TheBibleNet: Psalm 140

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

It has been a while since I last had the need to note this: KJ has incorporated the first verse into the dedication-line, adjusting its verse-numbers accordingly; I have noted these in brackets.

140:1 LA MENATSE'ACH MIZMOR LE DAVID

לַמְנַצֵּחַ מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד

KJ: (To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.) Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man: preserve me from the violent man;

BN: For the Artistic Director. A Psalm for David.

140:2 CHALTSENI YHVH ME ADAM RA ME ISH CHAMASIM TINTSERENI

חַלְּצֵנִי יְהוָה מֵאָדָם רָע מֵאִישׁ חֲמָסִים תִּנְצְרֵנִי

KJ (140:1): as above

BN: Deliver me, YHVH, from wicked men; preserve me from violent men...

ADAM: CHASHVU and YAGURU in the next verse are both in the plural, so we have to understand that ADAM - which is Humankind, and generally, therefore, a multiple plural - is being used here to mean "men" rather than "Man", let alone that specific individual. Still odd grammar!

BN (precisly accurate, literal translation): Deliver me, YHVH, from a wicked man; preserve me from a violent man...

But actually even that is not "precisely accurate", because it fails to make a distinction between ADAM in the first half, and ISH in the seconbd, both of which do indeed mean "man". Might ADAM then intend "human being" but ISH intend only the male? Possible, but very unlikely.

140:3 ASHER CHASHVU RA'OT BE LEV KOL YOM YAGURU MILCHAMOT

אֲשֶׁר חָשְׁבוּ רָעוֹת בְּלֵב כָּל יוֹם יָגוּרוּ מִלְחָמוֹת

KJ (140:2): Which imagine mischiefs in their heart; continually are they gathered together for war.

BN: Who devise wicked things in their heart; every day they stir up wars.

MILCHAMOT: I am tempted to translate this as "bread-fights", partly because the "wars" such people instigate can just as easily be between businesses, or within families, or on the floor of Parliament, as the sword-or-gun affairs elsewhere. But mostly because the source of the word is LECHEM, which means "bread" - and in the end this is what most human squabbles are about.

140:4 SHANANU LESHONAM KEMO NACHASH CHAMAT ACHSHUV TACHAT SEPHATEYMO (SELAH)

שָׁנֲנוּ לְשׁוֹנָם כְּמוֹ נָחָשׁ חֲמַת עַכְשׁוּב תַּחַת שְׂפָתֵימוֹ סֶלָה

KJ (140:3): They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah.

BN: They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; vipers' venom is under their lips. (Selah)

NACHASH: At what point in human history did the regenerative worm of the creative underworld turn into the wicked-evil monster of Hell? See the link for more on this.

SELAH: A reminder, as this too we haven't seen for a while, and some people will be coming to this page without prior experience of the commentaries: SELAH is a piece of musical notation, the equivalent of a double-line at the end of a bar in today's methodology. It is not pronounced. (Click here for more on this)

And o what a wonderful verseful of overlapping alliterations and repeated sounds: the Sheens (SH) first of all, then the Chafs and Chets (CH).

140:5 SHAMRENI YHVH MIYDEY RASH'A ME ISH CHAMASIM TINTSERENI ASHER CHASHVU LIDCHOT PE'AMAI

שָׁמְרֵנִי יְהוָה מִידֵי רָשָׁע מֵאִישׁ חֲמָסִים תִּנְצְרֵנִי אֲשֶׁר חָשְׁבוּ לִדְחוֹת פְּעָמָי

KJ (140:4): Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings.

BN: Guard me, YHVH, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men {N} who have planned to make my steps slip.

Verse 5 repeats key words from verse 2. But it also makes a distinction between RA and RASH'A: scales of wickedness-evil. Do I need to go back and retranslate v2?

Most translators add punctuation after ISH CHAMASIM, and do so bvecause they feel the NUN requires it; but the NUN, like the SELAH, is musical notation, and the grammar and syntax of the sentence do not require punctuation (where they do in the next verse).

140:6 TAMNU GE'IM PACH LI VA CHAVALIM PARSU RESHET LE YAD MA'GAL MOKSHIM SHATU LI (SELAH)

טָמְנוּ גֵאִים פַּח לִי וַחֲבָלִים פָּרְשׂוּ רֶשֶׁת לְיַד מַעְגָּל מֹקְשִׁים שָׁתוּ לִי סֶלָה

KJ (140:5): The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah.

