TheBibleNet: Psalm 152

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Additional Psalms: 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 Samuel Chronicles
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Is there a Greek or Yehudit text anywhere? Even a Syriac?

The text is presented in English at https://www.biblicalaudio.com/text/psalm151-160.pdf

OR THIS VERSION, FROM

http://textus-receptus.com/wiki/Psalms_152%E2%80%93155#Psalm_152

(though I think they simply copied the wikipedia page)

Next, this, from Professor W. Wright, in "Some Apocryphal Psalms in Syriac, Proceedings of the Society of Biblical archaeology 9 [1887] 257–266".

First the title, which is unusual in having "spoken", where the Psalms are generally sung:

"Spoken by David when he was contending with the lion and the wolf which took a sheep from his flock."

"This text survived only in Syriac, and the original language may be Hebrew. The tone is non-rabbinical and it was probably composed in Palestine during the Hellenistic period."

More from Professor Wright at

http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/wright_syriac_apocryphal_psalms.htm

I have copied the text from that link below:

Some Apocryphal Psalms in Syriac.

In a Syriac MS., formerly belonging to the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, but now deposited in the University Library of Cambridge, I find the following apocryphal Psalms, which, with the exception of the first, have not yet, so far as I know, been printed anywhere. The MS. contains the Kethabha dhe-Dhurrasha, or 'Book of Discipline,' a large theological treatise, composed on a very artificial plan, by Elias, bishop of Peroz-Shabhor or al-Anbar (who lived about a.d. 920; see Assemani, B.O. iii. 1, p. 258 sq.). At the end of the first section of this work, the scribe has added a few excerpts for the purpose of filling up some blank leaves. These are: (1) the Psalms in question, ff. 115a-116b; (2) explanations of some difficult words in 'the Book of the Paradise'; and (3) a disputation between a Jacobite and a Nestorian, ff. 116b-117b. The scribe was the well known Homo of Al-Kosh, near Mosul, "the village of the prophet Nahum." He has recorded his name in several subscriptions, but as the MS. is imperfect at the end, the exact date of writing is not given. It must, however, roughly speaking, lie between a.d. 1675 and 1712 (see Hoffmann, Opusc. Nestor., pp. Ill, IV), and the watermark in the paper----three crescents with a rather small adjunct of this shape [*] in one corner of the page----would seem to belong to the latter part of the xviith century.

These same Psalms, five in number, are also found, with the same adjuncts, in the Vatican MS. of Elias of al-Anbar's work, Cod. Vat. Syr. clxxxiii, ff. 117b-119a (see Assemani's Catalogue, t. iii, p. 385). Professor Guidi has, with his usual kindness, collated this MS. for me. It is dated A. Gr. 2014 = a.d. 1703, and was written at Al-Kosh by one Khaushabha bar Daniel.

The Psalms are five in number, of which the first is that ordinarily numbered as Ps. cli in Greek and Syriac Hexaplar MSS. (see, for example, the Codex Ambrosianus, ed. Ceriani, f. 38b). I reproduce the text, so far as possible, exactly as it stands in the MSS

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Wright titles them: "Five Psalms of David, which are not written in the order of the psalms". The first of the five, as will be obvious upon reading, is yet one more variation of the the same Psalm 151 that we have already encountered (click here).

I. Ps. cli. A Thanksgiving of David.

1. I was the youngest among my brethren, and a youth in my father's house.

2. I used to feed my father's flock, and I found a lion and a wolf, and slew them and rent them.

3. My hands made an organ, and my fingers fashioned a harp.

4. Who will show me my Lord? He, my Lord, is become my God.

5. He sent His angel and took me away from my father's flock, and anointed me with the oil of anointing.

6. My brethren, the fair and the tall, in them the Lord had no pleasure.

7. And I went forth to meet the Philistine, and he cursed me by his idols.

8. But I drew his sword and cut off his head, and took away the reproach from the children of Israel.

With this, and the Psalms that follow on this page, I have not made my own translation, because I do not have an original text to translate from. Nevertheless, it is perfectly reasonable to regard the translations here as Christian, and therefore filled with doctrine-driven errors. The word "God" for example, replacing what was probably YHVH.

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The second seems an unlikely candidate for the title "Psalm", given the nature of the 150 Psalms in the standard Psaltery. A "prayer in the style of the Psalms" might be more apt. Chizki-Yah (Hezekiah) was the king oracled by Yesha-Yah in Isaiah 7; his story can be read in 2 Kings 16:20-20:21, 2 Chronicles 28:27-32:33, and Isaiah 36:1-39:8. He was the king of Yehudah at the time the northern tribes were carried away into oblivion by the Assyrians, circa 720 BCE (see under Sennacherib; but mostly, for the 722 conquest, this needs to be

Shalman-Ezer V and Sargon II).

BUT THIS IS ALSO PSALM 154

II. The Prayer of Hezekiah when enemies surrounded him.

1. With a loud voice glorify ye God; in the assembly of many proclaim ye His glory.

2. Amid the multitude of the upright glorify His praise; and speak of His glory with the righteous.

3. Join yourselves (literally, your soul) to the good and to the perfect, to glorify the Most High.

4. Gather yourselves together to make known His strength; and be not slow in showing forth His deliverance [and His strength] and His glory to all babes.

