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
And if Psalm 101 made us question the happy-go-lucky mood of this fourth book, our current Psalm will do so even more, and not just because it has 28 verses, where the previous never reached double-figures. The very title gives it away - and poses the double-question: how do we know that the Psalms were subdivided into five books? and what, if anything, unifies each of those five books?
102:1 TEPHILAH LE ANI CHI YA'ATOPH VE LIPHNEY YHVH YISHPOCH SIYCHO
תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יְהוָה יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ
KJ (King James translation): (A Prayer of the afflicted, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD.) Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto thee.
BN (BibleNet translation): A Prayer for the afflicted, when he is feeling weak, and pours out his complaint before YHVH.
For the first time in Book Four, but customary before that, KJ has merged the opening verse into the title, adjusting the verse-numbering afterwards accordingly; I have noted this in brackets.
LE ANI: LE is a preposition for which only the dative is available: this is a prayer that has been written "for the afflicted", so that they will have something they can go to when they need it. In the moment of reciting it, it will become "a prayer by the afflicted", but the translation still needs to say "for", not "of" or "by".
And then there is the word-play, inevitable with the word ANI; here with an Ayin (ע), meaning "afflicted", but homophonously with an Aleph (א), meaning "I" or "me". Technically LE ANI (with an Aleph) would be the correct way to say and write "to me"; but Yehudit ellides all its dative and genetive pronouns, so in this case "to me" would be LI (לי) - we do the same in English: "of me" becomes "my" or "mine", "to him" becomes "his" etc. And then the two come together, because when "I" am the afflicted person, who goes to this Psalm for the need of something I can pray, then the ANI is ANI, the "afflicted" is "me"!
ATAPH: See Genesis 30:42.
102:2 YHVH SHIM'AH TEPHILATI VE SHAV'ATI ELEYCHA TAVO
יְהוָה שִׁמְעָה תְפִלָּתִי וְשַׁוְעָתִי אֵלֶיךָ תָבוֹא
KJ (102:1): as above
BN: YHVH, hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto you.
SHAVA'TI: See Exodus 2:23.
102:3 AL TASTER PANEYCHA MIMENI BE YOM TSAR LI HATEH ELAI AZNECHA VE YOM EKRA MAHER ANENI
אַל תַּסְתֵּר פָּנֶיךָ מִמֶּנִּי בְּיוֹם צַר לִי הַטֵּה אֵלַי אָזְנֶךָ בְּיוֹם אֶקְרָא מַהֵר עֲנֵנִי
KJ (102:2): Hide not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline thine ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
BN: Do not conceal your face from me on the day of my distress; {N} incline your ear to me; on the day that I call; answer me speedily.
AL TASTER PANEYCHA: The very ancient Yisra-Eli concept of HISTIR PANAV, by which the deity literally turns a blind eye, cloud cover obscuring the sun, and bad things are able to creep in. The opposite of YEVARECHECHA.
BE YOM TSAR: I have on several occasions complained about King James translating TSAR as "enemy", when TSAR means "distress"; good to see that, on this occasion, it is in agreement with me.
102:4 KI CHALU VE ASHAN YAMAI VE ATSMOTAI KEMO KED NICHARU
102:4 KI CHALU VE ASHAN YAMAI VE ATSMOTAI KEMO KED NICHARU
כִּי כָלוּ בְעָשָׁן יָמָי וְעַצְמוֹתַי כְּמוֹ קֵד נִחָרוּ
KJ (102:3): For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.
BN: For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned like a hearth.
So we have a deity who succumbs regularly to sulks and tantrums, and his representative on Earth turns out to be a manic depressive; not a very good starting point for Messianic humanity, is it!
102:5 HUKAH CHA ESEV VA YIVASH LIBI KI SHACHACHTI ME ACHOL LACHMI
הוּכָּה כָעֵשֶׂב וַיִּבַשׁ לִבִּי כִּי שָׁכַחְתִּי מֵאֲכֹל לַחְמִי
KJ (102:4): My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.
BN: My heart is dried out like summer-grass, and withered; I don't even have the energy to eat my bread.
HUKAH: "Smitten" (Genesis 8:21 in KJ - but "destroyed" in Sefaria), "slaughtered" (Genesis 14:17) "defeated" (Genesis 36:35), but the metaphor here seems to me to require "dried out".
