TheBibleNet: Psalm 154

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

Another of the discoveries made in the cave of Qumran:

"Found in the Great Psalms Scroll, Psalm 154 is a wisdom poem, which may be classified as a call to worship. One feature is the personification of Wisdom as a woman (verses 5 onward), which also occurs in the Hebrew Bible (Proverbs 8:34) and in the book of Sir 1:15" - which should read "the book of Sirach 1:15" in its more customary English rendering: otherwise Ecclesiasticus, and not to be confused with Ecclesiastes.

This Psalm also survived in the Syriac Peshitta, but the nearest we have to a Yehudit version is the one in the Dead Sea Scroll, scroll 11QPs(a)154 in most records, though it is sometimes recorded simply as 11Q5; either way a first-century CE manuscript. The main theme is the request to "join yourselves to the good and to the perfect, to glorify the Most High". There is also a hint to common meals, typical of the practices of the Essenes, though there were many other cults of similar type at that time: "And in their eating shall be satisfying in truth, and in their drinking, when they share together" (see verse 13).

For more background go to https://www.bibleodyssey.org/en/passages/related-articles/psalm-151-and-the-dead-sea-scrolls

The version at https://www.biblicalaudio.com/text/psalm151-160.pdf includes a title, which other versions do not have:

I have taken my Yehudit text from Sefaria, which introduces it by saying that "Psalm 154 is an apocryphal 20-verse psalm of praise to God, composed sometime before the 1st century CE. It appears in the Peshitta, an old version of the Bible in Syriac translation, and a Hebrew manuscript of the psalm was discovered among the Dead Sea scrolls"; which I have quoted because it fails to resolve our question: if what we are about to read is not the Dead Sea Scrolls version, but much earlier, where did they find it? I am therefore presuming that this must be the Sead Sea Scrolls version, rendered in the modern Ivrit (Hebrew) alphabet.

A Psalm of Chizki-Yah when enemies surrounded him.

CHIZKI-YAH: Hezekiah by his customary English rendition.

154:1 BE KOL GADOL PA'ARU ELOHIM BI KEHAL RABIM HASHMIY'U TIPHARTO

בְּקוֹל גָּדוֹל פָּאֲרוּ אֱלֹהִים בִּקְהַל־רַבִּים הַשְׁמִיעוּ תִפְאַרְתּוֹ

With a loud voice glorify God; proclaim his splendor in the congregation of the many.

BI KEHAL: Should really be pronounced as a single, ellided word; BIKHAL: it all has to do with the sheva (double-dot) under the second letter of a syllable; throughout my commentaries I have separated the prefix or preposition in these cases, in order to show clearly what the main root is.

But also note that, ellided properly, BIKHAL becomes an internal half-rhyme with BE KOL, one at the start of the verse, one at the restart after the caesura.

GADOL: Provides a further rhyme; surprising that the same doesn't happen after BI KEHAL. Especially as we have PA'ARU rhyming with HASHMIY'U, and ELOHIM rhyming with RABIM.

154:2 BE ROV YESHARIM PA'ARU SHEMO VE IM EMUNIM SAPRU GEDOLATO

בְּרֹב־יְשָׁרִים פָּאֲרוּ שְׁמוֹ וְעִם־אֵמוּנִים סַפְּרוּ גְדוֹלָתוֹ

Glorify his name in the multitude of the righteous, and celebrate his majesty with the faithful.

YESHARIM...EMUNIM: This time the rhyme is on the second bar of the stich, each side of the caesura.

PA'ARU...SAPRU: And on the third as well.

SHEMI...GEDOLATO: And on the fourth as well. Complex and sophisticated song-writing!

154:3 CHABRU LA TOVIM NAPHSHOTEYCHEM VE LA TEMIYMIM LEPHA'ER ELYON

חַבְּרוּ לַטּוֹבִים נַפְשׁוֹתֵיכֶם וְלַתְּמִימִים לְפָאֵר עֶלְיוֹן

Unite your souls with the good and with the perfect to glorify the Most High.

