TheBibleNet: Psalms elsewhere in the Tanach 1

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

In addition to the 150 in the "official" Psaltery, and the 10 identified from the Syriac as 151-160, there are also Psalms attributed to David in 2 Samuel 1:17-27, 2 Samuel 22 (cf Psalm 18) and 2 Samuel 23, as well as 1 Chronicles 17:7-36 and 1 Chronicles 29:9-20. I shall return to the first set of these in detail on this page.

According to the Epilogue to Psalm 160, David wrote no less than 4,050 Psalms, a number (ד‘"נ in Yehudit numerals) which no doubt has huge mystical significance when it is rendered as Gematria - but as TheBibleNet is dedicated to "non-faith" commentary, I shall leave those interested in this to pursue it for themselves.

The Epilogue reads as follows:

EPILOGUE TO PSALM 160

And David, son of Jesse, was wise, and brilliant like the light of the sun, and a scribe, and discerning and perfect in all his ways beore God and humans. And YHVH gave him a discerning and enlightened spirit.
And he wrote 3,600 psalms.
And [he wrote] 364 songs to sing beore the altar over the perpetual holocaust for every day, for all the days o the year. And 52 songs for the Sabbath offerings. And 30 songs or the New Moons, for all the festival days, and for the Day of Atonement. So [the total] of all the songs which he uttered were 446.
And he [also] wrote four songs for making music over those possessed [by evil spirits]/
So the [complete] total was 4,050. All these he uttered through prophecy which had been given to him from before the Most High.

Alas, only 160 of these have yet been discovered, plus the 5 (only 4 really, as we shall see) that can be found elsewhere in the Tanach. Let us explore these.

✡

1: 2 Samuel 1:17-27

After the Battle of Gilbo'a (1 Samuel 31), when Sha'ul and Yehonatan were both killed... and David now in line to become the next king.

1:17: VA YEKONEN DAVID ET HA KIYNAH HA ZOT AL SHA'UL VE AL YEHONATAN BENO

וַיְקֹנֵ֣ן דָּוִ֔ד אֶת־הַקִּינָ֖ה הַזֹּ֑את עַל־שָׁא֖וּל וְעַל־יְהוֹנָתָ֥ן בְּנֽוֹ

KJ (King James translation): And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son.

BN (BibleNet translation): And David intoned this dirge over Sha'ul and his son Yehonatan:

1:18 VA YOMER LELAMED BENEY YEHUDAH KASHET HINEH CHETUVAH AL SEPHER HA YASHAR

וַיֹּ֕אמֶר לְלַמֵּ֥ד בְּנֵֽי־יְהוּדָ֖ה קָ֑שֶׁת הִנֵּ֥ה כְתוּבָ֖ה עַל־סֵ֥פֶר הַיָּשָֽׁר

KJ: (Also he bade them teach the children of Judah the use of the bow: behold, it is written in the book of Jasher.)

BN: And he said, "Teach the Beney Yehudah archery; here - it is written in the Sepher Ha Yashar."

Why would David, about to be anointed King of all Yisra-El, order only his own tribe to learn archery? Is he already imposing tribal predominance? Unlikely, given his need to nurture the support of all the tribes; and anyway we know from earlier chapters of the Book of Samuel that archery had already become a major battle strategy amongst the Beney Yisra-El. More likely, because of the hostilities between the tribe of Yehudah and King Sha'ul, the king had declined to include Yehudah when the other tribes were trained, and David is now making up the deficit.

Does this allow us to bestow a title on the dirge? "The Song of the Bow"?

And why the bow? Probably because it symbolically defined the special relationship between David and Yehonatan; see 1 Samuel 20.

SEPHER HA YASHAR. See my extensive notes on this at Joshua 10.13.

1:19 HA TSEVI YISRA-EL AL BAMOTEYCHA CHALAL AYCH NAPHLU GIBORIM

הַצְּבִי֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל עַל־בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ חָלָ֑ל אֵ֖יךְ נָפְל֥וּ גִבּוֹרִֽים

KJ: The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!

BN: The royalty of Yisra-El lies slain on your heights. How have the mighty fallen!

HA TSEVI: Probably pronounced as HATSVI, with the definite article elided. A TSEVI is really a gazelle, or perhaps a roebuck - the most majestic of creatures anyway (and much in evidence to this day among the springs of Ein Gedi, where David spent large parts of his wilderness years); whence it became one of the adjectives for "honour", "glory" and "beauty".