BN: The proud have hidden a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; {N} they have set traps for me. (Selah)

Two major changes in the music in quick succession. What can it mean? We have no way of knowing, but certain guesses are available, given that this is a Mizmor dedicated to the Menatse'ach, which is to say a musical score performed with full orchestra and choir. So we can imagine soloists being given opportunities, on voice or specialist instrument, breaks in the libretto to allow for passages of music, perhaps while ceremonial of other kind is taking place in the Temple (a procession of the priests, the bringing-in of sacrifices, etc). Or it may simply be a break in order to facilitate a change of tone, of mood. And on this occasion, given the words of the next verse, it may even be a change from the prayer-leader or choir singing, to the congregation now singing, or joining in.

140:7 AMARTI LA YHVH ELI ATAH HA'AZIYNAH YHVH KOL TACHANUNAI

אָמַרְתִּי לַיהוָה אֵלִי אָתָּה הַאֲזִינָה יְהוָה קוֹל תַּחֲנוּנָי

KJ (140:6): I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD.

BN: I have said to YHVH: "You are my god; listen to me, YHVH, to the voice of my supplications".

TACHANUNAI: The word means "petitions" or "supplications", and could be intended generally; but Jewish liturgy since Mosaic times has included special prayers known as Tachanun, and it is highly probable that this Psalm was written for such an occasion.

HA'AZIYNAH: And mentioning Mosheh... (though actually mentioning NACHASH also alluded to Mosheh, because NECHUSHTAN was his banner). The HA'AZIYNU, Mosheh's last sermon to his people, can be found at Deuteronomy 32.

140:8 YHVH ADONAI OZ YESHU'ATI SAKOTAH LE ROSHI BE YOM NASHEK

יְהֹוִה אֲדֹנָי עֹז יְשׁוּעָתִי סַכֹּתָה לְרֹאשִׁי בְּיוֹם נָשֶׁק

KJ (140:7): O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

BN: YHVH my Lord, the strength of my salvation, who provided a helmet for my head on the day of battle...

SAKOTAH: And where was it that Mosheh delivered the Ha'aziynu? Oh yes, at Sukot!

NASHEK: The Neshek is really the "weapons" being used, rather than the "battle" itself.

It is not obvious how, or even why, the deity would be the provider of the "screen for my head" on "the day of battle", unless this is to be taken metaphorically. In a literal battle, the SAKOTAH needed against the NESHEK is obviously a helmet, and the king's armourer would provide that, as part of your uniform (and wasn't the young David's first job precisely that: armour-bearer to the king? see 1 Samuel 16:21).

140:9 AL TITEN YHVH MA'AVAYEY RASH'A ZEMAMO AL TAPHEK YARUMU (SELAH)

אַל תִּתֵּן יְהוָה מַאֲוַיֵּי רָשָׁע זְמָמוֹ אַל תָּפֵק יָרוּמוּ סֶלָה

KJ (140:8): Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah.

BN: Do not grant the desires of the wicked, YHVH; do not promote his scheme, lest they exalt themselves. (Selah)

MA'AVAYEY: Words that only make a single appearance in the Tanach require analysis; and words with an Aleph and a Vav and two Yuds are always going to be complex. Root first. Did I mention that words that start with a Mem are also problematic, because that Mem might be part of the root, or it might the grammatical form for conjugating any Pi'el or Hiph'il verb? Root then. MA'AV? No such root. Then the Mem must be grammatical, and the root AV or AVAY. If the word is being used here in the plural, and the second Yud is the possessive (their), then the first Yud is masculine plural, ellided into the second; which would make the root AV (not be confused with AV, meaning "father", which has a Bet not a Vav for its second letter).

So, it must be AV, and now we can hunt it down in other forms in the Tanach, and hope to find such, and that they will prove useful.

Proverbs 31:4 - but the text is dubious, and most versions, like the one I have linked, put it in brackets.

Deuteronomy 13:2 definitely has it - except that it doesn't, and actually it adds further difficulty. Aleph-Vav there provides the conjunction "or", as in "either...or". Same at Exodus 21:31, Leviticus 5:1, 2 Kings 2:16...