102:6 MI KOL ANCHATI DAVKAH ATSMI LI VESARI
KJ (102:5): By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
BN: By reason of the voice of my sighing, my bones cleave to my flesh.
LI VESARI : Or LIV’SARI ?
DAVKAH: With a Vet (ב) not a Vav (ו), and a final Hey - davka, you might well say, but davka you can't, on this occasion! The root is DAVAK, and it "sticks", "cleaves", and even "glues".
I am very unhappy with my most unpoetical translation, but it is what the text says, literally. Sylvia Plath would find a much better way of phrasing it. "Stasis in darkness" perhaps, to go with the HISTIR PANAV; "the substanceless blue" likewise. And speaking of hearts, as this Psalm does, and of being burned as in a hearth, how about the "Epitaph for Fire and Flower" (alright, it's grass here, but the intention is identical), "charred as any match"?
102:7 DAMIYTI LIK'AT MIDBAR HAYITI KE CHOS CHARAVOT
KJ (102:6): I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
BN: I am like a pelican in the wilderness; I have become like an owl in the wasteland.
And not so much as a lilac tree to provide hope! (You can look up the poetical source for that one for yourself - same country of origin, one generation earlier, than Sylvia Plath).
מִקּוֹל אַנְחָתִי דָּבְקָה עַצְמִי לִבְשָׂרִי
KJ (102:5): By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
BN: By reason of the voice of my sighing, my bones cleave to my flesh.
LI VESARI : Or LIV’SARI ?
DAVKAH: With a Vet (ב) not a Vav (ו), and a final Hey - davka, you might well say, but davka you can't, on this occasion! The root is DAVAK, and it "sticks", "cleaves", and even "glues".
I am very unhappy with my most unpoetical translation, but it is what the text says, literally. Sylvia Plath would find a much better way of phrasing it. "Stasis in darkness" perhaps, to go with the HISTIR PANAV; "the substanceless blue" likewise. And speaking of hearts, as this Psalm does, and of being burned as in a hearth, how about the "Epitaph for Fire and Flower" (alright, it's grass here, but the intention is identical), "charred as any match"?
102:7 DAMIYTI LIK'AT MIDBAR HAYITI KE CHOS CHARAVOT
דָּמִיתִי לִקְאַת מִדְבָּר הָיִיתִי כְּכוֹס חֳרָבוֹת
KJ (102:6): I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
BN: I am like a pelican in the wilderness; I have become like an owl in the wasteland.
And not so much as a lilac tree to provide hope! (You can look up the poetical source for that one for yourself - same country of origin, one generation earlier, than Sylvia Plath).
102:8 SHAKADETI VA EHEYEH KE TSIPUR BODED AL GAG
שָׁקַדְתִּי וָאֶהְיֶה כְּצִפּוֹר בּוֹדֵד עַל גָּג
KJ (102:7): I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
BN: I watch, and I become like a bird that is alone on the roof.
TSIPUR: How do the translators know that this Tsipur (generic term for "bird") was a sparrow? Perhaps it was a Cohen-bird, and not on a roof but on a wire? And was that a tin roof - very hot in the summer if it was, though the cats will still chase birds up there. But no, it would have been flat, and lined with mud: see below.
GAG is a roof. In Biblical Yisra-El, people lived on the roof in the summer months (see my description of David's childhood in "City of Peace"), because it was the coolest place. It was from the roof of his palace that David saw Bat-Sheva (2 Samuel 11).
102:9 KOL HA YOM CHERPHUNI OYEVAI MEHOLALAI BI NISHBA'U
כָּל הַיּוֹם חֵרְפוּנִי אוֹיְבָי מְהוֹלָלַי בִּי נִשְׁבָּעוּ
KJ (102:8): Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
BN: My enemies taunt me all day long; those who should be praising me curse me instead.
OYEVAI: Enemies! see my affirmative note in verse 3. But also look at the tale of David's flight from Yeru-Shala'im at the time of the coup d'état by Av-Shalom (2 Samuel 16:5), when Shimei Ben Gera cursed him all the way - see also 1 Kings 2:8.
MEHOLALAI: From the root HALAL, which is all about sunshine and positivity and praise (Genesis 12:15, Judges 16:24....), as in Halelu-Yah.
102:10 KI EPHER KA LECHEM ACHALTI VE SHIKUVAI BIVCHI MASACHTI
כִּי אֵפֶר כַּלֶּחֶם אָכָלְתִּי וְשִׁקֻּוַי בִּבְכִי מָסָכְתִּי
KJ (102:9): For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,
BN: For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.
