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
However, the Psalm is also acrostical and written in iambic tetrameters, and from that we can deduce that "Hallelu Yah" does indeed stand alone as a title or introduction, allowing the remainder of the line to be the first verse, starting with the letter Aleph in ODEH. In order to see the acrostic and the tetrameters, this really needs to be written out in poetical verses, not these prose ones; this I have done at the end of the page.
How does a ten-verse Psalm manage to be a full alphabetical acrostic? By alexandrining each verse, and starting each half with the next letter; and then by making triplets rather than couplets of the last two verses - in exactly the same way, as it happens, as the traditional Italian Sonnet, which we know was introduced to Dante by his mentor Imanuel of Rome, Imanuelo Giudeo as he was also known: and perhaps it was this very Psalm which Imanuelo used as his introduction (click here for more on this).
111:1 HALELU YAH ODEH YHVH BE CHOL LEVAV BE SOD YESHARIM VE EDAH
KJ (King James translation): Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
BN (BibleNet translation, option a): Halelu Yah. {N} I will give thanks to YHVH with all my heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.
Interesting to see the Halelu and the Yah separated; some Jewish texts do in fact hyphenate it.
The phrasing here tells us that this is a late redaction of a much older Psalm, possibly 6th century BCE, from the epoch of the end of the First Temple, but much more likely the beginning of the Second Temple in the 5th century BCE, at which time the polytheon was beginning to be subsumed into the Omnideity, and the moon goddess Yah was absorbed and masculinised, though not terribly successfully, to judge by verse 4!
SOD YESHARIM: SOD can mean either "council" or "counsel", while the EDAH could be either the "congregation" or its "testimony", so both translations are valid, and probably both translations are intended.
111:2 GEDOLIM MA'ASEY YHVH DERUSHIM LE CHOL CHEPHTSEYHEM
KJ: The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
BN: The works of YHVH are great, sought out by all those who take delight in them.
111:3 HOD VE HADAR PA'ALO VE TSIDKATO OMEDET LA AD
KJ: His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.
BN: His work is glorious and majestic; and his righteousness will go on and on until... whenever.
HOD: Rhymes with SOD, homophones with ODEH. Plenty of these in the Psalm, as well as the alternating alliterations and the heaps of homophones, such as HOD and HADAR here.
LA AD: What is the difference between this, LE OLAM (with or without VA ED; see verses 5 and 8), and DOR LA DOR? Indefinite future time, as opposed to infinity. Not the sort of philosophical distinctions they were making in the earliest Biblical epoch!
111:4 ZECHER ASAH LE NIPHLE'OTAV CHANUN VE RACHUM YHVH
KJ: He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
BN: He has made a memorial for his wonderful works; YHVH is gracious and full of compassion.
111:5 TEREPH NATAN LIYRE'AV YIZKOR LE OLAM BERIYTO
KJ: He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
BN: He has given food to those who fear him; he will be ever mindful of his covenant.
TEREPH: "Meat"? "Food"? Treyf? Teraphim (see my note at Genesis 31:19)? Odd choice of word, in the context. I wonder if it is intended to mean "sustenance" of a spiritual kind, and is being used as a figure of speech rather than a literality, bercause in truth TEREPH is not kosher.
111:6 KO'ACH MA'ASAV HIGID LE AMO LATET LAHEM NACHALAT GOYIM
KJ: He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.
BN: He has demonstrated to his people the power of his works, by giving them the heritage of the nations.
GOYIM: I have objected to the KJ's translation of this often enough now that it does not require further repetition.
111:7 MA'ASEY YADAV EMET U MISHPAT NE'EMANIM KOL PIKUDAV
KJ: The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.
BN: The works of his hands are truth and justice; the responsibilities he gives are precise and proper.
This Psalm is turning into an Oath of Allegiance, the sort of thing one swears without reading the document properly, or verifying its content against the evidence of history.
111:8 SEMUCHIM LA AD LE OLAM ASU'IM BE EMET VE YASHAR
KJ: They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
BN: They are established in perpetuity; they are performed in truth and uprightness.
111:9 PEDUT SHALACH LE AMO TSIVAH LE OLAM BERIYTO KADOSH VE NORA SHEMO
KJ: He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
BN: He has sent the means of ransom to his people; he has instituted his covenant for ever; {N} his name is holy and filled with awe.
