TheBibleNet: Psalm 141

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 tone, choice of language, form, style, everything about this Psalm makes me feel that it is by someone we have never previously encountered, still "anonymous", but definitely a different anonymous from any of the others.

141:1 MIZMOR LE DAVID YHVH KERA'TIYCHA CHUSHAH LI HA'AZIYNAH KOLI BE KAR'I LACH

מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד יְהוָה קְרָאתִיךָ חוּשָׁה לִּי הַאֲזִינָה קוֹלִי בְּקָרְאִי לָךְ

KJ: (A Psalm of David.) LORD, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee.

BN: A Mizmor for David. {N} YHVH, I have called you; come to me speedily; listen to my voice when I call you.

HA'AZIYNAH KOLI: Why is it not BE or LE KOLI? See my note at Psalm 143:1, but it seems to me that this must be the error, and that therefore correct. And no one in the Jewish world can hear the word HA'AZIYNAH without thinking Mosheh - the HA'AZIYNU, Mosheh's last sermon to his people, can be found at Deuteronomy 32.

141:2 TIKON TEPHILATI KETORET LEPHANEYCHA MAS'AT KAPAI MINCHAT AREV

תִּכּוֹן תְּפִלָּתִי קְטֹרֶת לְפָנֶיךָ מַשְׂאַת כַּפַּי מִנְחַת עָרֶב

KJ: Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

BN: Let my prayer be set forth as incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

KETORET: For it to be "as" or "like" it really should say KE KETORET; presumably the first KE was left out because it was dissonant. (Which makes two verses in a row with a missing preposition; and a third [not] coming).

MAS'AT KAPAI: "Reaching for the sky just to surrender"! See my notes at Psalm 63:5.

MINCHAT AREV: The "as" once again inferred, and again I presume it was left out because it would have required KAPAI KE, and again that would be dissonant.

But the very concept of MINCHAT AREV is problematic. MINCHAT KORBAN, the afternoon sacrifices, took place in the early afternoon, generally around 3 o'clock, which is at least four hours before evening sets in. But this definitely says MINCHAT AREV, which infers "evening" sacrifices. Perhaps they regarded evening as setting in at that early time, and used the word slightly differently from our usage today. Perhaps the prayer is being offered up as an equivalent to the incense and the sacrifice, in the same way that prayer does in the post-Temple synagogue; but that infers that this Psalm was recited elsewhere than at the Temple, or that it refers to sacrifices that took place elsewhere than the Temple - which latter was strictly prohibited once the Temple was in place. And at the Temple, the Ma'ariv (evening) service was purely an opportunity for the Leviyim to remove the ashes and janitor the area, ready for the following morning.

141:3 SHIYTAH YHVH SHAMRAH LEPHI NITSRAH AL DAL SEPHATAI

שִׁיתָה יְהוָה שָׁמְרָה לְפִי נִצְּרָה עַל דַּל שְׂפָתָי

KJ: Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips.

BN: Set a guard, YHVH, on my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips.

Beautiful poetry, which goes well with the verse that is used to open the Amidah, taken from Psalm 51:17.

141:4 AL TAT LIBI LE DAVAR RA LEHIT'OLEL ALILOT BE RESHA ET IYSHIM PO'ALEY AVEN U VAL ELCHAM BE MAN'AMEYHEM

אַל תַּט לִבִּי לְדָבָר רָע לְהִתְעוֹלֵל עֲלִלוֹת בְּרֶשַׁע אֶת אִישִׁים פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן וּבַל אֶלְחַם בְּמַנְעַמֵּיהֶם

KJ: Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise wicked works with men that work iniquity: and let me not eat of their dainties.

BN: Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, {N} to be occupied in deeds of wickedness {N} with men that work iniquity; {N} nor permit me to eat any of their delicacies.

TAT: The key difference between Judaism and Christianity, as I have noted repeatedly through these commentaries. In the Christian world, Good and Evil are nouns, the proper names used for external forces over which humans have no control and therefore cannot be blamed. In the Jewish world good and evil are adjectives, descriptions of behavioural choices made by humans, and therefore available for either blame or praise. The concept in Judaism is known as the Yetser, or "inclination".

MAN'AMEYHEM: From the root NA'IM, which simply means "pleasant". But what is wrong with pleasant food? Is the inference that it would be treyf?

Why so many Nun breaks in a single verse? Presumably this is dictated by the music, or by the form of the ceremony at which the Psalm is being recited. But see my closing question at verse 2.