KI EPHER: Does this explain verse 5?
MASACHTI: I would like to translate this as "made a cocktail out of my tears", but I am not certain that they mixed cocktails in those days; they probably did; I am simply unaware of any archaeological evidence to validate my saying it.
102:11 MIPNEY ZA'AMCHA VE KITSPECHA KI NESA'TANI VA TASHLIYCHENI
KJ (102:10): Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
BN: Because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up, and cast me away.
If this were a piece of post-modernism, I would seriously consider translating the entire piece from the point of view of the "sin" rather than the "sinner": "you loved me once; you indulged my every whim and gave me everything I wanted. You adored me, idolised me, worshipped me, more passionately than any woman. But now, now, because of others' ignorant opinions, now you submit yourself to their indignation and their wrath, now you have taken me up, and cast me away."
TASHLIYCHENI: And this word is the reason for my last paragraph. See the link.
102:12 YAMAI KE TSEL NATU'I VA ANI KA ESEV IYVASH
KJ (102:11): My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
BN: My days are like a lengthening shadow; and I am withered like grass.
KA ESEV...IYVASH: Repeating what he said in verse 5, but adding IYVASH, from YAVESH, which means "dry" - thereby confirming my translation of verse 5.
102:13 VE ATAH YHVH LE OLAM TESHEV VE ZICHRECHA LE DOR VA DOR
KJ (102:12): But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
BN: But you, YHVH, sit enthroned for ever; and your name wil be remembered from generation to generation.
102:14 ATAH TAKUM TERACHEM TSI'ON KI ET LECHENENAH KI VA MO'ED
KJ (102:13): Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
BN: You will rise, and have compassion for Tsi'on; for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time is come.
TAKUM: Ah, but this is YHVH in his capacity as sun-god, drying out the grass so that it withers when, had we been less sinful, he would have balanced it perfectly with the rainfall and made paradisal fertility. So it cannot be "arise" (like a prostrate worshipper from his prayers for forgiveness), but must be "rise", as the sun does every morning, every Yevarechecha.
102:11 MIPNEY ZA'AMCHA VE KITSPECHA KI NESA'TANI VA TASHLIYCHENI
מִפְּנֵי זַעַמְךָ וְקִצְפֶּךָ כִּי נְשָׂאתַנִי וַתַּשְׁלִיכֵנִי
KJ (102:10): Because of thine indignation and thy wrath: for thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down.
BN: Because of your indignation and your wrath; for you have taken me up, and cast me away.
If this were a piece of post-modernism, I would seriously consider translating the entire piece from the point of view of the "sin" rather than the "sinner": "you loved me once; you indulged my every whim and gave me everything I wanted. You adored me, idolised me, worshipped me, more passionately than any woman. But now, now, because of others' ignorant opinions, now you submit yourself to their indignation and their wrath, now you have taken me up, and cast me away."
TASHLIYCHENI: And this word is the reason for my last paragraph. See the link.
102:12 YAMAI KE TSEL NATU'I VA ANI KA ESEV IYVASH
יָמַי כְּצֵל נָטוּי וַאֲנִי כָּעֵשֶׂב אִיבָשׁ
KJ (102:11): My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
BN: My days are like a lengthening shadow; and I am withered like grass.
KA ESEV...IYVASH: Repeating what he said in verse 5, but adding IYVASH, from YAVESH, which means "dry" - thereby confirming my translation of verse 5.
102:13 VE ATAH YHVH LE OLAM TESHEV VE ZICHRECHA LE DOR VA DOR
וְאַתָּה יְהוָה לְעוֹלָם תֵּשֵׁב וְזִכְרְךָ לְדֹר וָדֹר
KJ (102:12): But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.
BN: But you, YHVH, sit enthroned for ever; and your name wil be remembered from generation to generation.
102:14 ATAH TAKUM TERACHEM TSI'ON KI ET LECHENENAH KI VA MO'ED
אַתָּה תָקוּם תְּרַחֵם צִיּוֹן כִּי עֵת לְחֶנְנָהּ כִּי בָא מוֹעֵד
KJ (102:13): Thou shalt arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favour her, yea, the set time, is come.
BN: You will rise, and have compassion for Tsi'on; for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time is come.