But what if that is the root? Sounds unlikely, but that initial Mem makes a Pi'el or a Hiph'il out of it, intensive or causative. I am going for the intensive, and reckoning that our verse is about a man getting his either-ors, not an idiom we use in English, but comprehensible enough. And from this same reading, the traditional assumption that MA'AVIM are "desires", though I prefer to regard them as "aspirations", because that makes the "either-or" more intrinsic.

ZEMAMO: But if MA'AVAYEY is plural, should this not be plural too? YARUMU, which follows, is in the plural, as it should be. As with Adam earlier, this author seems to be content to go either for the one or for the other, as he desires!
One more for our list of words with double-letters, which have been accumulating throughout these Psalms.

AL TAPHEK: A Taphkid is a position, officer-rank in the military, management in business, executive in the civil service. So if this is war, and the NESHEK here is cannon or crossbow... but if this is business rivalry, then the NESHEK might be negative publicity against the rival, or in the administration the spreading of rumours about a colleague.

YARUMU: Plural, as noted above.

SELAH: Making this a four-movement Psalm, just like most modern symphonies.

140:10 ROSH MESIBAI AMAL SEPHATEYMO YECHASUMO

רֹאשׁ מְסִבָּי עֲמַל שְׂפָתֵימוֹ יְכַסּוּמוֹ

KJ (140:9): As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them.

BN: As for the head of those who surround me, let the works of their own lips provide them with a cover.

ROSH: Taking us back to verse 8, where his head was protected; but also to verse 6, where the works in question were described. I have to say I prefer this to the curse of VE LA MALSHINIM in the Amidah, or its equivalents among the Psalms. An inversion of Leviticus 19:18: "Let be done unto thy neighbour what he was planning to do unto you".

YECHASUMO: Why is the samech medugash?

140:11 YAMIYTU ALEYHEM GECHALIM BA ESH YAPILEM BE MAHAMOROT BAL YAKUMU

יָמִיטוּ עֲלֵיהֶם גֶּחָלִים בָּאֵשׁ יַפִּלֵם בְּמַהֲמֹרוֹת בַּל יָקוּמוּ

KJ (140:10): Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again.

BN: Let burning coals fall upon them; let them be cast into the fire, into deep pits, so that they never rise up again.

BAL: This seems new to me: BAL as an alternative to LO? Next verse too. We don't use it today though. Might the intention be "lest" rather than "do not"?

KILL ALL VIOLENT MEN! Once again that huge paradox. This Psalm as an example of you, the author, doing to them what you have complained throughout that they are doing to you: thinking violent thoughts and planning how to execute them. All people who do "Woke" and "Cancel" should be "Woked" and "Cancelled". That sort of thing.

And is this Psalm, this verse especially, the answer to my question at verse 4?

140:12 ISH LASHON BAL YIKON BA ARETS ISH CHAMAS RA YETSUDENU LE MADCHEPHOT

אִישׁ לָשׁוֹן בַּל יִכּוֹן בָּאָרֶץ אִישׁ חָמָס רָע יְצוּדֶנּוּ לְמַדְחֵפֹת

KJ (140:11): Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him.

BN: Do not let a man of evil tongue find an accepted place upon the Earth; the man of violence and evil must be hunted down with urgency.

ISH LASHON...ISH CHAMAS: The verse split in two halves, each echoing the other. Neither chiasmus nor anadiplosis, but somewhere between those two.

VE LA MALSHINIM again, rather more directly this time (see my note at verse 10).

140:13 YAD'ATA KI YA'ASEH YHVH DIN ANI MISHPAT EVYONIM

יָדַעְתָּ כִּי יַעֲשֶׂה יְהוָה דִּין עָנִי מִשְׁפַּט אֶבְיֹנִים

KJ (140:12): I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.

BN:You know that YHVH will do right by the poor, and provide justice for the needy.

YAD'ATA: "You" if it is YADA'TA, but some texts insist on YA'DATI, which is "I", and some allow both, as per this link.

140:14 ACH TSADIYKIM YODU LISHMECHA YESHVU YESHARIM ET PANEYCHA

אַךְ צַדִּיקִים יוֹדוּ לִשְׁמֶךָ יֵשְׁבוּ יְשָׁרִים אֶת פָּנֶיךָ

KJ (140:13): Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.

BN: But just men will give thanks to your name; upright men will dwell in your presence. {P}

LISHMECHA: or LI SHEMECHA?

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