TheBibleNet: Psalm 96

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, though the Septuagint assigns 91, 93-97, 101 and 104 to David; the remainder in Book Four are anonymous.

Some of these Psalms are liturgy, some teaching sermons, some are libretto for grand opera, some the kind of deep and dark inward journey poetry of a Rilke or a Lowell; and then, occasionally, they are camp-fire songs, three chords and perhaps a relative minor, simple rhythm, simple rhymes, everyday vocabulary, and now everyone clap hands and sing-along. This, like the previous, is one of those:

96:1 SHIRU LA YHVH SHIR CHADASH LA YHVH KOL HA ARETS

שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה שִׁיר חָדָשׁ שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה כָּל הָאָרֶץ

KJ (King James translation): O sing unto the LORD a new song: sing unto the LORD, all the earth.

BN: Sing to YHVH a new song. Sing to YHVH, all the land.

ARETS: Meaning the whole planet, or just the land of Yisra-El? The same word is used for both in Yehudit. The answer lies in verse 3.

96:2 SHIRU LA YHVH BARACHU SHEMO BASRO MI YOM LE YOM YESHU'ATO

שִׁירוּ לַיהוָה בָּרֲכוּ שְׁמוֹ בַּשְּׂרוּ מִיּוֹם לְיוֹם יְשׁוּעָתוֹ

KJ: Sing unto the LORD, bless his name; shew forth his salvation from day to day.

BN: Sing to YHVH. Bless his name. Turn his Word "salvation" into manifest reality day after day.

BASRO: BASAR is "meat", or at the very least "flesh". How does that get to mean "good tidings", as in 2 Samuel 18:22 and 25? Or even "bad tidings", as in 2 Samuel 4:10? The only hypothesis that I can speculate (my translation reflects it) is that all events in the world are manifestations of the Word of the deity, which is to say the Word made Flesh.

96:3 SAPRU VA GOYIM KEVODO BE CHOL HA AMIM NIPHLE'OTAV

סַפְּרוּ בַגּוֹיִם כְּבוֹדוֹ בְּכָל הָעַמִּים נִפְלְאוֹתָיו

KJ: Declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people.

BN: Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous works among all the peoples.

GOYIM: Once again I must object to KJ, and many others, translating this as "heathens"; the word means "nations" or "peoples" and is an ethnic description, not an excuse for religious derogation. There is a Yehudit word which infers "heathens", and you will find it two verses hence.

96:4 KI GADOL YHVH U MEHULAL ME'OD NOR'A HU AL KOL ELOHIM

כִּי גָדוֹל יְהוָה וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹד נוֹרָא הוּא עַל כָּל אֱלֹהִים

KJ: For the LORD is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods.

BN: For YHVH is great, and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods.

Note yet again the acknowledgement of polytheism! And even more so in the next verse. YHVH is not the world's only deity, whether inside a Yisra-Eli pantheon, or in a Cosmos filled with multiple variations.

96:5 KI KOL ELOHEY HA AMIM ELIYLIM VA'YHVH SHAMAYIM ASAH

כִּי כָּל אֱלֹהֵי הָעַמִּים אֱלִילִים וַיהוָה שָׁמַיִם עָשָׂה

KJ: For all the gods of the nations are idols: but the LORD made the heavens.

BN: For all the gods of the nations are idols, but YHVH made the heavens.

And YHVH here specifically the sky-god; but see my notes to the previous Psalm in relation to this.

ELIYLIM: "idols" or "false gods".

96:6 HOD VE HADAR LEPHANAV OZ VE TIPH'ERET BE MIKDASHO

הוֹד וְהָדָר לְפָנָיו עֹז וְתִפְאֶרֶת בְּמִקְדָּשׁוֹ

KJ: Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

BN: Honour and majesty are before him: strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

And simple constructs to go with the simple vocabulary: the constructs of Kabbalah, later on.

96:7 HAVU LA YHVH MISHPECHOT AMIM HAVU LA YHVH KAVOD VA OZ

הָבוּ לַיהוָה מִשְׁפְּחוֹת עַמִּים הָבוּ לַיהוָה כָּבוֹד וָעֹז

KJ: Give unto the LORD, O ye kindreds of the people, give unto the LORD glory and strength.

BN: Ascribe to YHVH, you families of nations, ascribe to YHVH glory and strength.

These words recur in variant forms in a number of other sing-alongs.

