TheBibleNet: Psalm 115

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

No title, no dedication, no descriptor. This is the 3rd of the Hallel Psalms in the modern liturgy.

115:1 LO LANU YHVH LO LANU KI LE SHIMCHA TEN KAVOD AL CHASDECHA AL AMITECHA

לֹא לָנוּ יְהוָה לֹא לָנוּ כִּי לְשִׁמְךָ תֵּן כָּבוֹד עַל חַסְדְּךָ עַל אֲמִתֶּךָ

KJ (King James translation): Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

BN (BibleNet translation): Not to us, YHVH, not to us, but to your own name give the glory, for the sake of your loving-kindness, and your truth.

115:2 LAMAH YOMRU HA GOYIM AYEH NA ELOHEYHEM

לָמָּה יֹאמְרוּ הַגּוֹיִם אַיֵּה נָא אֱלֹהֵיהֶם

KJ: Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

BN: Why should the nations say: "Where are their gods now?"

ELOHEYHEM: Defintely plural, both for the gods and the worshippers. But is this because this is what polytheistic worshippers would say, or because the Beney Yisra-El were themselves still polytheists at the time of writing?

115:3 V'ELOHEYNU VA SHAMAYIM KOL ASHER CHAPHETS ASAH

וֵאלֹהֵינוּ בַשָּׁמָיִם כֹּל אֲשֶׁר חָפֵץ עָשָׂה

KJ: But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

BN: And yet our Elohim is in the heavens, and he has done whatever pleased him.

And then, further to my comment at verse 1, is this simply the ancient sky-and-sun god being venerated in his natural abode, or a much later leap into the abstract world of cosmological metaphor, a metaphysical afterlife complete with angels? The answer lies in my next comment.

ASAH: Masculine singular, which suggests that monotheism is the answer to my questions? But in fact not, because ELOHIM is a compound noun, which always takes the masculine singular. In the same way that we might speak of a decision made by the Cabinet; "it" has decided, masculine singular, even though it is comprised of numerous male and female ministers.

115:4 ATSABEYHEM KESEPH VE ZAHAV MA'ASEY YEDEY ADAM

עֲצַבֵּיהֶם כֶּסֶף וְזָהָב מַעֲשֵׂה יְדֵי אָדָם

KJ: Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.

BN: Their idols are made of silver and of gold, the work of men's hands.

"Their idols" infers "our idols": it is simply that theirs are inferior, while ours are superior.

And remember that this Psalm is being sung on the day of the rebirth of Our Lady: Rosh Chodesh, the New Moon.

This, and several more of the verses that follow, will be quoted or repeated in Psalm 135, vv 15ff. This one will be found at 135:15 and the remainder follow in virtually the same order; it is well worth, nonetheless, noting the small differences (most of them, and their explanations, will be found in my notes to Psalm 135, rather than here).

115:5 PEH LAHEM VE LO YEDABERU EYNAYIM LAHEM VE LO YIR'U

פֶּה לָהֶם וְלֹא יְדַבֵּרוּ עֵינַיִם לָהֶם וְלֹא יִרְאוּ

KJ: They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

BN: They have mouths, but they cannot speak; they have eyes, but they cannot see;

With phrases just like this in their mouths did the Crusaders go out to destroy the Infidel, convert the Jews, enslave the Africans, destroy the Mayans...

This verse is identical to Psalm 135:16.

115:6 AZNAYIM LAHEM VE LO YISHMA'U APH LAHEM VE LO YERIYCHUN

אָזְנַיִם לָהֶם וְלֹא יִשְׁמָעוּ אַף לָהֶם וְלֹא יְרִיחוּן

KJ: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

BN: They have ears, but they cannot hear; they have noses, but they cannot smell;

All of which is somewhat pardoxical, because the Torah states unequivocally that YHVH may not be represented corporeally either; he is invisible, force, presence, spirit, Nature - and when he is continuously described as "speaking", the DAVAR or "Word" is simply the manifestation of the forces of Nature: a hurricane, a COVID outbreak, a new-born child, a tree in blossom, a flood...

"Talking to God is prayer. Hearing God answer is schizophrenia."

YISHMA'U: Becomes YA'AZIYNU at 135:17, the difference between merely listening (there), but actually hearing (here).

The second part of 135:17 is completely different.

