TheBibleNet: Psalm 80

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

80:1 LA MENATSE'ACH EL SHOSHANIM EDUT LE ASAPH MIZMOR

לַמְנַצֵּחַ אֶל שֹׁשַׁנִּים עֵדוּת לְאָסָף מִזְמוֹר

KJ (King James translation): (To the chief Musician upon Shoshannimeduth, A Psalm of Asaph.) Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.

BN (BibleNet translation): For the Leader of the Trumpet section. A witness-Psalm. For Asaph.

KJ has added the first verse to the title-verse, adjusting its numbering afterwards to suit this.

SHOSHANIM: I have a lengthy note about this at the start of Psalm 45; it also comes up in Psalm 69; and see verse 11, below.

EDUT: Meaning what exactly? We saw it just a couple of Psalms back (but it occurs far too frequently for me to list all of them), so go back to my notes there (78:5). It can mean "congregation" but that is unlikely here. It alludes to the OHEL MO'ED, the "Ark of the Testimony", but there is no obvious reason for mentioning it. The word is used to mean "testimony" in the sense of bearing witness, which I am speculating may be the intention here: "bearing witness" in the religious sense being a statement of faith, which is what we are about to get. The biggest problem here is grammatical rather than lexical; it is a title made up of a series of words, but it is not a sentence as it has no verb, and it comes without any punctuation at all: so which words, if any, combine with which words? KJ has combined SHOSHANIM with EDUT, but I honestly could not reject the suggestion that this is not a title at all, but a set of envelopes: "copies to", and then the list:

BN (hypothetical alternate translation): Copy for the leader of the trumpets; congregational copy; copy for the Temple library. Score included.

ASAPH: see notes in the previous Psalms.

80:2 RO'EH YISRA-EL HA'AZIYNAH NOHEG KA TSON YOSEPH YOSHEV HA KERUVIM HOPHIY'AH

רֹעֵה יִשְׂרָאֵל הַאֲזִינָה נֹהֵג כַּצֹּאן יוֹסֵף יֹשֵׁב הַכְּרוּבִים הוֹפִיעָה

KJ (80:1): as above

BN: Pay attention to me, Shepherd of Yisra-El, you who leads Yoseph like a flock.{N} Shine forth, you who are enthroned above the Keruvim.

RO'EH: This appears to pick up the theme from two Psalms ago, making me wonder if the last Psalm, which was quite different in many ways from the others thus far in this collection, is not perhaps misplaced.

YOSEPH: Why, and for the second time, is Yisra-El referred to as Yoseph, rather than Ya'akov? Yoseph had no inheritance, no tribe. His bones were buried in Shechem (Joshua 24:32), not Machpelah.

KERUVIM: See the link. How did Biblical humans envisage the deity? In First Temple times it was not yet an abstract metaphor, but it was also no longer simply the forces of Nature; some indication comes from the forms that were permitted, despite the prohibition of graven images. (But either way, not the grown-up babies in diapers of mediaeval Christian art.)

Outside the sacred grove of Eden, where Chavah was the high priestess, there was a swastika, a "wheel of fire", which twirled permanently, like a neon sign announcing that a shop is open, and two Keruvim, giant creatures in the Babylonian style. The Solomonic Temple likewise had two Keruvim, as well as the pillars Bo'az and Yachin at the entrance. I mention Chavah because of this, but also because, unless I am very much mistaken, both the verbs in this verse are in the 3rd person feminine, not masculine: HA'AZIYNA and HOPHIY'AH. How strange!

80:3 LIPHNEY EPHRAYIM U VIN-YAMIN U MENASHEH ORERAH ET GEVURATECHA U LECHAH LIYSHU'ATAH LANU

לִפְנֵי אֶפְרַיִם וּבִנְיָמִן וּמְנַשֶּׁה עוֹרְרָה אֶת גְּבוּרָתֶךָ וּלְכָה לִישֻׁעָתָה לָּנוּ

KJ (80:2): Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh stir up thy strength, and come and save us.