96:8 HAVU LA YHVH KEVOD SHEMO SE'U MINCHAH U VO'U LE CHATSROTAV

הָבוּ לַיהוָה כְּבוֹד שְׁמוֹ שְׂאוּ מִנְחָה וּבֹאוּ לְחַצְרוֹתָיו

KJ: Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name: bring an offering, and come into his courts.

BN: Ascribe to YHVH the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come into his courtyards.

CHATSROTAV: Enclosed spaces. So the suburbs that surround a walled city, each boundaried by wooden fences or hedges. But in this case we are within in the Temple compound - the sanctuary of verse 6 - and here to "bring an offering", as per this verse; so we are in its Courtyard, which is where the altars were located.

96:9 HISHTACHAVU LA YHVH BE HADRAT KODESH CHIYLU MI PANAV KOL HA ARETS

הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַיהוָה בְּהַדְרַת קֹדֶשׁ חִילוּ מִפָּנָיו כָּל הָאָרֶץ

KJ: O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.

BN: Prostrate yourself before YHVH in holy array. Tremble before him, all the Earth.

HADRAT: Heder is ornamentation, so this means "put on your very best clothes, and your most valuable jewelery", going to the Temple should be regarded like going to a wedding or a gala.

Compare Psalm 29:2.

ARETS: Again: meaning the whole planet, or just the land of Yisra-El? The same word is used for both in Yehudit. The answer lies in verse 3.

96:10 IMRU VA GOYIM YHVH MALACH APH TIKON TEVEL BAL TIMOT YADIYN AMIM BE MEYSHARIM

אִמְרוּ בַגּוֹיִם יְהוָה מָלָךְ אַף תִּכּוֹן תֵּבֵל בַּל תִּמּוֹט יָדִין עַמִּים בְּמֵישָׁרִים

KJ: Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.

BN: Say among the nations, YHVH reigns. The world is so firmly established that it cannot be moved. He will judge the peoples with equity.

And at last we have an answer to a question that has hung over these Psalms since the very beginning: this endlessly repeated phrase that "I shall not be moved". Primitive science being upheld. The Creator who made the Heavens, replete with suns and moons and planets and stars and meteors and comets and infinite space between and around them, that Creator fixed the Earth at its absolute centre, and Humankind as its stewards. Enemies or rival gods may try to change the patterns of Creation, placing their favourite star or planet at the centre, but it cannot be: the Earth is fixed: it cannot be moved. (And please don't tell this to Nicholas Copernicus.)

96:11 YISMECHU HA SHAMAYIM VE TAGEL HA ARETS YIR'AM HA YAM U MELO'O

יִשְׂמְחוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְתָגֵל הָאָרֶץ יִרְעַם הַיָּם וּמְלֹאוֹ

KJ: Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof.

BN: Let the heavens be glad, and let the Earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and everything that fills it;

YISMECHU HA SHAMAYIM: All the Psalms in this fourth section are either intended for the Shabat, or have found their place anyway in the Shabat liturgy and celebrations. This phrase tends to be sung on its own, without needing the rest of the verse, though there are versions that sing the full verse. Click here.

96:12 YA'ALOZ SADAI VE CHOL ASHER BO AZ YERANENU KOL ATSEI YA'AR

יַעֲלֹז שָׂדַי וְכָל אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ אָז יְרַנְּנוּ כָּל עֲצֵי יָעַר

KJ: Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice.

BN: Let the field exult, and everything that is in it; then all the trees of the wood shall sing for joy...

Why is it assumed that this is a Seen and not a Sheen? It would make as much (perhaps even more) sense if this were SHADAI and not SADAI - alluding to the creative principle, as throughout the piece, and not to the mere manifestation. This a decision of the 14th century Masoretes - it needs substantiation through the etymology.

Three dots, because the grammar of the next verse tells me that the sentence is not yet full-stopped.

96:13 LIPHNEI YHVH KI VA KI VA LISHPOT HA ARETS YISHPOT TEVEL BE TSEDEK VE AMIM BE EMUNATO

לִפְנֵי יְהוָה כִּי בָא כִּי בָא לִשְׁפֹּט הָאָרֶץ יִשְׁפֹּט תֵּבֵל בְּצֶדֶק וְעַמִּים בֶּאֱמוּנָתוֹ

KJ: Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

BN: ... before YHVH. For he is coming. He is coming to judge the Earth. He will judge the world righteously, and the nations fastidiously.

EMUNATO: THis is EMUNAH, "faithfulness", not EMET, "truth". Different words.

And if there is ever a single verse that confirms that the Messiah is the deity, and only the deity, and never some human surrogate, then surely this is it. There is a Mashiyach, but he has a very different role.

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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