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
The tenth in the series of SHIREI MA'ALOT.
129:1 SHIR HA MA'ALOT RABAT TSERARUNI MI NE'URAI YOMAR NA YISRA-EL
שִׁיר הַמַּעֲלוֹת רַבַּת צְרָרוּנִי מִנְּעוּרַי יֹאמַר נָא יִשְׂרָאֵל
KJ: (A Song of degrees.) Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth, may Israel now say:
BN: A Song for the Ascent. {N} Many times since my youth I have found myself troubled. Let Yisra-El now say...
RABAT: Who are "they" in the KJ translation? RABAT means "much" or "many"?
TSERARUNI is either passive or a gerund.
And then the phrase gets repeated in the next verse. Should this be re-read as:
Throughout these Psalms we are given poetic similes that have to do with Nature, and especially the human cultivation of Nature, without necessarily any reason for choosing these rather than any others: this, after all, does not have to be "ploughers" to make its point. But at the core of the Psalms sits David, and ultimately David is the Earth-and-vegetation god, or at the very least his monarchical surrogate. So the image becomes metaphor, and not merely simile.
129:4 YHVH TSADIK KITSETS AVOT RESHA'IM
KJ: The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
BN: YHVH is wise and just; he has cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
TSADIK: Rather than TSADEK. A Tsadik in the world of the Chasidim is rather more a "wise" man than a "righteous" man, though of course the two really ought to be synonymous. And then there are Tsadikim Nistarim, the Lamed-Vavnikim or "36 Just Men" without whom, according to Kabbalah, the world could not continue to exist.
129:5 YEVOSHU VE YISOGU ACHOR KOL SON'EY TSI'ON
KJ: Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
BN: Let them be ashamed and turned away, all those who hate Tsi'on.
129:6 YIHEYU KA CHATSIR GAGOT SHE KADMAT SHALAPH YAVESH
KJ: Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
BN: Let them be like the grass on the flat rooves of the houses, which withers before it springs up...
An interesting moment for the sociologists, this grass on the roof. A flat roof, of course, probably reached by a ladder on the outside rather than a stairwell on the inside, but good for outdoor sleeping in the hot summer months, and an excellent place to rear the new born lambs, feeding them on that grass rather than letting it darn and tarnel and damage the wooden framework of the daub-and-wattle house. Standard house-design for millennia, across north Africa and the Middle East. I have a detailed account of this in the first volume of "City of Peace", where the boy David spends much of his childhood living on the open roof - and later, as king, sees Bat Sheva in the courtyard below, bathing naked, from a rather more palacial flat roof (2 Samuel 11:2).
129:7 SHE LO MIL'E CHAPHO KOTSER VE CHITSNO ME'AMER
KJ: Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
KJ: Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
BN: And do not say to them as they go by : "The blessing of YHVH be upon you; {N} we bless you in the name of YHVH." {P}
OVRIM: Unavoidable - yet avoided by this translator - the verbal link between OVRIM and IVRIM = Habiru, Hebrews.
BERACHNU: The closing blessing uttered on the upper step, at the completion of the ascent. Or in this case the anti-blessing... and the inference that perhaps this Psalm was not then on the final step, because surely there is more to say, a positive note on which to end?
TITLE: A Song for the Ascent
SUB-TITLE: "Many times since my youth I have found myself troubled."
CANTOR only: "Let Yisra-El now say..."
And then the congregation takes up the actual Psalm:
129:2 RABAT TSERARUNI MI NE'URAI GAM LO YACHLU LI
KJ: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
BN: Many times since my youth I have found myself troubled, but it has never overwhelmed me.
129:3 AL GABI CHARSHU CHORSHIM HE'ERIYCHU LE MA'ANOTAM
KJ: The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
BN: The ploughers plowed across my back; they made their furrows long.
129:2 RABAT TSERARUNI MI NE'URAI GAM LO YACHLU LI
רַבַּת צְרָרוּנִי מִנְּעוּרָי גַּם לֹא יָכְלוּ לִי
KJ: Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.
BN: Many times since my youth I have found myself troubled, but it has never overwhelmed me.
129:3 AL GABI CHARSHU CHORSHIM HE'ERIYCHU LE MA'ANOTAM
עַל גַּבִּי חָרְשׁוּ חֹרְשִׁים הֶאֱרִיכוּ לְמַעֲנוֹתָם
KJ: The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.
BN: The ploughers plowed across my back; they made their furrows long.