BN: Before Ephrayim and Bin-Yamin and Menasheh, stir up your might, {N} and come to save us.

Yoseph in the first verse, now his full-brother and both of his sons in the second: where is this leading? And are we talking historical humans, mythological beings, or, as with the Keruvim, stellar and planetary cosmologies?

80:4 ELOHIM HASHIYVENU VE HA'ER PANEYCHA VE NIVASHE'AH

אֱלֹהִים הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ וְהָאֵר פָּנֶיךָ וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה

KJ (80:3): Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

BN: Restore us, Elohim, and cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved.

Elohim as sun-god. Can we now state that Ro'eh Yisra-El and Elohim are two different deities? (HA'ER is 3rd person singular, masculine)

HA'ER PANEYCHA: Bringing the Yevarechecha into the Psalm, confirming that this verse at least is about the sun-god, and very primitive cosmology; but in a form, and using language (the merging of YHVH with Elohim in the following verse, so that both are allied to Tseva'ot) that is of a much later period - an updating then, in Ezraic times probably, for use in the Second Temple, of an ancient liturgical fragment, from the Egyptian period, or at least from the Egyptian side of Yisra-El.

Students might also want to look at the words of Sim Shalom, which both anticipates the Yevarechecha, and adds a layer of explanation to it; especially the middle section, which references HA'ER PANEYCHA explicitly:

KI VE'OR PANEYCHA NATATA LANU ADONAI ELOHEYNU TORAT CHAYIM VE AHAVAT CHESED... (a translation can be found at the link)

Sim Shalom is the final, nineteenth, paragraph of the Amidah, which is most definitely a "witness-hymn".

80:5 YHVH ELOHIM TSEVA'OT AD MATAI ASHANTA BITPHILAT AMECHA

יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת עַד מָתַי עָשַׁנְתָּ בִּתְפִלַּת עַמֶּךָ

KJ (80:4): O LORD God of hosts, how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people?

BN: YHVH, Elohim, Lords of the Hosts of the Heavens, how long will you be angry with the prayers of your people?

YHVH ELOHIM TSEVA'OT: We are more accustomed to plain YHVH TSEVA'OT (see verse 20) but the intention is the same: Elohim is all the gods combined as one multiple plural; the Tseva'ot are the "hosts of heaven", which is to say the seven planets and the twelve constellations; YHVH provides the sun and his consort YAH is the full moon. But again this is an ancient form, possibly updated: in Egypt both Ra and Hor were sun-gods, but epochally and generationally separated; so also Ouranos in the Greek gave way to Chronos who gave way to Zeus. So, here, we are seeing the full polytheon, but also aware that the evolution into the Omnideity is being given a base in doxology.

AD MATAI: Where I criticised the translation in the previous Psalm, this time there is no question: this is Yesha-Yah's (Isaiah's) famous question (Isaiah 6:11), though whether stated here by him or by another is beyond our capacity to know.

BITPHILAT: The real question is, why would the deity be angry anyway? Is prayer not precisely what he wants? To which there are two possible answers, and both may be correct, and both can be found, like the quote, in the Book of Yesha-Yah.

a) the gods are angry because your prayers are insincere, throat-singing not diaphragm-singing, recitation by rote, and half of you haven't even studied sufficiently to know what the words you are saying even mean;

b) the gods want your obedience, not your sacrifices, but there are still rules to obey about those sacrifices, and when did I last see you bringing one to the shrine?

Plus, I would add, and the next verse, and actually 99% of these Psalms, all endorse it, over and over: "and the gods are angry because you pray these Psalms, but all these Psalms ever do is whinge and moan and blame the gods for it, and demand more, and then still more - but responsibility lies with you, so accept it, and deal with it."

80:6 HE'ECHALTAM LECHEM DIM'AH VA TASHKEMO BIDMA'OT SHALISH

הֶאֱכַלְתָּם לֶחֶם דִּמְעָה וַתַּשְׁקֵמוֹ בִּדְמָעוֹת שָׁלִישׁ

KJ (80:5): Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

BN: You fed them with the bread of tears, and gave them tears to drink in large measure.