141:5 YEHELMENI TSADIK CHESED VE YOCHIYCHENI SHEMEN ROSH AL YANI ROSHI KI OD U TEPHILATI BE RA'OTEYHEM

יֶהֶלְמֵנִי צַדִּיק חֶסֶד וְיוֹכִיחֵנִי שֶׁמֶן רֹאשׁ אַל יָנִי רֹאשִׁי כִּי עוֹד וּתְפִלָּתִי בְּרָעוֹתֵיהֶם

KJ: Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities.

BN: Let the righteous cane me with kindness, to rebuke me; {N} do not let my head refuse oil of such purity; {N} for my prayer is still directed at their wickedness.

CHESED: Again the preposition has been left out. IM CHESED would yield my translation, BE CHESED King James'.

ROSH...ROSHI: Playing with two of the meanings of this: the first is presumably the Biblical equivalent of "virgin olive oil", though it might even be "extra-virgin": the purest that there is, either way. The oil is used for anointing a priest or king.

KI OD ... U: And yet another missing word, a verb this time - probably, on this occasion, it is a scribal error rather than a poetical device. And as to why the conjunction is there...

141:6 NISHMETU VIYDEY SEL'A SHOPHTEYHEM VE SHAM'U AMARAI KI NA'EMU

נִשְׁמְטוּ בִידֵי סֶלַע שֹׁפְטֵיהֶם וְשָׁמְעוּ אֲמָרַי כִּי נָעֵמוּ

KJ: When their judges are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words; for they are sweet.

BN: When their judges are thrown over the edges of the rock, they shall hear my words, which are sweet.

NISHMETU: And what does this mean? SHAMAT "strikes", or "smites", or even "destroys", echoing YEHELMENI in the previous verse, but turning it back as vengeance.

But now look at Deuteronomy 15:1 ff, and tell me how the same root, SHAMAT, gets to be these entirely opposite paradigms. Is it that, come the end of the seven-year cycle, the personnel are, shall we say, retired and replaced (in the ancient world of Moloch, on the hill of the Tsi'un, it would very likely have been, as with the Azaz-El and the little children of Psalm 137, by throwing them over the cliff into the Halley of Hinnom - Genehnna - and "dashing them upon the rocks")?

VIYDEY SEL'A: Is this a follow-up to the closing verse of Psalm 137?

NA'EMU: Echoing MAN'AMEYHEM at verse 4.

141:7 KEMO PHOLE'ACH U VOKE'A BA ARETS NIPHZERU ATSAMEYNU LEPHI SHE'OL

כְּמוֹ פֹלֵחַ וּבֹקֵעַ בָּאָרֶץ נִפְזְרוּ עֲצָמֵינוּ לְפִי שְׁאוֹל

KJ: Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.

BN: Just as happens when the earth is ploughed and furrowed, so our bones are scattered at the mouth of She'ol.

And the power of She'ol is regenerative, which is also the point of the Jubilee Shemitah: another key difference between Judaism and Christianity: in Judaism, in the Netherworld, where Sha'ul is king through the summer months, but the earth god and his mother the Earth goddess spend the winter overseeing Nature, the bones biodegrade, as does the flesh, adding nitrogen to the soil and turning it into compost for next year's fertile life, which starts with his rebirth in the spring, and her return to oestral fertility at the same time. Praise be to the great worms who assist the process, the serpents of the mother-goddess Nature!

141:8 KI ELEYCHA YHVH ADONAI EYNAI BECHAH CHASIYTI AL TE'AR NAPHSHI

כִּי אֵלֶיךָ יְהוִה אֲדֹנָי עֵינָי בְּכָה חָסִיתִי אַל תְּעַר נַפְשִׁי

KJ: But mine eyes are unto thee, O GOD the Lord: in thee is my trust; leave not my soul destitute.

BN: For my eyes are turned towards you, YHVH my Lord; I have taken refuge in you. Do not leave my soul empty.

TE'AR: Cf Genesis 24:20.

141:9 SHAMRENI MIYDEY PHACH YAKSHU LI U MOKSHOT PO'ALEY AVEN

שָׁמְרֵנִי מִידֵי פַח יָקְשׁוּ לִי וּמֹקְשׁוֹת פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן

KJ: Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the gins of the workers of iniquity.

BN: Keep me from the snare which they have laid for me, and from the traps of the workers of iniquity.

SHAMRENI: Echoing SHAMRA at verse 3, as the images in this verse echo those at verse 4.

141:10 YIPLU VE MACHMORAV RESHA'IM YACHAD ANOCHI AD E'EVOR

יִפְּלוּ בְמַכְמֹרָיו רְשָׁעִים יַחַד אָנֹכִי עַד אֶעֱבוֹר

KJ: Let the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape.

BN: Let all the wicked fall together into their own nets, until I have made my escape. {P}

ANOCHI AD: is grammatically the wrong way round, but as above I presume this is for musical necessity.

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Psalms:

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