BAMOTEYCHA: "High places" geographically, as in the Golan Heights, though they are also regarded as RAMOT; but also "high places" religiously, in that the BAMOT were generally shrines, with altars, for sacrifice. So the king and his son are not simply killed in battle, but martyred for the religion. If the Psalmist only wanted the geography, he could have said HARIM, as in verse 21.

CHALAL: Homophones with the CHALIL, but also with Arabic/Moslem kashrut! So, again, not simply "slain" but "sacrificed".

1:20 AL TAGIYDU VE GAT AL TEVASRU BE CHUTSOT ASHKELON PEN TISMACHNAH BENOT PELISHTIM PEN TA'ALOZNAH BENOT HA ARELIM

אַל־תַּגִּ֣ידֽוּ בְגַ֔ת אַֽל־תְּבַשְּׂר֖וּ בְּחוּצֹ֣ת אַשְׁקְל֑וֹן פֶּן־תִּשְׂמַ֙חְנָה֙ בְּנ֣וֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים פֶּֽן־תַּעֲלֹ֖זְנָה בְּנ֥וֹת הָעֲרֵלִֽים

KJ: Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon; lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.

BN: Do not let it be known in Gat. Do not proclaim it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Pelishtim rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.

GAT...ASHKELON: Two of the five principal cities of the Pelishtim, who are the ones responsible for the deaths of Sha'ul and Yehonotan at the Battle of Gilbo'a.

HA ARELIM: Except that, in Gat anyway, they may very well not be uncircumcised - see the tale of Michal's bride-price in 1 Samuel 18:24-28; or is that the smug point behind the comment?).

1:21 HAREY VA GILBO'A AL TAL VE AL MATAR ALEYCHEM U SEDEY TERUMOT KI SHAM NIG'AL MAGEN GIBORIM MAGEN SHA'UL BELI MASHIYACH BA SHAMEN

הָרֵ֣י בַגִּלְבֹּ֗עַ אַל־טַ֧ל וְאַל־מָטָ֛ר עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם וּשְׂדֵ֣י תְרוּמֹ֑ת כִּ֣י שָׁ֤ם נִגְעַל֙ מָגֵ֣ן גִּבּוֹרִ֔ים מָגֵ֣ן שָׁא֔וּל בְּלִ֖י מָשִׁ֥יחַ בַּשָּֽׁמֶן

KJ: Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings: for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away, the shield of Saul, as though he had not been anointed with oil.

BN: O hills in Gilbo'a, let there be no dew or rain on you, nor crops for sacrificing in your fields, for there the shield of the royal bodyguard lies rejected, the shield of Sha'ul, never again to be anointed with oil.

GIBORIM: I delayed commenting on this word when it occurred in verse 19. It will recur several times in the Psalm, and becomes thereby one of its central symbols. But it is here that its full meaning is made clear, and it goes with the archery of the title, and even more with the MAGEN, the "shield", here. Below is how I have told it in "City of Peace", in the immediate aftermath of David's killing of Gol-Yat and the rout of the Pelishtim that followed:

Meanwhile, the fields of Ephes-Damim were being emptied of the living, and you could not see the dust for men. I held the royal banner in my two uplifted arms as I swayed now upon Prince Yah-Natan’s own shoulders in the midst of maybe forty of his men.
“Form sixes.”
There was a smile on all their faces, a new mood of excitement, as this order was received. I had the feeling, and afterwards Yahni confirmed it, that this was the first time for something special, something they had been practicing, something they had been waiting for the right moment to try out. So, now, it happened.
The men - exactly thirty-six of them - formed into six groups of six, making a protective circle around us - around me. Each group lined up in a circle, facing inwards, one sword-length apart.
“Swords.”
Each man took out his sword - a longsword; they hadn’t yet perfected it enough to try the trick with shortswords - and held it horizontally before him. Each sword was raised - the six passing so close they could easily have touched and spoiled the show - until it was held flat and vertical against the chin. Each movement choreographed, balletic, awesomely precise - as beautiful to watch as set-dancing. Yet to what end, unless to demonstrate the quality of their training, the fervour of their loyalty to Yah-Natan, the power he was capable of wielding in Yisra-El? To what end? To the very end of destiny, where men take hold of fortune and subdue it to their will. To that point at which war and poetry are one.
“Lock swords.”
With little more than a controlled clatter and a set of arms spinning like the flaming sword itself, the fire-wheel of Edinu which the Bene Kessed call the swastika. How did they do it? In a marvellously complex movement which to this day, Shlomo, I still have not really fathomed. But lightning fast. And tight as Gordius’ knot. Till at its end the men stood locked like an iron hedge, impregnable around us, a single shield enclosing them in the shape of an iron star. Until Yah-Natan and I were completely surrounded by a defensive wall of soldiers, their swords interlocked to make a shield. My victory-tribute. My shield. My symbol. My destiny. The shield of David. Magen Daoud. The star of swords. The perfect symmetry of the thirty-six good men.