But then the internal rhyming stops. Perhaps it was too difficult. Perhaps the poet just didn't want to be accused of showing off. Maybe he'll resume later on.

But also notice how many words are being used, and then immediately re-used, sometimes to emphasise them, occasionally with minor variations. The method would be called Anadiplosis today, though the Psalms do not quite follow the rules of Anadiplosis: something very similar anyway. See HACHBIYRU below for one easy example.

ELYON: See the link.

154:4 HACHBIYRU YACHAD LEHODIY'A YISH'O VE AL TIT'ATSLU LEHODIY'A UZO VE TIPH'ARTO LE CHOL PETA'IM

הַחְבִּירוּ יַחַד לְהוֹדִיעַ יִשְׁעוֹ וְאַל־תִּתְעַצְּלוּ לְהוֹדִיעַ עֻזּוֹ וְתִּפְאַרְתּוֹ לְכׇל־פְּתָאִים

Assemble together to make his salvation known, and do not hesitate to make known his might and his majesty to all the simple.

HACHBIYRU: The Hiph'il form of the same root that opened the previous verse: CHABRU there. That one did it, this one gets others to do it: same outcome.

154:5 KI LEHODIY'A KEVOD YHVH NITNAH CHACHMAH

כִּי לְהוֹדִיעַ כְּבוֹד יהוה נִתְּנָה חׇכְמָה

For it is to make known the glory of YHVH that wisdom has been given,

154:6 U LESAPER ROV MA'ASAV NOD'AH LE ADAM

וּלְסָפֵּר רֹב־מַעֲשָׂיו נוֹדְעָה לְאָדָם

And it is for recounting his many deeds, that she has been revealed to humans,

NITNAH: Feminine, for the Wisdom, not the deity. But, as a man, I cannot help but note that Wisdom is regarded as a feminine virtue - as all the best qualities of the male deity are female, coming as they do from the RECHEM, the womb - see Exodus 34:6 - and note that the same is true in Islam, where al-Lah is always named with his attributes, and both are womb-words (Qur'an 1:1).

154:7 LEHODIY'A LI PHETA'IM UZO LEHASKIYL LE CHASREY LEVAV GEDOLATO

לְהוֹדִיעַ לִפְתָאִים עֻזּוֹ לְהַשְׂכִיל לְחָסְרֵי־לֵבָב גְּדוֹלָתוֹ

To make his power known to the simple, to explain his greatness to those lacking understanding;

LI PHETA'IM: As per my note to verse 2, this should be pronounced LIPHTA'IM.

154:8 HA RECHOKIM MI PIT'CHEYHA HA NIDACHIM MI MEVO'OTEYHA

הָרְחוֹקִים מִפִּתְחֶיהָ הַנִּדָּחִים מִמְּבוֹאוֹתֶיהָ

Those who are far from her gates, those who have strayed from her entrances.

RECHOKIM...NIDACHIM, PIT'CHEYHA...MEVO'OTEYCHA: The rhyme resumes, and once again it also mirrors within the two halves of the caesuraed line.

154:9 KI ELYON HU ADON YA'AKOV VE TIPH'ARTO AL KOL MA'ASAV

כִּי עֶלְיוֹן הוּא אָדוֹן יַעֲקֹב וְתִפְאַרְתּוֹ עַל־כׇּל־מַעֲשָׂיו

For the Most High is the Lord of Ya'akov, and his majesty is upon all his works.

YA'AKOV: Using the name from before Penu-El, rather than the one after it, but either way intending the entire "tribe" of Yisra-El, and not just the named individual. See verse 19.

