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
86:1 TEPHILAH LE DAVID CHATEH YHVH AZNECHA ANENI KI ANI VE EVYON ANI
תְּפִלָּה לְדָוִד הַטֵּה יְהוָה אָזְנְךָ עֲנֵנִי כִּי עָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן אָנִי
KJ (King James translation): (A Prayer of David.) Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy.
BN (BibleNet translation): A Prayer for David. {N} Incline your ear, YHVH, and answer me, for I am poor and needy.
The first several Psalms in Book 3 were all addressed "to Asaph"; it then stopped at 84, which was addressed LA MENATSE'ACH, though that may of course be the same person - see my notes on this in the Introduction to the Psalms. They were also addressed to the polytheon, naming El, Elohim, El Elyon and Yah, with YHVH seemingly an add-on whenever he did appear. All this now changes, at least for this Psalm, with David making his one-and-only, his cameo appearance, and leaving open the question: what actually denotes this as a third, separate book?
On this occasion the opening verse is included in the title in the Yehudit original.
TEPHILAH: Yes, a prayer. We have had songs and hymns and libretto and liede and lyrics, and most of them had a tone of prayer about them, but this is the first actually to be denoted formally as a prayer. And was it sung a capela? Did it have musical accompanient? We are not told.
ANI...ANI: An inevitable word-play in the Yehudit; untranslated in the English (Aye, Lord, I am poor and torn, my eye is pouring tears... something of that sort). We have seen it at least twice before.
Or maybe it is this Psalm which is the anomaly, and we need to ask: why is this Psalm located here in the anthology? We have seen that the collection is sub-divided into 5 groups, and we have seen that this group of Psalms belongs to a period long after King David, mostly coming under the name of Asaph, which may be a person, a job-title, or even the label on the collection (Asaph means "collector"). This appears to take us back to the time of David, and we shall follow that thought as we go through the Psalm: is it intended as "by" him or "in his name", as in "a homage to"? Or is he the one being prayed to, in his divine role as earth-god? Or is there perhaps a form, structure, theme, musical leitmotif (we can't know that, but that doesn't stop it being the reason), a manner of using language, or something else that associates this with the others in the section?
86:2 SHAMRAH NAPHSHI KI CHASID ANI HOSH'A AVDECHA ATAH ELOHAI HA BOTE'ACH ELEYCHA
שָׁמְרָה נַפְשִׁי כִּי חָסִיד אָנִי הוֹשַׁע עַבְדְּךָ אַתָּה אֱלֹהַי הַבּוֹטֵחַ אֵלֶיךָ
KJ: Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
BN: Guard my spirit well, for I am a sincere believer; {N} you, my gods, redeem your servant who has placed his trust in you.
HOSH'A: Throws into question what is actually meant by "save" and "redeem"? It is clearly not about the afterlife, nor the resurrection at the end of time: but it is about "now".
86:3 CHANENI ADONAI KI ELEYCHA EKRA KOL HA YOM
חָנֵּנִי אֲדֹנָי כִּי אֵלֶיךָ אֶקְרָא כָּל הַיּוֹם
KJ: Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily.
BN: Deal graciously with me, my Lord; for to you I cry all day long.
ADONAI: Which confirms that the Psalm is addressed to David, the earthly king; ADONAI is the equivalent of "your majesty" or "sire"; this, then, is David in his priest-king role, and not the earth-god as speculated above.
86:4 SAME'ACH NEPHESH AVDECHA KI ELEYCHA ADONAI NAPHSHI ESA
KJ: Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
BN: Take pleasure in the soul of your worshipper; for to you, my Lord, do I lift up my soul.
שַׂמֵּחַ נֶפֶשׁ עַבְדֶּךָ כִּי אֵלֶיךָ אֲדֹנָי נַפְשִׁי אֶשָּׂא
KJ: Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul.
BN: Take pleasure in the soul of your worshipper; for to you, my Lord, do I lift up my soul.
AVDECHA: AVODAH in Mitsrayim is understood to have been "slavery". AVODAH when I was SADRAN AVODAH on my kibbutz simply meant determining how many people were needed on the chicken farm and whose turn it was to do the overnight milk-round: "work-organiser". But AVODAH in the synagogue is "worship", and this Psalm is not about the poet taking the post of butler in the mansion of the deity.
86:5 KI ATAH ADONAI TOV VE SALACH VE RAV CHESED LE CHOL KOR'EYCHA
KJ: For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
BN: For you, my Lord, are good, and ready to pardon, and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you.
ADONAI: But I am going to change my mind again (I think this is how it is intended by the poet): earthly Daoud, divine Daoud: now this one, now that one. And in just the same way it shifts between Daoud and YHVH. See the next verse.