115:7 YEDEYHEM VE LO YEMIYSHUN RAGLEYHEM VE LO YEHALECHU LO YEHGU BIG'RONAM

יְדֵיהֶם וְלֹא יְמִישׁוּן רַגְלֵיהֶם וְלֹא יְהַלֵּכוּ לֹא יֶהְגּוּ בִּגְרוֹנָם

KJ: They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

BN: They have hands, but they cannot touch; they have feet, but they cannot walk; they cannot even speak through throats.

Which I take to mean that they can't even hiss, like serpents. Or moo, like cattle. (Either that, or it is a dig at contemporary pop musicians, the true idols of our day!)

This verse is not repeated at Psalm 135.

115:8 KEMOHEM YIHEYU OSEYHEM KOL ASHER BOTE'ACH BA HEM

כְּמוֹהֶם יִהְיוּ עֹשֵׂיהֶם כֹּל אֲשֶׁר בֹּטֵחַ בָּהֶם

KJ: They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

BN: They who make them shall be just like them; as will everyone who places their trust in them.

This cuts both ways though. "People make gods in their own image and likeness" is as much a description of YHVH as it is of any other deity.

This verse is identical at Psalm 135:18.

115:9 YISRA-EL BETACH BA YHVH EZRAM U MAGINAM HU

יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּטַח בַּיהוָה עֶזְרָם וּמָגִנָּם הוּא

KJ: O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

BN: But Yisra-El places its trust in YHVH. He is their help and their shield.

BETACH is a vocative, which insinuates a second person singular for MAGINAM: "your help and shield" - MAGINCHA; but the word is in fact in the 3rd person plural. If it were a regular present tense, it would be BOT'E'ACH. The same is true in the next verse, the only difference being the oddity that BIT'CHU is also plural, but Beit Aharon singular. All of which leads me to wondering, as so often in these Psalms, if a much earlier Psalm has been redacted here, to meet the theological needs of its time, only the redactor made errors and omissions, or failed to make omissions.

MAGINAM: But isn't David, or his sucessor as Mashiyach, the "shield of Yisra-El"? To which the answer is both yes and no: the king is the deity's right-hand man on earth, but the shield is also a star, and that star sits in the heavens.

This and the following verse now separate regular folk (Yisra-El) from the Kohanim (Beit Aharon); Psalm 135 doers it slightly differently, having Beit Yisra-El in verse 19, and Beit Ha Levi in verse 20. From this we can date Psalm 135 to the era of the Second Temple, this Psalm to the era of the First Temple; and then wonder if 135 was intended as a replacement for 115, but in the end both found their ways into the published book.

115:10 BEIT AHARON BIT'CHU VA YHVH EZRAM U MAGINAM HU

בֵּית אַהֲרֹן בִּטְחוּ בַיהוָה עֶזְרָם וּמָגִנָּם הוּא

KJ: O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

BN: The house of Aharon placed their trust in YHVH. He is their help and their shield.

BIT'CHU: as noted above, this is in the plural, despite BEIT AHARON being in the singular, and also, see verse 3, despite it being a compound noun. It is also, equally incorrectly, in the past tense.

BEIT AHARON: As we have repeatedly seen Benei Ya'akov interchanged with Benei Yisra-El for the secular realm, so Benei or Beit Aharon as a synonym for the Leviyim and Kohanim - but only in the epoch of the Second Temple. In the era of the First Temple the Leviyim were simply the employees of the court and Temple: priests and priestesses, but also architects, clerks, musicians, plumbers, princes; the term Beit Aharon applied exclusively to the Kohanim until the reforms of Nechem-Yah around 440 BCE.

115:11 YIR'EY YHVH BIT'CHU VA YHVH EZRAM U MAGINAM HU

יִרְאֵי יְהוָה בִּטְחוּ בַיהוָה עֶזְרָם וּמָגִנָּם הוּא

KJ: Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.

BN: Those who fear YHVH have placed their trust in YHVH. He is their help and their shield.

This is almost an anagram: round and round the same phrases, endlessly permuting them (and repeating the grammatical errors in the process).

115:12 YHVH ZECHARANU YEVARECH YEVARECH ET BEIT YISRA-EL YEVARECH ET BEIT AHARON

יְהוָה זְכָרָנוּ יְבָרֵךְ יְבָרֵךְ אֶת בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל יְבָרֵךְ אֶת בֵּית אַהֲרֹן

KJ: The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.

BN: YHVH is mindful of us. He will bless... {N} he will bless the house of Yisra-El, he will bless the house of Aharon.

ZECHARANU: You, they, and now we!

[N] A break of this kind in mid-verse presumably indicates a caesura in the singing, a musical interlude.