PEDUT: Choice of vocabulary once again makes all the difference. This is not a Mashiyach, nor a Moshi'a, nor a Go'el, all of which "redeem" in their own ways. PEDUT literally means "ransom", as in the money paid to a kidnapper to get the hostage back. Is the intention then figurative, like the TEREPH of verse 5? By providing them with real spiritual and moral sustenance, they can claim back their souls from the "pawn-brokers" of the false cults with whom they had previously left them.
KJ: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
BN: The fear of YHVH is the beginning of wisdom, and those who do his bidding are indeed very wise; {N} His praise endureth for ever. {P}
CHACHMAH...SECHEL: Again playing with similar words that actually have precisely different meanings. CHACHMAH is cognitive, rational, academic, intellectual. SECHEL tends rather more towards the intuitive, the common sense.
Sechel has a Seen not a Sheen; a point I make only for the sake of the acrostic, and because we might expect the Sheen rather than the Seen, though really it made no difference in the original which of the two is chosen as they didn't using pointing in those days.
LA AD: Yes, it is there again, but look where it is placed in the verse. Final statement. As though turning to the listener and saying "have you understood?"
HALELU YAH
(א) ODEH YHVH BE CHOL LEVAV
(ב) BE SOD YESHARIM VE EDAH
(ג) GEDOLIM MA'ASEY YHVH
(ד) DERUSHIM LE CHOL CHEPHTSEYHEM
(ה) HOD VE HADAR PA'ALO
(ו) VE TSIDKATO OMEDET LA AD
(ז) ZECHER ASAH LE NIPHLE'OTAV
(ח) CHANUN VE RACHUM YHVH
(ט) TEREPH NATAN LIYRE'AV
(י) YIZKOR LE OLAM BERIYTO
(כ) KO'ACH MA'ASAV HIGID LE AMO
(ל) LATET LAHEM NACHALAT GOYIM
(מ) MA'ASEY YADAV EMET U MISHPAT
(נ) NE'EMANIM KOL PIKUDAV
(ס) SEMUCHIM LA AD LE OLAM
(ע) ASU'IM BE EMET VE YASHAR
(פ) PEDUT SHALACH LE AMO
(צ) TSIVAH LE OLAM BERIYTO
(ק) KADOSH VE NORA SHEMO
(ר) RE'SHIT CHACHMAH YIR'AT YHVH
(ש) SECHEL TOV LE CHOL OSEYHEM
(ת) TEHILATO OMEDET LA AD
111:1 HALELU YAH ODEH YHVH BE CHOL LEVAV BE SOD YESHARIM VE EDAH
הַלְלוּ יָהּ אוֹדֶה יְהוָה בְּכָל לֵבָב בְּסוֹד יְשָׁרִים וְעֵדָה
KJ (King James translation): Praise ye the LORD. I will praise the LORD with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation.
BN (BibleNet translation, option a): Halelu Yah. {N} I will give thanks to YHVH with all my heart, in the council of the upright, and in the congregation.
BN (BibleNet translation, option b): Halelu Yah. {N} I will give thanks to YHVH with all my heart, based on the advice of the upright, and their witness-testimony.
Interesting to see the Halelu and the Yah separated; some Jewish texts do in fact hyphenate it.
The phrasing here tells us that this is a late redaction of a much older Psalm, possibly 6th century BCE, from the epoch of the end of the First Temple, but much more likely the beginning of the Second Temple in the 5th century BCE, at which time the polytheon was beginning to be subsumed into the Omnideity, and the moon goddess Yah was absorbed and masculinised, though not terribly successfully, to judge by verse 4!
SOD YESHARIM: SOD can mean either "council" or "counsel", while the EDAH could be either the "congregation" or its "testimony", so both translations are valid, and probably both translations are intended.
111:2 GEDOLIM MA'ASEY YHVH DERUSHIM LE CHOL CHEPHTSEYHEM
גְּדֹלִים מַעֲשֵׂי יְהוָה דְּרוּשִׁים לְכָל חֶפְצֵיהֶם
KJ: The works of the LORD are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.
BN: The works of YHVH are great, sought out by all those who take delight in them.
111:3 HOD VE HADAR PA'ALO VE TSIDKATO OMEDET LA AD
הוֹד וְהָדָר פָּעֳלוֹ וְצִדְקָתוֹ עֹמֶדֶת לָעַד
KJ: His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.
BN: His work is glorious and majestic; and his righteousness will go on and on until... whenever.
HOD: Rhymes with SOD, homophones with ODEH. Plenty of these in the Psalm, as well as the alternating alliterations and the heaps of homophones, such as HOD and HADAR here.