86:6 HA'AZIYNAH YHVH TEPHILATI VE HAKSHIYVAH BE KOL TACHANUNOTAI
KJ: Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
BN: Give ear, YHVH, to my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
6 verses in and I am still struggling to answer my opening question. The only thought I have is that we seem to have been watching a progress through this section, from misanthropic fury at human behaviour, and a loss of faith, trust, and especially intellectual credulousness in the deity, via argument and passionate rhetoric, to the beginnings of belief: the Zero made Positive, as so often in this anthology. This Psalm, and especially this verse, speak of Tachanun, which is the process of repentance, and perhaps that is why it is here: the Davidic Psalms spend a lot of time in repentance, always leading on to expressions of unequivocal faith and truth (though not intellectual belief, as I have explained previously).
86:7 BE YOM TSARATI EKRA'ECHA KI TA'ANENI
KJ: In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.
86:5 KI ATAH ADONAI TOV VE SALACH VE RAV CHESED LE CHOL KOR'EYCHA
כִּי אַתָּה אֲדֹנָי טוֹב וְסַלָּח וְרַב חֶסֶד לְכָל קֹרְאֶיךָ
KJ: For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
BN: For you, my Lord, are good, and ready to pardon, and plenteous in mercy to all those who call upon you.
ADONAI: But I am going to change my mind again (I think this is how it is intended by the poet): earthly Daoud, divine Daoud: now this one, now that one. And in just the same way it shifts between Daoud and YHVH. See the next verse.
86:6 HA'AZIYNAH YHVH TEPHILATI VE HAKSHIYVAH BE KOL TACHANUNOTAI
הַאֲזִינָה יְהוָה תְּפִלָּתִי וְהַקְשִׁיבָה בְּקוֹל תַּחֲנוּנוֹתָי
KJ: Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
BN: Give ear, YHVH, to my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications.
6 verses in and I am still struggling to answer my opening question. The only thought I have is that we seem to have been watching a progress through this section, from misanthropic fury at human behaviour, and a loss of faith, trust, and especially intellectual credulousness in the deity, via argument and passionate rhetoric, to the beginnings of belief: the Zero made Positive, as so often in this anthology. This Psalm, and especially this verse, speak of Tachanun, which is the process of repentance, and perhaps that is why it is here: the Davidic Psalms spend a lot of time in repentance, always leading on to expressions of unequivocal faith and truth (though not intellectual belief, as I have explained previously).
86:7 BE YOM TSARATI EKRA'ECHA KI TA'ANENI
בְּיוֹם צָרָתִי אֶקְרָאֶךָּ כִּי תַעֲנֵנִי
KJ: In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.
BN: On the day of my trouble I will call on you; for you will answer me.
86:8 EYN KAMOCHA VA ELOHIM ADONAI VE EYN KE MA'ASEYCHA
אֵין כָּמוֹךָ בָאֱלֹהִים אֲדֹנָי וְאֵין כְּמַעֲשֶׂיךָ
KJ: Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works.
BN: There is none like you among the gods, my Lord, and there are no works like yours.
Sung at the taking-out of the scrolls for the reading of the law on Shabat and festivals (click here for more on this).
EYN KAMOCHA: For such a comparison to be makeable, there has to be a multiplicity of deities; so we are still in the epoch of polytheism, not yet monotheism, let alone the Omnideity.
ADONAI: And back again to Daoud, the king, the corn, the earth-god, the "beloved son" aspect of the Moshi'a, the Bin-Yamin, the "right-hand", the Dauphin of the Lord YHVH.
86:9 KOL GOYIM ASHER ASIYTA YAVO'U VE YISHTACHAVU LEPHANEYCHA ADONAI VIYCHABDU LISHMECHA
כָּל גּוֹיִם אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתָ יָבוֹאוּ וְיִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְפָנֶיךָ אֲדֹנָי וִיכַבְּדוּ לִשְׁמֶךָ
KJ: All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.
BN: All nations that you have made shall come and prostrate themselves before you, my Lord; and they shall glorify your name.
I wonder if, among the annals and archives of the Chinese or the Japanese emperors, there are coronation or jubilee hymns of similar kind, extolling the virtues of the divine representative in the form of a demi-god if not the full deity? The role is very similar.
86:10 KI GADOL ATAH VE OSEH NIPHLA'OT ATAH ELOHIM LEVADECHA
כִּי גָדוֹל אַתָּה וְעֹשֵׂה נִפְלָאוֹת אַתָּה אֱלֹהִים לְבַדֶּךָ
KJ: For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.
BN: For you are great, and you do wonderful things; you are worth all the gods put together, on your own.
LEVADECHA: But not in the way that KJ renders it. Not yet, anyway.