BIDMA'OT: Or BI DEMA'OT?

80:7 TESIYMENU MADON LISHCHENEYNU VE OYEVEYNU YIL'AGU LAMO

תְּשִׂימֵנוּ מָדוֹן לִשְׁכֵנֵינוּ וְאֹיְבֵינוּ יִלְעֲגוּ לָמוֹ

KJ (80:6): Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours: and our enemies laugh among themselves.

BN: You cause strife betweeen us and our neighbours; and our enemies mock us with impunity.

80:8 ELOHIM TSEVA'OT HASHIYVENU VE HA'ER PANEYCHA VE NIVASHE'AH

אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ וְהָאֵר פָּנֶיךָ וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה

KJ (80:7): Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

BN: Elohim, Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, restore us; cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved.

ELOHIM TSEVA'OT: Fascinating to see this of all phrases, but attributed to Elohim, not YHVH. So we can trace the evolution of the cult, and date these texts. Lenin is still in the Kremlin; Stalin has not yet been appointed Secretary-General, and Trotsky still leads the Red Army.

HA'ER: An early form of the YEVARECHECHA as well, though clearly it is central to this Psalm as it occurred already in verse 4, and will again in verse 20: indeed, we can now recognise that the Psalm is split into three sections, and this verse provides the refrain that completes each of them (though TSEVA'OT did not appear in verse 4, and YHVH will be added at verse 20).

80:9 GEPHEN MI MITSRAYIM TASIY'A TEGARESH GOYIM VA TITA'EHA

גֶּפֶן מִמִּצְרַיִם תַּסִּיעַ תְּגָרֵשׁ גּוֹיִם וַתִּטָּעֶהָ

KJ (80:8): Thou hast brought a vine out of Egypt: thou hast cast out the heathen, and planted it.

BN: You plucked a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations, and planted it.

Those early-verse references to the Egyptian side of the family of Yisra-El appeared to have led nowhere; here the theme is resumed. The vine, presumably, is a metaphor - we shall have to wait to see for what - though if this is Egypt, and Yoseph has been mentioned, the eucharistic tale of the butler and the baker obviously come to mind (Genesis 40), and then the hiding of the kiddush becher in Bin-Yamin's luggage (Genesis 44).

But that is just me, like most translators, making an assumption. Watermelon trail in vines. Wisteria and Virginia Creeper grow as vines. There is no reason to presume that this must be grape.

80:10 PINIYTA LEPHANEYHA VA TASHRESH SHARASHEYHA VA TEMAL'E ARETS

פִּנִּיתָ לְפָנֶיהָ וַתַּשְׁרֵשׁ שָׁרָשֶׁיהָ וַתְּמַלֵּא אָרֶץ

KJ (80:9): Thou preparedst room before it, and didst cause it to take deep root, and it filled the land.

BN: You cleared the space around it, and it took deep root, and filled the land.

(BN, alternate - politically motivated - translation, in the darker green of Islam): You removed the native population to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and established illegal settlements on occupied land.

No different, of course, from what the Angles and Saxons did to the Celts of what became Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, or the same people to the aboriginal nations of what became the United States of America.

80:11 KASU HARIM TSILAH VA ANAPHEYHA ARZEY EL

כָּסּוּ הָרִים צִלָּהּ וַעֲנָפֶיהָ אַרְזֵי אֵל

KJ (80:10): The hills were covered with the shadow of it, and the boughs thereof were like the goodly cedars.

BN: The mountains were covered with its shadows, and the mighty cedars with its boughs.

At the moment it sounds more like spanish moss or mistletoe than grape-vine! I wonder if perhaps it's lily-of-the-valley - known in Yehudit as Shoshana (see the title).

80:12 TESHALACH KETSIYREHA AD YAM VE EL NAHAR YONKOTEYHA

תְּשַׁלַּח קְצִירֶהָ עַד יָם וְאֶל נָהָר יוֹנְקוֹתֶיהָ

KJ (80:11): She sent out her boughs unto the sea, and her branches unto the river.