LA AD: What is the difference between this, LE OLAM (with or without VA ED; see verses 5 and 8), and DOR LA DOR? Indefinite future time, as opposed to infinity. Not the sort of philosophical distinctions they were making in the earliest Biblical epoch!
And as to my translating this as "whenever", which sounds terribly colloquial; remember that, when Mosheh asked the god of Mount Chorev what his name was, the literal translation of his reply in Exodus 3:14 is "whoever".
111:4 ZECHER ASAH LE NIPHLE'OTAV CHANUN VE RACHUM YHVH
זֵכֶר עָשָׂה לְנִפְלְאֹתָיו חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם יְהוָה
KJ: He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: the LORD is gracious and full of compassion.
BN: He has made a memorial for his wonderful works; YHVH is gracious and full of compassion.
CHANUN VE RACHUM: For which see Exodus 34:6 and 7 (though that does define "until when" most definitely: the third and fourth generations). Two key words in Islam too; and virtually identical in pronunciation. From the Arabic "rahim" in the latter's case, and from the Yehudit "rechem", both meaning "womb" - not a term usually associated with a male god whose sacred number is not the 15 (Yud-Hey/Yah/יה) of the full moon, but with the male sexual organ, the Zayin (ז) which is the number seven.
111:5 TEREPH NATAN LIYRE'AV YIZKOR LE OLAM BERIYTO
טֶרֶף נָתַן לִירֵאָיו יִזְכֹּר לְעוֹלָם בְּרִיתוֹ
KJ: He hath given meat unto them that fear him: he will ever be mindful of his covenant.
BN: He has given food to those who fear him; he will be ever mindful of his covenant.
TEREPH: "Meat"? "Food"? Treyf? Teraphim (see my note at Genesis 31:19)? Odd choice of word, in the context. I wonder if it is intended to mean "sustenance" of a spiritual kind, and is being used as a figure of speech rather than a literality, bercause in truth TEREPH is not kosher.
111:6 KO'ACH MA'ASAV HIGID LE AMO LATET LAHEM NACHALAT GOYIM
כֹּחַ מַעֲשָׂיו הִגִּיד לְעַמּוֹ לָתֵת לָהֶם נַחֲלַת גּוֹיִם
KJ: He hath shewed his people the power of his works, that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.
BN: He has demonstrated to his people the power of his works, by giving them the heritage of the nations.
GOYIM: I have objected to the KJ's translation of this often enough now that it does not require further repetition.
111:7 MA'ASEY YADAV EMET U MISHPAT NE'EMANIM KOL PIKUDAV
מַעֲשֵׂי יָדָיו אֱמֶת וּמִשְׁפָּט נֶאֱמָנִים כָּל פִּקּוּדָיו
KJ: The works of his hands are verity and judgment; all his commandments are sure.
BN: The works of his hands are truth and justice; the responsibilities he gives are precise and proper.
This Psalm is turning into an Oath of Allegiance, the sort of thing one swears without reading the document properly, or verifying its content against the evidence of history.
111:8 SEMUCHIM LA AD LE OLAM ASU'IM BE EMET VE YASHAR
סְמוּכִים לָעַד לְעוֹלָם עֲשׂוּיִם בֶּאֱמֶת וְיָשָׁר
KJ: They stand fast for ever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
BN: They are established in perpetuity; they are performed in truth and uprightness.
LA AD ("until when?") again, but this time rendered definite by LE OLAM.
111:9 PEDUT SHALACH LE AMO TSIVAH LE OLAM BERIYTO KADOSH VE NORA SHEMO
פְּדוּת שָׁלַח לְעַמּוֹ צִוָּה לְעוֹלָם בְּרִיתוֹ קָדוֹשׁ וְנוֹרָא שְׁמוֹ
KJ: He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.
BN: He has sent the means of ransom to his people; he has instituted his covenant for ever; {N} his name is holy and filled with awe.
PEDUT: Choice of vocabulary once again makes all the difference. This is not a Mashiyach, nor a Moshi'a, nor a Go'el, all of which "redeem" in their own ways. PEDUT literally means "ransom", as in the money paid to a kidnapper to get the hostage back. Is the intention then figurative, like the TEREPH of verse 5? By providing them with real spiritual and moral sustenance, they can claim back their souls from the "pawn-brokers" of the false cults with whom they had previously left them.