5. That the honour of the Lord may be known, wisdom hath been given; and to tell of His works it hath been made known to men:

6. to make known unto babes His strength, and to make them that lack understanding (literally, heart) to comprehend His glory;

7. who are far from His entrances and distant from His gates:

8. because the Lord of Jacob is exalted, and His glory is upon all His works.

9. And a man who glorifies the Most High, in him will He take pleasure; as in one who offers fine meal, and as in one who offers he-goats and calves;

10. and as in one who makes fat the altar with a multitude of burnt offerings; and as the smell of incense from the hands of the just.

11. From thy upright gates shall be heard His voice, and from the voice of the upright admonition.

12. And in their eating shall be satisfying in truth, and in their drinking, when they share together.

13. Their dwelling is in the law of the Most High, and their speech is to make known His strength.

14. How far from the wicked is speech of Him, and from all transgressors to know Him!

15. Lo, the eye of the Lord taketh pity on the good, and unto them that glorify Him will He multiply mercy, and from the time of evil will He deliver their soul.

16. Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered the wretched from the hand of the wicked; who raiseth up a horn out of Jacob and a judge of the nations out of Israel;

17. that He may prolong His dwelling in Zion, and may adorn our age in Jerusalem.

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BUT THIS IS ALSO PSALM 155

From its title, this third Psalm should tie in beautifully with Psalm 137 in particular - forced to sing "a strange song in a strange land", what better song could they have hoped to sing than this one? But then we read it, and there is no joy at liberation, only a very solemn, almost Puritanical piety, much to be respected, but not at all what we might have expected. The date will have been around 536 BCE, Cyrus being Koresh, the king of the Medean Persians, who defeated the Babylonians in that year and sent those who wished among the Yehudan exiles home under the leadership of Zeru-Bavel.

III. When the People obtained permission from Cyrus to return home.

1. O Lord, I have cried unto Thee; hearken Thou unto me.

2. I have lifted up my hands to Thy holy dwelling-place; incline Thine ear unto me.

3. And grant me my request; my prayer withhold not from me.

4. Build up my soul, and destroy it not; and lay it not bare before the wicked.

5. Them that recompense evil things turn Thou away from me, O judge of truth.

6. O Lord, judge me not according to my sins, because no flesh is innocent before Thee.

7. Make plain to me, O Lord, Thy law, and teach me Thy judgments;

8. and many shall hear of Thy works, and the nations shall praise Thine honour.

9. Remember me and forget me not; and lead me not into things that be too hard for me.

10. The sins of my youth make Thou to pass from me, and my chastisement let them not remember against me.

11. Cleanse me, O Lord, from the evil leprosy, and let it no more come unto me.

12. Dry up its roots in (literally, from) me, and let not its leaves sprout within me.

13. Great art Thou, O Lord; therefore my request shall be fulfilled from before Thee.

14. To whom shall I complain that he may give unto me? and what can the strength of men add [unto me]?

15. From before Thee, O Lord, is my confidence; I cried unto the Lord and He heard me, and healed the breaking of my heart.

16. I slumbered and slept; I dreamed and was helped, and the Lord sustained me.

17. They sorely pained my heart; I will return thanks because the Lord delivered me.

18. Now will I rejoice in their shame; I have hoped in Thee, and I shall not be ashamed.

19. Give Thou honour for ever, even for ever and ever.

20. Deliver Israel Thine elect, and them of the house of Jacob Thy proved one.

For more details of the history of this, see my introduction to what I have called "The Book of the Return from Exile".

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The Biblical source of this next Psalm-tale is... there isn't one! Like the Gal-Yat (Goliath) Psalm that preceded this set, it belongs with the series of Psalms which recount significant parts of the epic of David's pursuit by King Sha'ul through the mythological Underworld, of which there must surely have been a large number more than the ones that have survived in the anthology.

The title also repeats that of the first Psalm in this set, and Psalm 151, though the text that follows is very different.

IV. Spoken by David when he was contending with the lion and the wolf which took a sheep from his flock.

1. O God, O God, come to my aid; help Thou me and save me; deliver Thou my soul from the slayer.

2. Shall I go down to Sheol by the mouth of the lion? or shall the wolf confound me?

3. Was it not enough for them that they lay in wait for my father's flock, and rent in pieces a sheep of my father's drove, but they were wishing also to destroy my soul?

4. Have pity, O Lord, and save Thy holy one from destruction; that he may rehearse Thy glories in all his times, and may praise Thy great name:

5. when Thou hast delivered him from the hands of the destroying lion and of the ravening wolf, and when Thou hast rescued my captivity from the hands of the wild beasts.

6. Quickly, O my Lord (Adonai), send from before Thee a deliverer, and draw me out of the gaping pit, which imprisons me in its depths.

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The next is clearly a continuation of the last, though the tone and manner are different enough to suggest a different author. Notice the shifts back and forth between the third person and the first person.