MASHIYACH: That word doesn't get chosen by accident! David was himself the next Mashiyach, the "anointed" ruler of the Beney Yisra-El. But it also takes us back to young David, immediately before the killing of Gol-Yat. His job, at that time, was armour-bearer to the king - so it would have been he who had the task, on the eve of battle, of polishing the royal shield (and yes, in the context, you can read that phrasing as deliberately ambiguous, its sexual inference entirely intentional).

1:22 MI DAM CHALALIM ME CHELEV GIBORIM KESHET YEHONATAN LO NASOG ACHOR VE CHEREV SHA'UL LO TASHUV REYKAM

מִדַּ֣ם חֲלָלִ֗ים מֵחֵ֙לֶב֙ גִּבּוֹרִ֔ים קֶ֚שֶׁת יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן לֹ֥א נָשׂ֖וֹג אָח֑וֹר וְחֶ֣רֶב שָׁא֔וּל לֹ֥א תָשׁ֖וּב רֵיקָֽם

KJ: From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty.

BN: From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the warriors, the bow of Yehonahan never turned back, the sword of Sha'ul was never extracted empty.

GIBORIM: But this is a different usage of GIBORIM, for these are the Pelishtim, being killed by the Beney Yisra-El. Still "holy war", and therefore still "sacrificed", which is why those two key items from the altar receive mention together: the blood and the fat, neither of which may be consumed, both of which have very specific rules and ceremonies for their removal.

1:23 SHA'UL VI YEHONATAN HA NE'EHAVIM VE HA NE'IYMIM BE CHAYEYHEM U VE MOTAM LO NIPHRADU MI NESHARIM KALU ME ARAYOT GAVERU

שָׁא֣וּל וִיהוֹנָתָ֗ן הַנֶּאֱהָבִ֤ים וְהַנְּעִימִם֙ בְּחַיֵּיהֶ֔ם וּבְמוֹתָ֖ם לֹ֣א נִפְרָ֑דוּ מִנְּשָׁרִ֣ים קַ֔לּוּ מֵאֲרָי֖וֹת גָּבֵֽרוּ

KJ: Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

BN: Sha'ul and Yehonatan, the beloved and the cherished during their lives and in their deaths they were not parted. They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions.

YEHONATAN: I have also delayed commenting on this version of his name - I wanted to include my extract from "City of Peace" first, where his correct name is restored: Yah-Natan, not Yehonatan, which anyway should be YAHU-NATAN - a "gift from the deity", by whatever gender: Greek would have Theodor for a boy, Dorothy for a girl. The one the name from the polytheistic era, which he inhabited, the other from the age of the Omnideity, when this text was redacted into its current form.

NE'EHAVIM: From the root AHAV which means "to love", and therefore entirely accurate to translate this as "beloved". However, when Sha'ul was "slaying his thousands but David his tens of thousands (1 Samuel 29:5), it was David who was "the beloved" - indeed, David probably wasn't his name, but an epithet attached, the way Richard I is known as the "Lion-Hearted" and Ethelred as "the Unready". David, or Yedid-Yah, "the beloved of the goddess of the full moon" (Hera-Kles in Greek); the epithet is still sung in every synagogue in the world as the opening hymn on Friday evenings - click here.

ARAYOT: Should than not be lionesses, rather than lions? It would be, if his name dedicated him to Yah rather than YHVH; but the point here is grammatical, not theological. The masculine plural of lion is ARI'IM or AREYIM.

