שִׁבַּר רִשְׁפֵי קָשֶׁת מָגֵן וְחֶרֶב וּמִלְחָמָה סֶלָה
KJ (76:3): There brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah.
BN: There he broke the fiery shafts of the bow; the shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah
This is clearly intended as a remebering of some historic incident, but the text does not give sufficient information for us to work out which.
76:5 NA'OR ATAH ADIR ME HAREREY TAREPH
נָאוֹר אַתָּה אַדִּיר מֵהַרְרֵי טָרֶף
KJ (76:4): Thou art more glorious and excellent than the mountains of prey.
BN: You are resplendent and majestic, coming down from those decidedly otherwise mountains.
NA'OR: We have to be more fastidious when we translate words that describe the attributes of the deity; because the Yehudit authors were. So many different words, and yet our English translators seem always to go for "glorious", or occasionally "glorious", and sometimes, when they try really hard and check their lexicons for synonyms, "glorious". The root of the word Torah, which came down decidedly kosher from the holy mountain, and not Tareph at all, is OR, which means "light".
ADIR: And as to this word, since we are clearly in Mosaic territory, why not go to the Haggadah of Pesach to find its meaning: click here.
TAREPH: as in Treyf, or treif, meaning those most strictly forbidden foods; the generic term comes from the root used here, and originally referred to the "birds of prey" before the usage became largened.
76:6 ESHTOLELU ABIYREY LEV NAMU SHENATAM VE LO MATS'U CHOL ANSHEY CHAYIL YEDEYHEM
אֶשְׁתּוֹלְלוּ אַבִּירֵי לֵב נָמוּ שְׁנָתָם וְלֹא מָצְאוּ כָל אַנְשֵׁי חַיִל יְדֵיהֶם
KJ (76:5): The stouthearted are spoiled, they have slept their sleep: and none of the men of might have found their hands.
BN: The valiant-hearted have been plundered, and now they are sleeping off their exhaustion; {N} and mighty warriors are hunting in vain for their severed hands.
ESHTOLELU: Another very complex verse that needs breaking down. The root here is SHALAL, which is generally used for taking booty after an army has been defeated or a town conquered (cf Genesis 49:27). What makes it complex is that the verb is in the Hitpa'el here , which is to say the reflexive, so they are going to "spoil" themselves, but probably not in the sense of "self-indulgence". The only other instance of SHALAL in the Hitpa'el is Isaiah 59:15, and there too it is reckoned to mean "spoiled". Perhaps it is in the Hitpa'el because it serves them right; they behaved the way they did and merited this outcome, and so, effectively, they did it to themselves.
MATSU...YEDEYHEM: Either this is describing a bunch of soldiers of such ineptitude they couldn't, so to speak, organise a free-beer festival in a pub, or, as per my speculative translation, part of the plundering and spoiling by the enemy was a method of ensuring that this army never took up a sword again.
76:7 MI GA'ARAT'CHA ELOHEY YA'AKOV NIRDAM VE RECHEV VA SUS
מִגַּעֲרָתְךָ אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב נִרְדָּם וְרֶכֶב וָסוּס
KJ (76:6): At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a dead sleep.
BN: At your rebuke, you gods of Ya'akov, they are cast into a dead sleep, both chariot and horse.
NIRDAM: Where NUM in verse 6 tends to be a light sleep (see Proverbs 23:21 for example), NIRDAM is a very deep one (cf Proverbs 10:5).
RECHAV VA SUS: I have a vague recollection of these lines elsewhere: horse and rider: Mosheh's Song at the Sea of Reeds in Exodus 15 definitely, but isn't there also an earlier Psalm which uses the image? Yes - Psalm 20:8.
76:8 ATAH NOR'A ATAH U MI YA'AMOD LEPHANEYCHA ME AZ APECHA
אַתָּה נוֹרָא אַתָּה וּמִי יַעֲמֹד לְפָנֶיךָ מֵאָז אַפֶּךָ
KJ (76:7): Thou, even thou, art to be feared: and who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
BN: You, you are awe-inspiring; and who can stand before you when once you become angry?
The intro to this was Elohey Ya'akov, but unusually there is no divine anger at any point of the Ya'akov story. If the "horse and rider" was Mosheh, then we have a variety of angers to choose from, most obviously the volcanic eruption at Chorev which is the start of YHVH's career as national deity.
76:9 MI SHAMAYIM HISHMA'TA DIYN ERETS YAR'AH VE SHAKATAH
מִשָּׁמַיִם הִשְׁמַעְתָּ דִּין אֶרֶץ יָרְאָה וְשָׁקָטָה
KJ (76:8): Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still,
BN: You made your judgement heard from the heavens; the Earth was terrified, and went silent...