TAKUM: Ah, but this is YHVH in his capacity as sun-god, drying out the grass so that it withers when, had we been less sinful, he would have balanced it perfectly with the rainfall and made paradisal fertility. So it cannot be "arise" (like a prostrate worshipper from his prayers for forgiveness), but must be "rise", as the sun does every morning, every Yevarechecha.
MO'ED: Is this an indication of date? The "appointed time" might be understood by mystics or Christians as that of the Messiah (Moshi'a or Mashiyach, depending on your theological preference), by Celts as that of the return of Ar-Thur (before he became the courtly king Arthur), but more likely, this being a Davidic Psalm (and he tends to this kind of melancholic self-flagellation when he is one of those depressive phases which are his "descent into the Underworld"), perhaps at the time of the treaty of Giv-On and the pre-emption of Adoni-Yah's (Adonijah's) coup (1 Kings 1): the appointed time to build the Temple in Yeru-Shala'im, at last.
Or simply any "appointed time" - all fasts and feasts and festivals are calendared as MO'ADIM, and the place where the festivities are held is known to this day as the MO'ADON.
But if it is "time to build the Temple", then we also have a date for this Psalm, circa 950 BCE.
102:15 KI RATSU AVADEYCHA ET AVANEYHA VE ET APHARAH YECHONENU
כִּי רָצוּ עֲבָדֶיךָ אֶת אֲבָנֶיהָ וְאֶת עֲפָרָהּ יְחֹנֵנוּ
KJ (102:14): For thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favour the dust thereof.
BN: For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and prefer her dust.
YECHONENU: CHANUN is one of the 13 attributes of the deity (see this link, but first go to Exodus 34:6/7.
APHARAH: This sounds silly, but you have never gone down, flat on your face, VE ANI ESHTACHAVEH as it says in MAH TOVU, the way Moslems still do but Jews haven't for 2000 years now, prostrate on the ground. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust! Ah, the word-play!
102:16 VE YIYRE'U GOYIM ET SHEM YHVH VE CHOL MALCHEY HA ARETS ET KEVODECHA
וְיִירְאוּ גוֹיִם אֶת שֵׁם יְהוָה וְכָל מַלְכֵי הָאָרֶץ אֶת כְּבוֹדֶךָ
KJ (102:15): So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth thy glory.
BN: So the nations will fear the name of YHVH, and all the kings of the Earth your glory...
102:17 KI VANAH YHVH TSI'ON NIR'AH BICHVODO
כִּי בָנָה יְהוָה צִיּוֹן נִרְאָה בִּכְבוֹדוֹ
KJ (102:16): When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.
BN: When YHVH has built up Tsi'on, when he has appeared in his glory...
KI VANAH: At verse 14 I wondered if the MO'ED was indicating that the time was nigh for the building of the Temple. This appears to confirm that conjecture.
102:18 PANAH EL TEPHILAT HA ARE'AR VE LO VAZAH ET TEPHILATAM
פָּנָה אֶל תְּפִלַּת הָעַרְעָר וְלֹא בָזָה אֶת תְּפִלָּתָם
KJ (102:17): He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
BN: ... he will turn his face towards the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
PANAH: The opposite of HISTIR PANAV in verse 3. The confirmation of my "rise" comment at verse 14.
VAZAH: See Genesis 25:34, but especially, for our context, Numbers 15:31.
102:19 TIKATEV ZOT LE DOR ACHARON VE AM NIVRA YEHALEL YAH
תִּכָּתֶב זֹאת לְדוֹר אַחֲרוֹן וְעַם נִבְרָא יְהַלֶּל יָהּ
KJ (102:18): This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
BN: This shall be written for the generation to come; and the people who will emerge will continue to praise Yah.
YAH: Lord? or Lady. If this is, as it appears, a Psalm of the Davidic age, then we would expect both YHVH and Yah to be included, and this ensures that she is, though it is he who will reign on Mount Tsi'on, with her only as his queen-consort. The phrasing of the next verse suggests that Lady is correct here, and that the transition to the omni-masculine happens only several centuries later.
102:20 KI HISHKIYPH MI MEROM KADSHO YHVH MI SHAMAYIM EL ERETS HIBIYT
כִּי הִשְׁקִיף מִמְּרוֹם קָדְשׁוֹ יְהוָה מִשָּׁמַיִם אֶל אֶרֶץ הִבִּיט
KJ (102:19): For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
BN: For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from the heavens YHVH surveyed the Earth...