But also note that the lion's whelp is specifically the symbol of Yehudah, David's tribe, and David may well, as his heir, be seen as his whelp - see my notes at the start of Genesis 49, and then at verse 9 of that chapter, where he is also described as a lion's whelp; which makes matters rather complicated, because Deuteronomy 33:20 gives that designation to Gad (and uses LAVIY rather than ARYAH, as does Genesis 49:9). And then still more complicated two verses of the Deuteronomy chapter later, because there is Dan as the lion's whelp (ARYEH).

1:24 BENOT YISRA-EL EL SHA'UL BECHEYNAH HAMALBISHCHEM SHANI IM ADANIM HA MA'ALEH ADIY ZAHAV AL LEVUSHCHEN

בְּנוֹת֙ יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֶל־שָׁא֖וּל בְּכֶ֑ינָה הַמַּלְבִּֽשְׁכֶ֤ם שָׁנִי֙ עִם־עֲדָנִ֔ים הַֽמַּעֲלֶה֙ עֲדִ֣י זָהָ֔ב עַ֖ל לְבוּשְׁכֶֽן

KJ: Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel.

BN: Daughters of Yisra-El, weep for Sha'ul, who clothed you in crimson and other luxuries, and decked your robes with jewels of gold.

BECHEYNAH: Two options here, that this is simply a national day of general mourning, or that this is directed specifically at the priestesses in the various shrines (we are still in a pre-Temple world), amongst whose regular tasks was the "keening" that took place at all burials, royal or otherwise. The next phrase is the reason for asking, though the fact that this is named as a "dirge" also adds weight.

HAMALBISHCHEM: Should that not be HAMALBISHCHEN, feminine plural? LEVUSHCHEN has this correct.

SHANI: Ordinary folk did not wear SHANI (fully TOLA'AT SHANI), which was one of the three "royal" and "priestly" colours made available through the discovery of the murex snail; see my notes at Exodus 25:4. So it is highly likely that the Psalmist is addressing the priestesses.

The other obvious option is the daughters of the aristocracy; but we are in King Sha'ul's time, not late Davidic, let alone Solomonic; there was as yet no wealthy aristocracy. Sha'ul lived a peasant kingship in a very basic palace, mud-bricked and soot-encrusted from the winter fires; when he feasted King Agag (1 Samuel 15), he did so in a tent.

1:25 AYCH NAPHLU GIBORIM BETOCH HA MILCHAMAH YEHONATAN AL BAMOTEYCHA CHALAL

אֵ֚יךְ נָפְל֣וּ גִבֹּרִ֔ים בְּת֖וֹךְ הַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן עַל־בָּמוֹתֶ֖יךָ חָלָֽל

KJ: How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places.

BN: How have the royalty of Yisra-El fallen in the midst of battle! Yehonatan lies slain on your heights.

Repeating verse 19, but with variations; indeed, with reversals of word-order.

1:26 TSAR LI ALEYCHA ACHI YEHONATAN NA'AMTA LI ME'OD NIPHLE'ATAH AHAVAT'CHA LI ME AHAVAT NASHIM

צַר־לִ֣י עָלֶ֗יךָ אָחִי֙ יְה֣וֹנָתָ֔ן נָעַ֥מְתָּ לִּ֖י מְאֹ֑ד נִפְלְאַ֤תָה אַהֲבָֽתְךָ֙ לִ֔י מֵאַהֲבַ֖ת נָשִֽׁים

KJ: I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.

BN: I grieve for you, my brother Yehonatan. You were most dear to me. Your love was wonderful to me, surpassing the love of women.

And note how much more keening he is doing for Yehonatan than he is for Sha'ul! Though we need to be careful how we understand the closing phrase: easily interpretable as a homosexual love, physically as well as emotionally, though the telling of the story in the Book of Samuel makes very clear that they were soul-mates and blood-brothers.

1:27 AYCH NAPHLU GIBORIM VA YOVDU KELEY MILCHAMAH

אֵ֚יךְ נָפְל֣וּ גִבּוֹרִ֔ים וַיֹּאבְד֖וּ כְּלֵ֥י מִלְחָמָֽה {פ}

KJ: How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!

BN: How have the royalty of Yisra-El fallen, and the weapons of war are destroyed.

{פ} The letter Peh, used to identify the end of a paresha; below we will see the letter Samech {ס}, indicating the end of a sedra when it is at the end of a passage, or indicating a musical break when it is in mid-verse; for a fuller explanation, see my note and links at Nehemiah 3:1.

✡

2 Samuel 22

This poem occurs again as Psalm 18, with a number of variations, some of which are cited in the following notes.