Throughout these Psalms we are given poetic similes that have to do with Nature, and especially the human cultivation of Nature, without necessarily any reason for choosing these rather than any others: this, after all, does not have to be "ploughers" to make its point. But at the core of the Psalms sits David, and ultimately David is the Earth-and-vegetation god, or at the very least his monarchical surrogate. So the image becomes metaphor, and not merely simile.
129:4 YHVH TSADIK KITSETS AVOT RESHA'IM
יְהוָה צַדִּיק קִצֵּץ עֲבוֹת רְשָׁעִים
KJ: The LORD is righteous: he hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
BN: YHVH is wise and just; he has cut asunder the cords of the wicked.
TSADIK: Rather than TSADEK. A Tsadik in the world of the Chasidim is rather more a "wise" man than a "righteous" man, though of course the two really ought to be synonymous. And then there are Tsadikim Nistarim, the Lamed-Vavnikim or "36 Just Men" without whom, according to Kabbalah, the world could not continue to exist.
129:5 YEVOSHU VE YISOGU ACHOR KOL SON'EY TSI'ON
יֵבֹשׁוּ וְיִסֹּגוּ אָחוֹר כֹּל שֹׂנְאֵי צִיּוֹן
KJ: Let them all be confounded and turned back that hate Zion.
BN: Let them be ashamed and turned away, all those who hate Tsi'on.
129:6 YIHEYU KA CHATSIR GAGOT SHE KADMAT SHALAPH YAVESH
יִהְיוּ כַּחֲצִיר גַּגּוֹת שֶׁקַּדְמַת שָׁלַף יָבֵשׁ
KJ: Let them be as the grass upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up:
BN: Let them be like the grass on the flat rooves of the houses, which withers before it springs up...
An interesting moment for the sociologists, this grass on the roof. A flat roof, of course, probably reached by a ladder on the outside rather than a stairwell on the inside, but good for outdoor sleeping in the hot summer months, and an excellent place to rear the new born lambs, feeding them on that grass rather than letting it darn and tarnel and damage the wooden framework of the daub-and-wattle house. Standard house-design for millennia, across north Africa and the Middle East. I have a detailed account of this in the first volume of "City of Peace", where the boy David spends much of his childhood living on the open roof - and later, as king, sees Bat Sheva in the courtyard below, bathing naked, from a rather more palacial flat roof (2 Samuel 11:2).
129:7 SHE LO MIL'E CHAPHO KOTSER VE CHITSNO ME'AMER
שֶׁלֹּא מִלֵּא כַפּוֹ קוֹצֵר וְחִצְנוֹ מְעַמֵּר
KJ: Wherewith the mower filleth not his hand; nor he that bindeth sheaves his bosom.
BN: ... with which the reaper does not fill his hand, nor he who binds the sheaves in his breast-bag.
MIL'E: And funny coincidence that I should mention the royal palace, because it just happened to be named Mil'o. And there was I wondering, at verse 3, if that image of the plough was intended as a pathetic fallacy, a metaphorical rendition of David as the Earth-god.
MIL'E: And funny coincidence that I should mention the royal palace, because it just happened to be named Mil'o. And there was I wondering, at verse 3, if that image of the plough was intended as a pathetic fallacy, a metaphorical rendition of David as the Earth-god.
ME'AMER: It isn't his "bosom" but the carrying-bag strapped to it that would get filled. Stoop and fill from the front - sophisticated farming technology! I imagine that this was what Rut was doing when Bo'az first noticed her.
129:8 VE LO AMRU HA OVRIM BIRKAT YHVH ALEYCHEM BERACHNU ET'CHEM BE SHEM YHVH
129:8 VE LO AMRU HA OVRIM BIRKAT YHVH ALEYCHEM BERACHNU ET'CHEM BE SHEM YHVH
וְלֹא אָמְרוּ הָעֹבְרִים בִּרְכַּת יְהוָה אֲלֵיכֶם בֵּרַכְנוּ אֶתְכֶם בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה
KJ: Neither do they which go by say, The blessing of the LORD be upon you: we bless you in the name of the LORD.
BN: And do not say to them as they go by : "The blessing of YHVH be upon you; {N} we bless you in the name of YHVH." {P}
OVRIM: Unavoidable - yet avoided by this translator - the verbal link between OVRIM and IVRIM = Habiru, Hebrews.
BERACHNU: The closing blessing uttered on the upper step, at the completion of the ascent. Or in this case the anti-blessing... and the inference that perhaps this Psalm was not then on the final step, because surely there is more to say, a positive note on which to end?
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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