TheBibleNet: Psalm 87

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

In the essay at http://www.sacred-texts.com/ane/phc/phc02.htm

the following appears:

"Except for the naturalized Philistines in David's entourage, there is but one lull in the storm of war between the two nations throughout the Old Testament. This is in the charming poem, Psalm lxxxvii, written apparently under some one of the later kings. The psalmist pictures Yahweh enthroned upon His best-loved seat, the holy mountains of Zion, and reading, as it were, a census-roll of His people. This one was born in Egypt or Babylon- that one in Philistia or Tyre - yet all own Zion as their common Mother. The psalm is a miniature edition of the Book of Jonah: the poet's large-hearted universalism looks forward to an abolition of national jealousies."

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87:1 LIVNEY KORACH MIZMOR SHIR YESUDATO BE HAREREY KODESH

לִבְנֵי קֹרַח מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר יְסוּדָתוֹ בְּהַרְרֵי קֹדֶשׁ

KJ (King James translation): (A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.) His foundation is in the holy mountains.

BN: For the Beney Korach; a song with musical accompaniment: "His base is in the holy mountains."

The opening verse on this occasion is both descriptor, dedication and title.

BENEY KORACH: See the link. Psalms 84, 85, 87 and 88 are all for the Beney Korach.

Is this a hymn to YHVH, or to Yeru-Shala'im?

YESUDATO: "His foundation" sounds like some kind of charitable trust. KEREN HA YESOD was the official name for the Jewish National Fund, which raised money to help modern Israel when it was still a start-up. A "base" is a solid foundation, and this allows us to hear "base" in the sense of "HQ" (though no doubt anti-Semites and anti-Zionists will prefer the other understanding of "base").

87:2 OHEV YHVH SHA'AREY TSI'ON MI KOL MISHKENOT YA'AKOV

אֹהֵב יְהוָה שַׁעֲרֵי צִיּוֹן מִכֹּל מִשְׁכְּנוֹת יַעֲקֹב

KJ: The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

BN: YHVH loves the gates of Tsi'on more than all the tents of Ya'akov.

MISHKENOT: A mistake to translate this as anything but "tents", even though very few Beney Yisra-El, other than maybe on a camping holiday, had looked inside a tent for centuries. But the dwelling-place of YHVH before he got his sedentary palace in Yeru-Shala'im was the Mishkan, likewise a nomad's tent in the desert, and the word has been chosen here self-evidently deliberately.

YA'AKOV: Note the use of the patriarch's original name once again, but as a synonym for his later name, Yisra-El.

87:3 NICHBADOT MEDUBAR BACH IR HA ELOHIM (SELAH)

נִכְבָּדוֹת מְדֻבָּר בָּךְ עִיר הָאֱלֹהִים סֶלָה

KJ: Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

BN: Glorious things are spoken of you, city of Elohim. (Selah)

MEDUBAR: And I wonder if MEDUBAR wasn't also chosen with the same intent in mind. In grammar and meaning it is completely unconnected with the desert, but written down without pointing, it could easily be mistaken for MIDBAR. And at the same time, the same root yields DAVAR, which is the "Word" of the deity enacting Creation. Word-games. Poets can never stop playing word-games.

And in fact it is more even than that. Follow the B-sounds in the Yehudit. The accompanying score is equally self-evident, boom-boom-boom on the bass Toph. Or maybe some more gentle tap-tap-tapping on the Timbrel.

87:4 AZKIR RAHAV U VAVEL LE YOD'AI HINEH PELESHET VE TSUR IM KUSH ZEH YULAD SHAM

אַזְכִּיר רַהַב וּבָבֶל לְיֹדְעָי הִנֵּה פְלֶשֶׁת וְצוֹר עִם כּוּשׁ זֶה יֻלַּד שָׁם

KJ: I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.

BN: I will recall Rahav and Bavel among those who know me; {N} and here is Peleshet, and Tsur, with Kush; this one was born there.

AZKIR: Why will he recall them? For what purpose? The previous verse spoke of "glorious things" that have been spoken, so presumably he is now going to recall some of them. But he only names them, he doesn't quote them; so we, today, have to assume that they, then, would have known what "glorious things" these people had said.

RAHAV is actually an anomaly - see my notes at this link, which is to RACHAV. I have absolutely no idea what "glorious things" Rahav, or Rahav, may ever have said about YHVH or Yeru-Shala'im, as there are no instances in the Tanach.

BAVEL or BAV-EL? Translators assume Babylon, but a map of Yisra-El shows Peleshet on the southern coast of the Mediterranean, before it turns east into Mitsrayim (Egypt), and Tsur on the northern coast - is it not more logical to assume that this is Bav-El, which is to say Byblos, the northernmost city of that realm? Either way, same problem: we have no texts to refer to which insinuate "glorious".

KUSH: Kush, on the other hand, does go geographically with Babylon. See the link; but be aware that there is first Ethiopian Kush. And ditto for the "glorious".

ZEH: which "zeh" is this referring to? KJ reads it as infering a "man", but italicises it because it had to add the word; is it certain from the text?

Or is this all, as the quote at the top of the page suggests, an exercise in multi-culturalism: looking around the precincts of Tsi'on, "this man" a Beney Rahav, that one from Tsur?

87:5 U LA TSI'ON YE'AMAR ISH VE ISH YULAD BAH VE HU YECHONENEHA ELYON

וּלֲצִיּוֹן יֵאָמַר אִישׁ וְאִישׁ יֻלַּד בָּהּ וְהוּא יְכוֹנְנֶהָ עֶלְיוֹן

KJ: And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her.

BN: But of Tsi'on it shall be said: "This man and that was born in her; {N} and Elyon himself established her."

ELYON: Long before YHVH had entered his Mishkan, let alone exchanged it for a sedentary palace! When Av-Raham came to Shalem, at the end of the War of the Kings, and met Malki-Tsedek, the high priest of El Elyon. Genesis 14.

87:6 YHVH YISPOR BICHTOV AMIM ZEH YULAD SHAM (SELAH)

יְהוָה יִסְפֹּר בִּכְתוֹב עַמִּים זֶה יֻלַּד שָׁם סֶלָה

KJ: The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

BN: YHVH shall write in the census of the nations: "This one was born there." (Selah)

87:7 VE SHARIM KECHOLELIM KOL MA'YANAI BACH

וְשָׁרִים כְּחֹלְלִים כָּל מַעְיָנַי בָּךְ

KJ: As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

BN: And whether they sing or dance, all my thoughts are with you. {P}

And how odd to find, in the midst of all this profound liturgy and sophisticated sophistry, a cute little billboard-ditty written by someone from the Tsi'on Tourist Board. Because that really is all that this is.

SurfTheSite

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