154:10 VE ADAM MEPHA'ER ELYON YERATSEHKE MAGISH MINCHAH

וְאָדָם מְפָאֵר עֶלְיוֹן יְרַצֶּה כְּמַגִּישׁ מִנְחָה

And the man who glorifies the Most High is accepted by him like one who brings an offering,

A hugely significant moment of theology and history, this: since Shemu-El's time we have heard Prophets insisting that the deity wants "obedience", not "sacrifice", meaning "learn the laws, the morals, the ethics, the principles, the daily disciplines, and carry them out with kavanah, which is to say sincerity as well as intensity." This, rather than the ceremonies of propitiation, which are the basic reason for the sacrifices.

But this confirms that the deity still wants, indeed requires, the ceremonies of propitiation. At least, in the theology of this Psalmist. It may still be the 1st century BCE, or already the same CE, but the Temple, and with it the Tsadokim (Sadducees) still prevail. "Obedience" will not replace "sacrifice" (the metaphysical age supplanting the mythological) until Pharisaic Judaism, the Judaism of the Talmud, fills the space left by the destroyed Temple, after 70 CE.

154:11 KE MAKRIV ATUDIM U VENEY BAKAR KI MEDASHEN MIZBE'ACH BE ROV OLOT KI KETORET NIYCHO'ACH MI YAD TSADIKIM

כְּמַקְרִיב עַתּוּדִים וּבְנֵי־בָּקָר כִּמְדַשֵּׁן מִזְבֵחַ בְּרֹב־עוֹלוֹת כִּקְטוֹרֶת נִיחוֹחַ מִיָּד־צַדִּיקִים

Like one who offers rams and calves, like one who fattens the altar with many holocausts; as a pleasing aroma from the hand of the righteous.

And in case, being "simple" (vv 4 and 7), you lacked the "wisdom" (vv 5 and 6) to understand the previous verse without needing commentary, here is the method and purpose of propitiation, explained and clarified.

Most of the verses until now have been couplets; this one is a triplet, and so far extended that it could easily be prose. Perhaps because it also caesuraes the Psalm into two halves, and this begins the second half.

154:12 MI PIT'CHEY TSADIYKIM NISHME'A KOLAH U MI KEHAL CHASIYDIM ZIMRATAH

מִפִּתְחֵי צַדִּיקִים נִשְׁמְעָה קוֹלָהּ וּמִקְּהַל־חֲסִידִים זִמְרָתָהּ

From the gates of the righteous her voice is heard, and her song from the assembly of the pious.

By the time this Psalm was written, the male Omnideity was fully established as the One and Only, the female reduced to mere Shechinah*, "divine Presence" (the Christian "holy ghost" or "holy spirit"), which of course was the existential-essential difference between YHVH and YAH, and especially between YHVH and CHAVAH, in the first place. Unable to restore YAH to her rightful equality, was this development of Chochmah as a "pseudo-deity" the nearest that the women could get?

* My link is to an explanation of the Shechinah from a modern feminist perspective; for a traditional male explanation, click here.

MI PIT'CHEY... MI KEHAL, TSADIYKIM... CHASIYDIM, NISHME'A KOLAH... ZIMRATAH: but still the internal rhyme, still following the bars within the halves of the caesura; and in this case, with NISHME'A KOLAH... ZIMRATAH, a triple rhyme

154:13 AL OCHLIM BE SOV'A NE'EMRAH VE AL SHATOTIM BE CHEVER YECHIYDAV

עַל־אוֹכְלִים בְּשֹׂבַע נֶאֶמְרָה וְעַל שָׁתֹתִים בּחֶבֶר יְחִידָיו

When they eat until they are full, she is mentioned, and when they drink in community together.

BE SOV'A: Unusual to see double-pointing in this manner; one to indicate that it is a Seen rather than a Sheen, one for the vocalisation.

BE CHEVER: Is this simply a typing error in the modern edition? Because there should be a sheva (two dots in the form of a colon), placed beneath the Bet, the first letter of BE CHEVER.

154:14 SIYCHATAM BE TORAT ELYON AMREYHEM LEHODIY'A UZO

שִׂיחָתָם בְּתוֹרָת עֶלְיוֹן אָמְרֵיהֶם לְהוֹדִיעַ עֻזּוֹ

Their meditation is on the law of the Most High, their words for making his power known.