22:1 VA YEDABER DAVID LA YHVH ET DIVREY HA SHIRAH HA ZOT BE YOM HITSIL YHVH OTO MI KAPH KOL OYEVAV U MI KAPH SHA'UL

וַיְדַבֵּ֤ר דָּוִד֙ לַיהֹוָ֔ה אֶת־דִּבְרֵ֖י הַשִּׁירָ֣ה הַזֹּ֑את {ס} בְּיוֹם֩ הִצִּ֨יל יְהֹוָ֥ה אֹת֛וֹ מִכַּ֥ף כׇּל־אֹיְבָ֖יו וּמִכַּ֥ף שָׁאֽוּל {ס}

KJ: And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:

BN: And David addressed the words of this song to YHVH, on the day that YHVH delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Sha'ul.

SHA'UL: Though of course, unpointed, that could just as well be "and from the grip of She'ol". Ultmately, in the Davidic mythology, the two are indistinguishable.

And then, look where this Psalm is located. The Second Book of Samuel - Sha'ul was dead before the end of the first book, and even the later follow-up, the strange tale of the seven surrogates hanged to placate the Beney Giv-On, has already been told in the first part of 2 Samuel 21, bringing an end to the three-year famine. So this is much more likely to be SHE'OL than SHA'UL.

As to the second half of 2 Samuel 21... no, let me hold on that until we have read the next verse

22:2 VA YOMER YHVH SAL'I U METSUDATI U MEPHALTI LI

וַיֹּאמַ֑ר יְהֹוָ֛ה סַֽלְעִ֥י וּמְצֻדָתִ֖י וּמְפַלְטִי־לִֽי

KJ: And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;

BN: And he said: YHVH is my rock, and my fortress, and my refuge...

MEPHALTI: Not an often-used word, and the context makes it interesting, because the second half of 2 Samuel 21 has David engaged in war against the Pelishtim (פְּלִשְׁתִּ֖ים), and David's name for the Pelishtim, other than in this Psalm, is either the Beney Cheret - Cheret being Crete, from where they came - or the Beney Pelet, Pelet meaning "refugee", which is how they came. MEPHALTI comes from the same root. More on this at my page on the PELISHTIM.

22:3 ELOHEY TSURI ECHESEH BO MAGINI VE KEREN YISH'I MISGABI U MENUSI MOSHI'I ME CHAMAS TOSHI'ENI

אֱלֹהֵ֥י צוּרִ֖י אֶחֱסֶה־בּ֑וֹ {ס} מָגִנִּ֞י וְקֶ֣רֶן יִשְׁעִ֗י מִשְׂגַּבִּי֙ וּמְנוּסִ֔י {ס} מֹשִׁעִ֕י מֵחָמָ֖ס תֹּשִׁעֵֽנִי

KJ: The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.

BN: The gods are my rock - I will find asylum there. And my shield, and the crown that ensures my salvation, and that of my stronghold and my hiding-place. My Saviour who guards me against violence.

But David did not need a hiding-place at the time of this war against the Pelishtim; he needed it, and found it in the Cave of Adul-Am, at precisely the time when he was being pursued by Sha'ul, and fled the court, to Nov briefly, then south into the Yehudan wilderness, then west to Philistine Gat where he sought refuge in fake-madness... you can read the tale at 1 Samuel 21 - 1 Samuel, not 2 Samuel. But it does make me wonder if this Psalm has been placed here by mistake, and should have been at 1 Samuel 22, not 2 Samuel 22.

ELOHEY: YHVH in Psalm 18:3, which suggests that this is the earlier version. Elohey infers the polytheon - see verse 7 - where YHVH implies the Omnideity.

MOSHI'A: Note that this is the word for Messiah, and not MASHIYACH, which we saw earlier on this page.

22:4 MEHULAL EKRA YHVH U ME OYEVAI IVASH'E'AH

מְהֻלָּ֖ל אֶקְרָ֣א יְהֹוָ֑ה {ס} וּמֵאֹיְבַ֖י אִוָּשֵֽׁעַ

KJ: I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.

BN: All praise! I shall call out to YHVH and I will be saved from my enemies.

MEHULAL: "Let him be praised"? "He is the one who is praised"? But either of these really require the pronoun HU - "he". Technically the grammar is a past participle, but EKRA and IVASHE'AH are in the future tense.