76:10 BE KUM LA MISHPAT ELOHIM LEHOSHIY'A KOL ANVEY ERETS (SELAH)
בְּקוּם לַמִּשְׁפָּט אֱלֹהִים לְהוֹשִׁיעַ כָּל עַנְוֵי אֶרֶץ סֶלָה
KJ (76:9): When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah.
BN: ... when Elohim arose to pass judgment, to save all the humble of the Earth. (Selah)
But of course, while mythological and maybe historical events are being used for the parable, the intent here is abstract-metaphysical.
76:11 KI CHAMAT ADAM TODECHA SHE'ERIYT CHEMOT TACHGOR
כִּי חֲמַת אָדָם תּוֹדֶךָּ שְׁאֵרִית חֵמֹת תַּחְגֹּר
KJ (76:10): Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
BN: For even angry men shall thank you, when you take the residue of their wrath upon yourself.
TACHGOR: The same verb that gives the phrase "gird up your loins" - which has nothing to do with the sexual organ, but is about the wearing of the standard linen garment, which trails around the thighs as far as the knees, and gets in the way if you are trying to run, or can cause embarassment if you climb a ladder. So you tie the loose ends of the skirt into a knot to avoid both problems, and that is called "girding up your loins".
76:12 NIDARU VE SHALMU L'YHVH ELOHEYCHEM KOL SEVIYVAV YOVIYLU SHAI LA MOR'A
TACHGOR: The same verb that gives the phrase "gird up your loins" - which has nothing to do with the sexual organ, but is about the wearing of the standard linen garment, which trails around the thighs as far as the knees, and gets in the way if you are trying to run, or can cause embarassment if you climb a ladder. So you tie the loose ends of the skirt into a knot to avoid both problems, and that is called "girding up your loins".
76:12 NIDARU VE SHALMU L'YHVH ELOHEYCHEM KOL SEVIYVAV YOVIYLU SHAI LA MOR'A
נִדֲרוּ וְשַׁלְּמוּ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֵיכֶם כָּל סְבִיבָיו יוֹבִילוּ שַׁי לַמּוֹרָא
KJ (76:11): Vow, and pay unto the LORD your God: let all that be round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
BN: Make your vow, and fulfill your pledge to YHVH your god; let all who are round about him bring gifts to he who is to be feared.
No one who has been following my commentaries on the previous Psalms in this third book will need me to note what I am about to note: that there has been no reference to YHVH in this Psalm, until now, at the very end, as what appears to be an add-on.
NIDARU VE SHALMU: The Nidrei of Kol Nidrei of Yom Kippur, but also - and this appears to be the intent of this appendage - a criticism of those (it is still the case today) who make their pledges publicly, gaining much glory and respect as a philanthropic donor for so-doing, but whose cheque must have gotten lost in the mail.
76:13 YIVTSOR RU'ACH NEGIYDIM NORA LE MALCHEY ARETS
יִבְצֹר רוּחַ נְגִידִים נוֹרָא לְמַלְכֵי אָרֶץ
KJ (76:12): He shall cut off the spirit of princes: he is terrible to the kings of the earth.
Mechon-Mamre translation: He minisheth the spirit of princes; He is terrible to the kings of the Earth. {P}
I had to include it! But what on Earth does "minisheth" mean?! And in what mediaeval mistranslation did they find it!
BN (first two options): He
BN (third option): He transforms the spirit of the rulers into ore of gold and silver, and inspires with awe the kings of the Earth.
And if I favour the third option, it really is only smug arrogant and insolent self-pride at the clever-cleverness of my homophoning of "ore" and "awe"
YIVTSOR: The root is BATSAR, and the "cutting off" could be positive or negative. In Leviticus 25:5 and Deuteronomy 24:21 it is about "cutting off" the grapes from the vines, which is positive; but in Isaiah 2:14 and 15 it is cut off by tall hills and high walls; that latter leading directly to Jeremiah 51:53, where a fortified city becomes a BATSRAH - cf Genesis 36:33 and especially Isaiah 63:1. Though actually a sheep enclosure could also be a BATSRAH (Micah 2:12); he uses it metaphorically, so he may be thinking of the Levitical refuge-town of Betser in the tribal territory of Re'u-Ven, for which see Deuteronomy 4:43 and Joshua 20:8 or 21:36.
And then one more usage, BATSER, the ore of gold and silver, probably so-called because the process of mining it involves "cutting it off" the rock in which it is embedded (cf Job 22:24).
NEGIYDIM: A NAGIYD is a prince, or leader, or ruler of some kind - cf 1 Samuel 9:16 or 10:1. But NEGED means "against".
So we have a complete mixture of positives and negatives, made from the same words, over several verses. And which is it? Hard to say, and probably both. But methinks the Rabbi, or probably the Kohen, is making a threat here. Find that cheque, or else!
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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