BN: She sent out her branches over the sea, and her shoots along the river.

EL NAHAR: Which river? Not the Nile - that is always Ye'or, never Nahar, and anyway the vine was brought to Kena'an from Egypt? It must either be that little-more-than-a-stream for the most part, the river Yarden (Jordan), or the intention here is "from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates". But it is all still metaphorical.

80:13 LAMAH PARATSTA GEDEREYHA VE ARUHA KOL OVREY DARECH

לָמָּה פָּרַצְתָּ גְדֵרֶיהָ וְאָרוּהָ כָּל עֹבְרֵי דָרֶךְ

KJ (80:12): Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?

BN: Why then have you broken down her fences, so that every creature who passes her along the road can pluck her?

GEDEREYHA: There is a huge difference between "fences" and "hedges", and I don't mean their natural elements, but their raison d'etre. Hedges define boundaries in the countryside, but generally they are allowed to grow, rather than planted, and grape is somewhat less likely than berries of some kind. Fences are erected by humans to enclose a space of ground for a specific purpose, which may be a paddock for the horse or camel, a garden for the kids, or an orchard for the fruit trees. I have translated it here as "fences".

GEDEREYHA...ARUHA: And then take note of the gender. GEPHEN, which is the grape-vine, is masculine; both of these words have feminine possessive pronouns. The lily - SHOSHANA - is feminine. I wonder if we should be looking at the beginning of the Song of Songs (chapter 2:1 to be precise) for a better understanding of this - click here and then take your pick (but then read on beyond that verse, here)

80:14 YECHARSEMENAH CHAZIR MI YA'AR VE ZIZ SADAI YIR'ENAH

יְכַרְסְמֶנָּה חֲזִיר מִיָּעַר וְזִיז שָׂדַי יִרְעֶנָּה

KJ (80:13): The boar out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the field doth devour it.

BN: The boar who inhabit the woods devour it, and anything that moves in the fields feeds on it.

CHAZIR: If this were still in Egypt, we would recognise the boar as Set, who killed Osher disguised as one (Adonis and Attis in their versions suffered the same fate, and it is almost certainly the origin of the tale of the javelin poked into Jesus' side - John 19:34 - while nailed to the Cross).

80:15 ELOHIM TSEVA'OT SHUV NA HABET MI SHAMAYIM U RE'EH U PHEKOD GEPHEN ZOT

אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת שׁוּב נָא הַבֵּט מִשָּׁמַיִם וּרְאֵה וּפְקֹד גֶּפֶן זֹאת

KJ (80:14): Return, we beseech thee, O God of hosts: look down from heaven, and behold, and visit this vine;

BN: Elohim, Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, return, we beseech you; {N} look down from the heavens, and behold, and be mindful of this vine...

PHEKOD: In Torah we heard about PEKUDIM, as tribal or military leaders; same word, interesting to see how its meaning becomes spread: the same concept after all: leaders are the ones given responsibility for being mindful.

GEPHEN ZOT: So I have been naughty, but I write these commentaries for students, and good education happens when students are guided to work things out for themselves, rather than being handed sheets with all the answers and left to learn them by heart and repeat them by rote. Let me take you, now, to Genesis 49, the great Hikavtsu of Ya'akov, on his death-bed delivering oracles to and about his children. There is a mention of "vines" in reference to Yehudah in verse 11, but this Psalm is about Yoseph and his sons and full-brother, the one named Bin-Yamin, which means "the right hand" - you will see next verse why I am saying this here. So, in verses 22-24:

"Yoseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain; its branches run over the wall. The archers have dealt bitterly with him, and shot at him, and hated him. But his bow held firm, and the arms of his hands were rendered supple, by the hands of the Mighty One of Ya'akov, from there, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Yisra-El."

The same vine, the same Shepherd. And the explanation of the metaphor is the Beney Yisra-El themselves.