86:11 HORENI YHVH DARKECHA AHALECH BA AMITECHA YACHED LEVAVI LE YIR'AH SHEMECHA
הוֹרֵנִי יְהוָה דַּרְכֶּךָ אֲהַלֵּךְ בַּאֲמִתֶּךָ יַחֵד לְבָבִי לְיִרְאָה שְׁמֶךָ
KJ: Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name.
BN: Teach me your way, YHVH, that I may walk in your truth; {N} make my heart whole in fear of your name.
LE YIR'AH: One word or two (one + one)?
86:12 ODECHA ADONAI ELOHAI BE CHOL LEVAVI VA ACHABDAH SHIMCHA LE OLAM
אוֹדְךָ אֲדֹנָי אֱלֹהַי בְּכָל לְבָבִי וַאֲכַבְּדָה שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם
KJ: I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.
BN: I will thank you, my Lord, my god, with my whole heart; and I will glorify your name for ever.
This verse especially appears to confirm my note to verse 6
86:13 KI CHASDECHA GADOL ALAI VE HITSALTA NAPHSHI MI SHE'OL TACHTIYAH
כִּי חַסְדְּךָ גָּדוֹל עָלָי וְהִצַּלְתָּ נַפְשִׁי מִשְּׁאוֹל תַּחְתִּיָּה
KJ: For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell.
BN: For great is your mercy toward me; and you have delivered my soul from the depths of She'ol.
SHE'OL: See the link.
86:14 ELOHIM ZEDIM KAMU ALAI VA ADAT ARIYTSIM BIKSHU NAPHSHI VE LO SAMUCHA LE NEGDAM
אֱלֹהִים זֵדִים קָמוּ עָלַי וַעֲדַת עָרִיצִים בִּקְשׁוּ נַפְשִׁי וְלֹא שָׂמוּךָ לְנֶגְדָּם
KJ: O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them.
BN: Elohim, the proud have risen up against me, and gangs of violent men have sought after my soul, {N} rather than placing their trust in you.
ELOHIM: Is the constant shifting of god-name a recognition of the plurality of faiths at the time, and perhaps an attempt to equivalate all of them? You can say Adonai or YHVH or El or Elohim at this shrine - whatever godname meets your spiritual beliefs and needs, but so long as you have some, which the enemy in this verse clearly do not.
86:15 VE ATAH ADONAI EL RACHUM VE CHANUN ERECH APAYIM VE RAV CHESED VE EMET
וְאַתָּה אֲדֹנָי אֵל רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם וְרַב חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת
KJ: But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
BN: But you, my Lord, are a god full of compassion and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy and truth.
My very favouritest moment of Rosh ha-Shana and Yom Kippur, the singing of this great verse, "Ve atah" left out, "Adonai" repeated, the whole verse sung three times, another line added ("Notser chesed la alaphim; nos'e avon va phesha ve chata'ah ve nakeh"), and ending on the sub-dominant - Reform synagogues return to the tonic, which changes the tone completely. It is sung as the opening of the "Shelosh-Esrey Midot ha-Rachamim" - the "Thirteen Attributes of Divine Mercy" (see "Day of Atonement", page 68) - and in fact it is not this Psalm at all, but a quotation, as this Psalm too is quoting, from Exodus 34:6. That other line, noted above, is Exodus 34:7. (unless Exodus was written later, and borrowed from the Psalms - oo, I could be excommunicated just for thinking that!).
86:16 PENEH ELAI VE CHANENI TENAH UZCHA LE AVDECHA VE HOSHIY'AH LE VEN AMATECHA
פְּנֵה אֵלַי וְחָנֵּנִי תְּנָה עֻזְּךָ לְעַבְדֶּךָ וְהוֹשִׁיעָה לְבֶן אֲמָתֶךָ
KJ: O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.
BN: Turn to me, and be gracious to me; give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your handmaid.
86:17 ASEH IMI OT LE TOVAH VE YIR'U SON'AI VE YEVOSHU KI ATAH YHVH AZARTANI VE NICHAMTANI
עֲשֵׂה עִמִּי אוֹת לְטוֹבָה וְיִרְאוּ שֹׂנְאַי וְיֵבֹשׁוּ כִּי אַתָּה יְהוָה עֲזַרְתַּנִי וְנִחַמְתָּנִי
KJ: Shew me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast holpen me, and comforted me.
BN: Work on my behalf a sign for good; {N} that they who hate me may see it, and be put to shame, because you, YHVH, have helped me, and comforted me. {P}
And nothing in these closing verses induces me to change my opinion: see notes to verses 6 and 12
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: 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150
Additional Psalms: 151a 151b 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles
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