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
Eight Shirey Ma'alot in a row... and from very different periods of history: a spread of at least six hundred years. The last was probably from the Hasmonean period, a rewrite of whatever was redacted in the Ezraic, when the book was being compiled in the form that we now know; this one takes us back to the very founding of the First Temple, somewhere around 950 BCE.
Title, dedication, two parallel verses in one for the opening.
127:1 SHIR HA MA'ALOT LI SHELOMOH IM YHVH LO YIVNEH VAYIT SHAV AMLU VONAV BO IM YHVH LO YISHMAR IR SHAV SHAKAD SHOMER
KJ: (A Song of degrees for Solomon.) Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
BN: A Song for the Ascent; for Solomon. {N} If YHVH does not build this house, those who do build it are labouring in vain; {N} if YHVH does not guard this city, the watchman stays awake all night in vain.
And not just the founding, or even the very founding, but during the very process of building it. The Ark at that time was kept in a tent on Mount Tsi'on, close to the site, so presumably this was sung as they climbed up to the tent, to say prayers each morning before the building-work began. So we can deduce that this must also have been the very first Shir Ma'alot.
127:2 SHAV LACHEM MASHKIMEY KUM ME'ACHAREY SHEVET OCHLEY LECHEM HA ATSAVIM KEN YITEN LIYDIYDO SHEN'A
KJ: It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth his beloved sleep.
BN: And in vain do you rise early, and stay up late, {N} you who eat the bread of toil, {N} which he gives to his beloved while he sleeps.
Intriguing and surprising to find a reference to David in a Psalm of/to Shelomoh (Solomon) - albeit an obscure reference? And you are wondering where it even is, aren't you? LIYDIYDO, the beloved. Or maybe it isn't David at all, but Shelomoh himself, whose birthname was also Yedid-Yah (2 Samuel 12: 24/25), "the beloved of the full moon goddess", just like his father David.
127:3 HINEH NACHALAT YHVH BANIM SACHAR PERI HA BATEN
KJ: Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
BN: Lo, children are the heritage of YHVH; the fruit of the womb is a reward.
BANIM: makes a splendid word-play with BONIM, "builders" - to the extent that one has to read to the end of the verse to be sure one hasn't mis-read its vowellessness.
SACHAR: We are still in the epoch of the fertility gods and goddesses, centuries before the metaphysical, centuries before the Omnideity.
127:4 KE CHITSIM BE YAD GIBOR KEN BENEY HA NE'URIM
KJ: As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth.
BN: Like arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of one's youth.
GIBOR: Gibor Chayil is used for warriors, which is to say the professionals in the military, as opposed to those mass-conscripted when a war happens to break out. But the image here is rather more reminiscent of Ouranos, the Brahma of the Greek world, who had eventually to be castrated because he was spreading his seed around the Cosmos in such abundance he risked overpopulating it with stars and planets.
127:5 ASHREY HA GEVER ASHER MIL'E ET ASHPATO ME HEM LO YEVOSHU KI YEDABRU ET OYEVIM BA SHA'AR
KJ: Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
BN: Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; {N} they shall not be put to shame, when they speak with their enemies in the gate. {P}
Probably the closest these Psalms ever get to outright vulgarity; because, yes, based on the previous verse, this really is the metaphor that you think it is. Cupid, rather than Ouranos!
ASHREY: And speaking of fertility... see the link.
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
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