In the Greek (Hera-Kles) and Roman (Hercules) versions of this tale, the defeat of the Nemean lion is the first labour, but the only mention of a wolf is the herd of wolves sent by Eurystheus to try to destroy the mares of Diomedes before he sent Herakles for the same purpose...click here for the detail. The 12 labours in full are:

Slay the Nemean Lion and bring back its skin.
Slay the Lernaean Hydra.
Capture the Ceryneian Hind.
Capture the Erymanthian Boar.
Clean the Augean stables in one day.
Slay the Stymphalian Birds.
Capture the Cretan Bull.
Steal the Mares of Diomedes.
Obtain the Girdle of Hippolyte.
Obtain the Cows of Geryon.
Steal the Apples of the Hesperides.
Capture Cerberus.

Note that Hera-Kles in Greek means "beloved of Hera", while David's full name, Yedid-Yah, means "beloved of Yah"; Hera was the western Greek goddess of the full moon, Io her eastern Greek equivalent, which became Yah among the Phoenicians and Canaanites of the Near East, especially at Chevron, where David had his first kingship.

V. Spoken by David when returning thanks to God, who had delivered him from the lion and the wolf and he had slain both of them.

1. Praise the Lord, all ye nations; glorify Him, and bless His name:

2. Who rescued the soul of His elect from the hands of death, and delivered His holy one from destruction:

3. and saved me from the nets of Sheol, and my soul from the pit that cannot be fathomed.

4. Because, ere my deliverance could go forth from before Him, I was well nigh rent in two pieces by two wild beasts.

5. But He sent His angel, and shut up from me the gaping mouths, and rescued my life from destruction.

6. My soul shall glorify Him and exalt Him, because of all His kindnesses which He hath done and will do unto me.

Wright's paper is signed "Queens' College, Cambridge, 4th May, 1887." I have not included any of his footnotes, nor his additional Syriac material; but you can find them at the link, which is given above.

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The next is from James Charlesworth, "The Pseudepigrapha and Modern Research", pp. 202-204), available at:

http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/morepsalms.html

Some Syriac manuscripts preserve five apocryphal psalms, frequently entitled Psalms of David...

The prerequisite, unfortunately sometimes ignored, for an understanding of these five psalms is the recognition that they must be examined separately. The first three Syriac Psalms are at least as old as the Qumran Psalms Scroll, which was copied in the first half of the first century A.D. Syriac Psalm 1 is the oldest, and is pre-Christian, and perhaps pre-Qumranian. Most scholars conclude that both Psalm 1 and the others date from the hellenistic period; thus they reject both the contention, which was never developed, that Psalm 1 is earlier than the sixth century B.C. (cf. W. F. Albright, no. 1369a), and the interpretation that it is late and Karaitic (cf. S. B. Hoenig, no. 1377g, p. 332).

Several scholars have concluded that one or more of these psalms were composed by the Essenes. Most contend correctly that while some passages can be interpreted in line with Essene theology, there are not sufficient data to conclude that they are Essene. There is a consensus that the original language of at least the first three Syriac Psalms is Hebrew.

Psalm 1 apparently consists of two originally separate psalms, Psalm 151A and Psalm 151B, which recount respectively how David was elevated from a common shepherd to the anointed ruler (7 vss.) and how he defeated the Philistine Goliath (11QPsa is fragmentary; cf. Syr. MS Mingana 31).

Psalm 2 contains 20 verses which exhort the worshipper to glorify God.

Psalm 3, of 19 (in Hebrew) or 21 (in Syriac) verses, is a personal thanksgiving (individualles Danklied) because the Lord answered the sinner's cry.

Psalm 4 is a plea to be delivered from the lion and the wolf who prey upon the "flock of my father"; hence it is a David pseudepigraphon (cf. 1Sam 17:34-37).

Psalm 5 is a personal thanksgiving for deliverance, and is conceivably also a David pseudepigraphon since the psalmist was about to be devoured "by two (wild) beasts."

The early date and pseudepigraphical character indicate that these Psalms should be contained in the Pseudepigrapha.

James Charlesworth and J. A. Sanders write: "The presence of these psalms within the Qumran Psalter (11QPsa) raises the question of the extent of the Davidic Psalter prior to the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. At Qumran, of course, the Psalter was appreciably different from the present collection in Hebrew; but what was the shape of the Psalter elsewhere? M. H. Goshen-Gottstein has argued that the Psalter was already set (and canonized) by the second century B.C. and that excerpts from it, along with apocryphal compositions, were placed in 11QPsa, which is therefore the earliest 'Jewish prayerbook.' A similar interpretation is defended by P. Skehan, who contends that 11QPsa is a 'library edition' of the 'standard collection of 150 Psalms.' The presence of 'apocryphal' psalms such as the Prayer of Manasseh, and the Psalms of Solomon, which were considered inspired by many Jews around the turn of the era, along with the presence of apocryphal psalms in 11QPsa indicate the distinction between canonical and apocryphal psalms had not been clarified before the advent of Christianity." (The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. 2, p. 610).

The J.A. Sanders quoted here is the American scholar who was given the task of translating the Qumran "Psalm Scroll". See Psalm 151, which is based entirely on his work.

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