LE OLAM; Without needing the AL AD now, because the vow has been made, the oath sworn, and future time is rendered fully, unquestioningly, infinite. (There is an A level essay for English Lit students, different from the one for Religious Studies students, worth writing on the development of concepts of time in this Psalm. There is an A level essay for Religious Studies students, different from the one for English Lit students, on the nature of time as something infinite, as described in this Jewish context, and the nature of time as something that will be brought to an end at Judgement Day, as described by Dante in Canto 6, and more significantly at the start of Canto 10, of "The Inferno", and which is core to the Christian context). But now see the next verse.
Note also that this and the final verse are triplets, where all the preceding verses were couplets.
111:10 RE'SHIT CHACHMAH YIR'AT YHVH SECHEL TOV LE CHOL OSEYHEM TEHILATO OMEDET LA AD
Note also that this and the final verse are triplets, where all the preceding verses were couplets.
111:10 RE'SHIT CHACHMAH YIR'AT YHVH SECHEL TOV LE CHOL OSEYHEM TEHILATO OMEDET LA AD
רֵאשִׁית חָכְמָה יִרְאַת יְהוָה שֵׂכֶל טוֹב לְכָל עֹשֵׂיהֶם תְּהִלָּתוֹ עֹמֶדֶת לָעַד
KJ: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth for ever.
BN: The fear of YHVH is the beginning of wisdom, and those who do his bidding are indeed very wise; {N} His praise endureth for ever. {P}
CHACHMAH...SECHEL: Again playing with similar words that actually have precisely different meanings. CHACHMAH is cognitive, rational, academic, intellectual. SECHEL tends rather more towards the intuitive, the common sense.
Sechel has a Seen not a Sheen; a point I make only for the sake of the acrostic, and because we might expect the Sheen rather than the Seen, though really it made no difference in the original which of the two is chosen as they didn't using pointing in those days.
LA AD: Yes, it is there again, but look where it is placed in the verse. Final statement. As though turning to the listener and saying "have you understood?"
The third repetition of this key word (key to this Psalm, that is to say); an example, for those Eng Lit students tackling this essay, of Anadiplosis - put it alongside the acrostic, the alliterations, the homophones, the homonyms, the lexical variants, the couplets-become-triplets... why, you can practically teach the guide-book to poetry from this Psalm! (explanations of all these terms can be found here).
This last verse confirms the lateness of the Psalm: where "fear" of the gods dominated the emotions of earlier times, linked in with fertility - drought, storm, earthquake, volcanic eruption, flood, dried-up wells, locusts - this is all about "intellectual conviction", rooted in metaphysical rather than physical constructs (truth, mercy, compassion, righteousness). Praying for rain was an act of propitiation and hope, not of wisdom, in the mythological age. This is religion in the epoch of city-man, an abstract and ethical religion of the mind: the metaphysical age.
This last verse confirms the lateness of the Psalm: where "fear" of the gods dominated the emotions of earlier times, linked in with fertility - drought, storm, earthquake, volcanic eruption, flood, dried-up wells, locusts - this is all about "intellectual conviction", rooted in metaphysical rather than physical constructs (truth, mercy, compassion, righteousness). Praying for rain was an act of propitiation and hope, not of wisdom, in the mythological age. This is religion in the epoch of city-man, an abstract and ethical religion of the mind: the metaphysical age.
HALELU YAH
(א) ODEH YHVH BE CHOL LEVAV
(ב) BE SOD YESHARIM VE EDAH
(ג) GEDOLIM MA'ASEY YHVH
(ד) DERUSHIM LE CHOL CHEPHTSEYHEM
(ה) HOD VE HADAR PA'ALO
(ו) VE TSIDKATO OMEDET LA AD
(ז) ZECHER ASAH LE NIPHLE'OTAV
(ח) CHANUN VE RACHUM YHVH
(ט) TEREPH NATAN LIYRE'AV
(י) YIZKOR LE OLAM BERIYTO
(כ) KO'ACH MA'ASAV HIGID LE AMO
(ל) LATET LAHEM NACHALAT GOYIM
(מ) MA'ASEY YADAV EMET U MISHPAT
(נ) NE'EMANIM KOL PIKUDAV
(ס) SEMUCHIM LA AD LE OLAM
(ע) ASU'IM BE EMET VE YASHAR
(פ) PEDUT SHALACH LE AMO
(צ) TSIVAH LE OLAM BERIYTO
(ק) KADOSH VE NORA SHEMO
(ר) RE'SHIT CHACHMAH YIR'AT YHVH
(ש) SECHEL TOV LE CHOL OSEYHEM
(ת) TEHILATO OMEDET LA AD
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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