80:16 VE CHANAH ASHER NAT'AH YEMIYNECHA VE AL BEN IMATSTA LACH

וְכַנָּה אֲשֶׁר נָטְעָה יְמִינֶךָ וְעַל בֵּן אִמַּצְתָּה לָּךְ

KJ (80:15): And the vineyard which thy right hand hath planted, and the branch that thou madest strong for thyself.

BN: ...and of the shoot which your right hand has planted, and of the branch that you made strong for yourself.

CHANAH: KJ is simply in error; a CHANAH is not a "vineyard", it is a "shoot", and the symbolism of this is enormous. Farmers and gardeners make the future from the shoots; they take cuttings and cultivate them and then plant them, so the orchard or vineyard or herb garden or whatever is permanently renewed, and thereby strengthened.

But that is just botany, and the shoot and the branch have a much deeper-rooted symbolism than this. We need Yesha-Yah again, several options, but 11:1 will suffice:

וְיָצָ֥א חֹ֖טֶר מִגֵּ֣זַע יִשָׁ֑י וְנֵ֖צֶר מִשׇּׁרָשָׁ֥יו יִפְרֶֽה

But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse,
A twig shall sprout from his stock.

YISHAI was David's father, but it is also the root that gives Yesha-Yah himself, and later on Yeshu, Jesus. And I don't think you need my help in following that through.

YEMIYNECHA: The "right hand", as the name gives away, is Bin-Yamin (Benjamin); see verse 2, but also verse 18.

80:17 SERUPHAH VA ESH KESUCHAH MI GA'ARAT PANEYCHA YO'VEDU

שְׂרֻפָה בָאֵשׁ כְּסוּחָה מִגַּעֲרַת פָּנֶיךָ יֹאבֵדוּ

KJ (80:16): It is burned with fire, it is cut down: they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance.

BN: It is burned with fire; it is cut down; they perish just seeing the look of rebuke on your countenance.

PANEYCHA: The same PANEYCHA that the Psalmist has been asking the deity to turn towards him; so, again, the recognition that good and evil are not separate, but aspects of the same unity.

80:18 TEHI YADCHA AL ISH YEMIYNECHA AL BEN ADAM IMATSTA LACH

תְּהִי יָדְךָ עַל אִישׁ יְמִינֶךָ עַל בֶּן אָדָם אִמַּצְתָּ לָּךְ

KJ (80:17): Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou madest strong for thyself.

BN: Let your hand be upon the man who sits at your right hand, upon Humankind itself, who you empowered as your steward.

The palace of Milo, where the king lived, was physically located on the right hand of the Temple in Yeru-Shala'im, which happens to be within the tribal territory of Bin-Yamin. The king serves as the right hand of the deity, his representative on Earth, but only for the Yehudim. The Yehudim as a nation serve as the right hand of the deity amongst the nations. So the vine is planted in one place, and spreads, and is supple enough to resist the arrows of the archers. This is the testimony of Asaph, al Shoshanim. Now blow those lily-trumpets, and sing your praises from the diaphragm.

80:19 VE LO NASOG MIMECHA TECHAYENU U VE SHIMCHA NIKRA

וְלֹא נָסוֹג מִמֶּךָּ תְּחַיֵּנוּ וּבְשִׁמְךָ נִקְרָא

KJ (80:18): So will not we go back from thee: quicken us, and we will call upon thy name.

BN: So we will not turn back from you; quicken us, and we will call upon your name.

80:20 YHVH ELOHIM TSEVA'OT HASHIYVENU HA'ER PANEYCHA VE NIVASHE'AH

יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים צְבָאוֹת הֲשִׁיבֵנוּ הָאֵר פָּנֶיךָ וְנִוָּשֵׁעָה

KJ (80:19): Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

BN: YHVH Elohim, Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens, restore us; cause your face to shine, and we shall be saved. {P}

Verse 4 and 8 repeated (but with the additions noted above: TSEVA'OT at v8, YHVH here), and quite probably this final version of the refrain would now be sung again and again, and even clapped, and danced, to demonstrate the fullness of the sincerity and the depth of the diaphragm.

Choral Ode theory reckons Psalm 80 repeats in Psalm 40:14-18.

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Psalms:

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