22:5 KI APHAPHUNI MISHBEREY MAVET NACHALEY VELI'YA'AL YEVA'ATUNI

כִּ֥י אֲפָפֻ֖נִי מִשְׁבְּרֵי־מָ֑וֶת {ס} נַחֲלֵ֥י בְלִיַּ֖עַל יְבַעֲתֻֽנִי

KJ: When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;

BN: For the breakers of Death washed over me, the rivers of Beli-Ya'al left me terrified.

VELI-YA'AL: See my lengthy note on this at Psalm 18:5.

22:6 CHEVLEY SHE'OL SABUNI KIDMUNI MOKSHEY MAVET

חֶבְלֵ֥י שְׁא֖וֹל סַבֻּ֑נִי {ס} קִדְּמֻ֖נִי מֹ֥קְשֵׁי מָֽוֶת

KJ: The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;

BN: The snares of She'ol encircled me, the coils of Death engulfed me.

SHE'OL: This time there simply is no space for disagreement. Death and the Netherworld by all its synonyms, listed in these verses: MAVET, VELI'YA'AL, SHE'OL... again, see my notes on this at Psalm 18:5. But also note that, in the Davidic mythology, She'ol is not Hell as described by Dante or Milton, an evil place inhabited by demons and ruled by Lucifer; She'ol is simply where all dead matter goes to be biodegraded, so that it can become nitrogen-enriched compost to manure the rebirth of Nature in the Spring. The dragons are simply worms. The mother-goddess goes down for the winter to take charge, because that is her job and the upper world does not need her at this time. The earth-god (David) goes down for the winter because he has to die and be reborn every year. And in the meanwhile the god of the Underworld rules the upper world, which is his domain throughout the winter.

22:7 BA TSAR LI EKRA YHVH VE EL ELOHAI EKRA VA YISHMA ME HEYCHALO KOLI VE SHAVATI BE AZNAV

בַּצַּר־לִי֙ אֶקְרָ֣א יְהֹוָ֔ה וְאֶל־אֱלֹהַ֖י אֶקְרָ֑א {ס} וַיִּשְׁמַ֤ע מֵהֵֽיכָלוֹ֙ קוֹלִ֔י וְשַׁוְעָתִ֖י בְּאׇזְנָֽיו

KJ: In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

BN: In my distress I will call on YHVH, will call out to all my gods. And he will hear me in his holy place, his response will fill my ears.

HEYCHAL: Should really be translated as "the Temple", but it cannot be, if we still want to regard this as a Psalm "by" David, rather than one by some later poet, in the way that Rilke wrote Sonnets in the name of Orpheus and Ted Hughes imitated the shamans of the pre-Australian "Dream-Time".

YHVH...ELOHAI: As per my note at verse 3; and I see nothing to be gained from repeating here what I have already explained there. But I do also retain the right to offer alternatives, and here I have continued to use the present tense, where in my translation of Psalm 18 I went with the conventional transfer of this into the past.

22:8 VA TIR'ASH HA ARETS MOSDOT HA SHAMAYIM YIRGAZU VA YITGA'ASHU KI CHARAH LO

(ותגעש) [וַיִּתְגָּעַ֤שׁ] וַתִּרְעַשׁ֙ הָאָ֔רֶץ {ס} מוֹסְד֥וֹת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם יִרְגָּ֑זוּ וַיִּֽתְגָּעֲשׁ֖וּ כִּי־חָ֥רָה לֽוֹ

KJ: Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.

BN: Then the Earth vibrated noisily, the foundations of the heavens shook - rocked by his indignation.

VA TIR'ASH: From the root RA'ASH, meaning "noise". The Psalm 18 text has VA TIG'ASH (וַתִּגְעַשׁ), and the Gimmel (ג) could easily be mistaken for a Reysh (ר), but just as likely this is describing the sound of the thunder, where that is describing the trembling that accompanies it. A big storm, either way. And this has YITGA'ASHU in the second half, which is much better poetry than merely repeating the same word.

On this occasion the square brackets are Rabbinic; questions raised about the correctness of the text, at any point from the 3rd century BCE until modern times. Where this is general agreement that the text must be a scribal error, the probably correct alternative is placed in brackets, and if there are two options, one in square, one in arched brackets.