MI MEROM or MIMROM?
SHAMAYIM: Heavens, as in skies, not some mystical place beyond the primum mobile; this is YHVH the sun-god, and his consort YAH the moon-goddess.
102:21 LISHMO'A ENKAT ASIR LEPHATE'ACH BENEY TEMUTAH
לִשְׁמֹעַ אֶנְקַת אָסִיר לְפַתֵּחַ בְּנֵי תְמוּתָה
KJ (102:20): To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
BN: To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to liberate those who are condemned to death...
TEMUTAH: Is that a pronoun-suffix or a feminine ending? Either way, it too suggests YAH as Lady.
102:22 LESAPER BE TSI'ON SHEM YHVH U TEHILATO BIYRU-SHALA'IM
לְסַפֵּר בְּצִיּוֹן שֵׁם יְהוָה וּתְהִלָּתוֹ בִּירוּשָׁלָםִ
KJ (102:21): To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
BN: To declare the name of YHVH in Tsi'on, and his praise in Yeru-Shala'im.
Which adds further weight to my speculation over verse 14. And the next verse likewise.
102:23 BE HIKAVETS AMIM YACHDAV U MAMLACHOT LA'AVOD ET YHVH
בְּהִקָּבֵץ עַמִּים יַחְדָּו וּמַמְלָכוֹת לַעֲבֹד אֶת יְהוָה
KJ (102:22): When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
BN: When the nations are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve YHVH...
102:24 INAH VA DERECH KOCHO KITSAR YAMAI
עִנָּה בַדֶּרֶךְ כֹּחוֹ קִצַּר יָמָי
KJ (102:23): He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
BN: He weakened my strength along the way; he shortened my days.
Has something gone missing here? Verse 22 was the end of a long sentence; verse 23 seemed to be opening a new theme, but the sentence was incomplete, leaving us expectant of its continuation in this verse... only it isn't; subject, tone and form all return to the moaning of the early verses, not a continuation at all.
INAH: From the same root that gave us ANI at the opening of the Psalm.
KOCHO: "His" strength, not mine.
102:25 OMAR ELI AL TA'ALENI BA CHATSI YAMAI BE DOR DORIM SHENOTEYCHA
KJ (102:24): I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
BN: I say: "My god, do not take me away in the midst of my days, you whose years go on from generation to generation...
ELI: EL, not YHVH. I honestly do think that an entirely separate hymn just found itself accidentally attached, leaving the other incomplete.
BA CHATSI YAMAI : I wonder how that gets translated into Italian; "nel mezzo del cammin di mia vita" would work quite well.
102:26 LEPHANIM HA ARETS YASADETA U MA'ASEH YADEYCHA SHAMAYIM
KJ (102:25): Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
BN: A long, long time ago you laid the foundation of the Earth; and the heavens are the work of your hands.
102:27 HEMAH YO'VEDU VE ATAH TA'AMOD VE CHULAM KA BEGED YIVLU KA LEVUSH TACHALIYPHEM VE YACHALOPHU
KJ (102:26): They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
BN: They shall perish, but you shall endure; {N} truly, all of them shall grow old like a garment; like clothing you will change them, and they shall pass away;
YO'VEDU: Is this not a theological blasphemy? The Earth and the heavens will one day perish? Or is there even more scientific understanding than we moderns give the ancients credit for: an understanding that stars will eventually burn out, and planets may be struck by meteorites, or destroy their ozone layers and burn up. And yet the élan vital, the force of life for which - go back now to verse 25 and ask again, "why is the god here EL and not YHVH?" - the Yehudit word was EL, not YHVH, who (according to the religious anyway) will indeed endure for ever.
TACHALIYPHEM VE YACHALOPHU: I am aware that my translation fails to reflect the anagram on the same root. But English does not easily offer one. "You will address the matter the way one does clothing, undressing the dresses until the sin has been redressed". But that only plays the word-game and does not "address" the precise meanings in the verse.
102:28 VE ATAH HU U SHENOTEYCHA LO YITAMU
KJ (102:27): But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
BN: But you are the "thing itself", and your years will have no end.
I am afraid that I cannot resist this complete anachronism for my translation; just as the previous verse clearly recognised Bergson's "élan vital" 3000 years before Bergson, so this equally clearly recognises Kant's "das Ding an sich" (I could also have used Joyce/Aquinas' term "quidditas", but I prefer the scientific to the theological). They had their terminologies, we have ours, they articulated it through mythological metaphor, we do it through science, but our understandings of the working of the Cosmos are not really all that different.