154:15 KAMAH RECHOKAH ME RESHA'IM OMRAH MI KOL ZEDIM LEDA'TAH

כַּמָּה רְחֹקָה מֵרְשָׁעִים אוֹמְרָהּ מִכֹּל זֵדִים לְדַעְתָּה

How distant is her word from the wicked, how distant is her knowledge from all the insolent.

OMRAH: Previously I have noted the distinction between the DAVAR and the OMER, the one from the verb "to speak", the other from the verb "to say": the same distinction as between YHVH and Chavah that I drew attention to at verse 12. The DAVAR ("the Word of God" in Christian theology) is the essence, invisible but present in the Cosmos - protons and neutrons, fermions and bosons, quarks and microbes, etc. The OMER (when not being a sheaf of barley) is the physical manifestation of those essences, the existential reality of clouds or trees or fishes or humans etc. So, again here, it is Chavah's role as EM KOL CHAI, "the mother of all living things", that is being recognised and celebrated.

154:16 HINEH EYNEY YHVH AL TOVIM TACHMOL

הִנֵּה עֵינֵי יהוה עַל־טוֹבִים תַּחְמֹל

Behold, the eyes of Yahweh have pity upon the good.

YHVH: At what point in the evolution of Jewish theology and superstition did we stop pronouncing the name YHVH, and start using substitutes like Adonai, which really just means "My lord"? HINEY EYNEY YEHEYEY, to give this the pronunciation Mosheh was given at Chorev (Exodus 3:14), enables a musical poetry of the most exquisite sonority; wehereas HINEY EYNEY ADONAI is barely more than prose.

Though it has to be said, that much of the second half of this psalm is mere prose. The next verse in particular.

154:17 VE AL MEPHA'ARAV YIGDAL CHASDO ME ET RA'AH YATSIL NAPHSHAM

וְעַל מְפַאֲרָיו יִגְדַּל חַסּדּוֹ מֵעֵת רָעָה יַצִּיל נַפְשָׁם

And he increases his mercy upon those who glorify him; he will deliver their soul from evil.

154:18 BARCHU ET YHVH GO'EL ANI MI YAD TSARIM U MATSIL MI YAD RESHA'IM TEMIYMIM

מִיָּד רְשָׁעִים תְּמִימִים‎ בָּרְכוּ אֶת־יהוה גּוֹאֵל עָנִי מִיָּד צָרִים וּמַצִּיל‎

Bless Yahweh who redeems the humble from the hand of foreigners, and delivers the pure from the hand of the wicked,

Does this verse get re-used in the liturgy anywhere? I am unable to identify anywhere that it does so (Jeremiah 15:21 comes close, but that is not liturgy). And if not, why not?

154:19 MEKAYEM KEREN MI YA'AKOV VE SHOPHET AMIM MI YISRA-EL

מֵקִים קֶרֶן מִיַעֲקֹב; וְשׁוֹפֵט עַמִּים מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל

Who establishes a horn out of Jacob and a judge of the peoples out of Israel;

KEREN: Like the ones Mosheh was thought to be wearing when he came down from Mount Chorev; the horns are visible in every icon of the Egyptian gods and goddesses, and are the earliest form from which the royal crown evolved.

154:20 IVAH MISHKANO BE TSI'ON BOCHER LA NETSACH BIYRU-SHALA'IM

אִוָּה מִשְׁכָּנוֹ בְּצִיּוֹן בּוֹחֵר לַנֶצָח בִּירוּשָׁלָיִם

He will spread out his tent in Zion, and will live forever in Jerusalem.

The text of Psalms 151-160, presented as a unified whole, can be found at

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3266227?seq=1

or

https://www.jstor.org/stable/3268520?seq=1

https://www.biblicalaudio.com/text/psalm151-160.pdf