BEIT YISRA-EL... BEIT AHARON: See my note at verse 10; this verse combines the secular with the ecclesiatical, where that one separated them. And why? The next set of verses will make it clear: despite their roles on Earth, all human beings are equal in the eyes of the deity. and will receive the same rewards for their virtues, the same punishments for their vices. So the next verses list the blessings, all of which belong to the era of the fertility cult: everyone will be blesed with children, and death, which is inevitable, will at least be gentle.

Now look at Psalm 135: verses 19 onwards. No longer about the deity blessing his people, but liturgy with which his people can bless the deity. And entirely about his virtues, not those of the humans.

One further thought on this, a consequence of my having been a prayer-leader for many years in both Conservative and Reform synagogues. Both are led by Rabbi and Cantor, and in both instances the leaders stand on the bimah. But in the Conservative synagogue, though there is usually a stage (an extended stage, not just the duchen) in front of the Ark, from which sermons can be delivered or ceremonies performed, the bimah is always in the heart of the congregation (as per the link, above), and the Rabbi and Cantor, those called to read the Torah as well, face towards the Ark, just like the rest of the congregation, be they Yisra-El, Levi or Kohen. In Reform and Liberal synagogues the bimah (this link is to a different site) is on the stage (and therefore is itself the extended duchen) in front of the altar, and the Rabbi, Cantor, Reader face towards the congregation. So, in the former, the word of the people goes up to the deity; so, in the latter, the word of the deity comes down to the people. Exactly the same distinction that is made in these two Psalms.

115:13 YEVARECH YIR'EI YHVH HA KETANIM IM HA GEDOLIM

יְבָרֵךְ יִרְאֵי יְהוָה הַקְּטַנִּים עִם הַגְּדֹלִים

KJ: He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.

BN: He will bless those who fear YHVH, both small and great.

YEVARECH: Again this is oddly phrased, given that the "he" and "YHVH" are the same; "he" and "him" would be more logical, but I guess the Psalmist felt the need to state the Name as often as possible (or more likely the Redactor, updating this to Omnideitic theology around the 1st century BCE).

115:14 YOSEPH YHVH ALEYCHEM ALEYCHEM VE AL BENEYCHEM

יֹסֵף יְהוָה עֲלֵיכֶם עֲלֵיכֶם וְעַל בְּנֵיכֶם

KJ: The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

BN: YHVH will increase you more and more, you and your children.

YOSEPH: The verb "to Joseph" does not exist in English, but needs to, if the word-play here is to be translated fully.

ALEYCHEM: LEHOSIPH AL, rather than LEHOSIPH ET? I have never come across this grammatical form before and wonder if we are not misunderstanding its intention. Is the "increase" in fact the fertility of the land "round about you", and not the size of the clan at all?

115:15 BERUCHIM ATEM LA YHVH OSEH SHAMAYIM VA ARETS

בְּרוּכִים אַתֶּם לַיהוָה עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ

KJ: Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.

BN: You are the blessed ones of YHVH, the maker of the heavens and the Earth.

115:16 HA SHAMAYIM SHAMAYIM LA YHVH VE HA ARETS NATAN LIVNEY ADAM

הַשָּׁמַיִם שָׁמַיִם לַיהוָה וְהָאָרֶץ נָתַן לִבְנֵי אָדָם

KJ: The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

BN: The heavens are the heavens of YHVH; but he has given the Earth to human beings.

115:17 LO HA METIM YEHALELU YAH VE LO KOL YORDEY DUMAH

לֹא הַמֵּתִים יְהַלְלוּ יָהּ וְלֹא כָּל יֹרְדֵי דוּמָה

KJ: The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.

BN: The dead do not praise the Lady, nor those who descend into silence.

YAH: I am fully aware that YAH, here, in post-Talmudic Judaism, has been absorbed into YHVH, and masculinised. But it is Rosh Chodesh, the new moon, and the moon belongs to YAH, the sun to YHVH, and I intend to go on praising the Lady.

DUMAH: The same silence that Hamlet means at the end of Shakespeare's play (5:2:4020).

115:18 VA ANACHNU NEVARECH YAH ME ATAH VE AD OLAM HALELU YAH

וַאֲנַחְנוּ נְבָרֵךְ יָהּ מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם הַלְלוּ יָהּ

KJ: But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.

BN: But we do bless the Lady, now and for ever. {N} Hallelu Yah.

The last line of Ashrey? Indeed it is, though most of the remainder of that prayer is actually from Psalm 145.

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Psalms:

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