102:29 BENEY AVADEYCHA YISHKONU VE ZAR'AM LEPHANEYCHA YIKON
KJ (102:28): The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
BN: The children of your worshippers shall dwell securely, and their seed shall be established before you. {P}
Which does, kinda-sort-of, bring us back to the theme of building a Temple in Yeru-Shala'im, but these final verses still seem to be an error, a different piece of writing altogether that got mixed up by clerical incompetence at some point of redaction.
102:25 OMAR ELI AL TA'ALENI BA CHATSI YAMAI BE DOR DORIM SHENOTEYCHA
אֹמַר אֵלִי אַל תַּעֲלֵנִי בַּחֲצִי יָמָי בְּדוֹר דּוֹרִים שְׁנוֹתֶיךָ
KJ (102:24): I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.
BN: I say: "My god, do not take me away in the midst of my days, you whose years go on from generation to generation...
ELI: EL, not YHVH. I honestly do think that an entirely separate hymn just found itself accidentally attached, leaving the other incomplete.
BA CHATSI YAMAI : I wonder how that gets translated into Italian; "nel mezzo del cammin di mia vita" would work quite well.
102:26 LEPHANIM HA ARETS YASADETA U MA'ASEH YADEYCHA SHAMAYIM
לְפָנִים הָאָרֶץ יָסַדְתָּ וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדֶיךָ שָׁמָיִם
KJ (102:25): Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands.
BN: A long, long time ago you laid the foundation of the Earth; and the heavens are the work of your hands.
102:27 HEMAH YO'VEDU VE ATAH TA'AMOD VE CHULAM KA BEGED YIVLU KA LEVUSH TACHALIYPHEM VE YACHALOPHU
הֵמָּה יֹאבֵדוּ וְאַתָּה תַעֲמֹד וְכֻלָּם כַּבֶּגֶד יִבְלוּ כַּלְּבוּשׁ תַּחֲלִיפֵם וְיַחֲלֹפוּ
KJ (102:26): They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed:
BN: They shall perish, but you shall endure; {N} truly, all of them shall grow old like a garment; like clothing you will change them, and they shall pass away;
YO'VEDU: Is this not a theological blasphemy? The Earth and the heavens will one day perish? Or is there even more scientific understanding than we moderns give the ancients credit for: an understanding that stars will eventually burn out, and planets may be struck by meteorites, or destroy their ozone layers and burn up. And yet the élan vital, the force of life for which - go back now to verse 25 and ask again, "why is the god here EL and not YHVH?" - the Yehudit word was EL, not YHVH, who (according to the religious anyway) will indeed endure for ever.
TACHALIYPHEM VE YACHALOPHU: I am aware that my translation fails to reflect the anagram on the same root. But English does not easily offer one. "You will address the matter the way one does clothing, undressing the dresses until the sin has been redressed". But that only plays the word-game and does not "address" the precise meanings in the verse.
102:28 VE ATAH HU U SHENOTEYCHA LO YITAMU
וְאַתָּה הוּא וּשְׁנוֹתֶיךָ לֹא יִתָּמּוּ
KJ (102:27): But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.
BN: But you are the "thing itself", and your years will have no end.
I am afraid that I cannot resist this complete anachronism for my translation; just as the previous verse clearly recognised Bergson's "élan vital" 3000 years before Bergson, so this equally clearly recognises Kant's "das Ding an sich" (I could also have used Joyce/Aquinas' term "quidditas", but I prefer the scientific to the theological). They had their terminologies, we have ours, they articulated it through mythological metaphor, we do it through science, but our understandings of the working of the Cosmos are not really all that different.
102:29 BENEY AVADEYCHA YISHKONU VE ZAR'AM LEPHANEYCHA YIKON
בְּנֵי עֲבָדֶיךָ יִשְׁכּוֹנוּ וְזַרְעָם לְפָנֶיךָ יִכּוֹן
KJ (102:28): The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.
BN: The children of your worshippers shall dwell securely, and their seed shall be established before you. {P}
Which does, kinda-sort-of, bring us back to the theme of building a Temple in Yeru-Shala'im, but these final verses still seem to be an error, a different piece of writing altogether that got mixed up by clerical incompetence at some point of redaction.
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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