22:9 ALAH ASHAN VE APHO VE EYSH MI PIYV TOCHEL GECHALIM BA ARU MIMENU

עָלָ֤ה עָשָׁן֙ בְּאַפּ֔וֹ וְאֵ֥שׁ מִפִּ֖יו תֹּאכֵ֑ל {ס} גֶּחָלִ֖ים בָּעֲר֥וּ מִמֶּֽנּוּ

KJ: There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

BN: Smoke went up from his nostrils, and from his mouth devouring fire;
live coals blazed forth from him.

And if that doesn't convince you that YHVH was originally a volcano-god, I am sorry but I cannot provide any stronger evidence. See Genesis 18:20-19:38 and Exodus 3ff.

22:10 VA YET SHAMAYIM VA YARAD VA ARAPHEL TACHAT RAGLAV

וַיֵּ֥ט שָׁמַ֖יִם וַיֵּרַ֑ד {ס} וַעֲרָפֶ֖ל תַּ֥חַת רַגְלָֽיו

KJ: He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

BN: He bent the sky and came down, with thick cloud beneath his feet.

Volcanic fall-out! See what happened to Mir-Yam (Miriam, Mosheh's sister) at Numbers 12:5-10.

22:11 VA YIRKAV AL KERUV VA YA'OPH VA YIRA AL KANPHEY RU'ACH

וַיִּרְכַּ֥ב עַל־כְּר֖וּב וַיָּעֹ֑ף {ס} וַיֵּרָ֖א עַל־כַּנְפֵי־רֽוּחַ

KJ: And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

BN: He mounted a Keruv and flew; he was seen on the wings of the wind.

YIRKAV...KERUV: See the link, though I have also commented on this at length at Psalm 99.

22:12 VA YASHET CHOSHECH SEVIYVOTAV SUKOT CHASHRAT MAYIM AVEY SHECHAKIM

וַיָּ֥שֶׁת חֹ֛שֶׁךְ סְבִיבֹתָ֖יו סֻכּ֑וֹת {ס} חַֽשְׁרַת־מַ֖יִם עָבֵ֥י שְׁחָקִֽים

KJ: And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

BN: He made pavilions of darkness about him, vast black clouds teeming liquid;

Still more volcanic all-out? Or simply thunderstorm? The fire in the next verse tells us it must have been the former.

SUKOT: Tents really, standard nomadic housing, though possibly made a little more elaborate for a long stay; even so, little more than "booths", and usually translated as "tabernacles"; the Beney Yisra-El camped in them through much of the Mosaic journey, and lived in them throughout most of the second half of Deuteronomy, while the law was being read for the second time. The place where that took place was therefore named "Sukot"; and yes they are the originators of the ones that Jews inhabit to this day through the eight days of the festival that bears the same name (click here).

22:13 MI NOGAH NEGDO BA'ARU GACHALEY ESH

מִנֹּ֖גַהּ נֶגְדּ֑וֹ בָּעֲר֖וּ גַּחֲלֵי־אֵֽשׁ {ס}

KJ: Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.

BN: In the blazing light in front of him coals of fire were burning.

BA'ARU: And no coincidence that this is the verb used in Exodus 3:2, when Mosheh saw the first evidence of a volcano about to erupt, in the flames of the burning bush, and rushed off to Egypt to tell everyone to come and watch the spectacle.

22:14 YAR'EM MIN SHAMAYIM YHVH VE ELYON YITEN KOLO

יַרְעֵ֥ם מִן־שָׁמַ֖יִם יְהֹוָ֑ה וְעֶלְי֖וֹן יִתֵּ֥ן קוֹלֽוֹ {ס}

KJ: The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.

BN: YHVH thundered forth from the skies; Elyon gave free rein to his voice;

YITEN KOLO: I like "gave free rein", because of verse 11.

22:15 VA YISHLACH CHITSIM VA YEPHIYTSEM BARAK [va yehumem] [va yahom]

וַיִּשְׁלַ֥ח חִצִּ֖ים וַיְפִיצֵ֑ם בָּרָ֖ק (ויהמם) [וַיָּהֹֽם]

KJ: And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.

BN: He let loose bolts, and scattered them; lightning, and routed them.

YEHUMEM: Is the unquestioned text in Psalm 18:15, but here the second Mem has been dropped; probably a scribal error. The second Mem is needed for "them", rather than being a suggestion of a different root and meaning; the "them" in question being the OYEVAV ("enemies") of verses 1 and 4.

And now we can resolve the question raised above: apparently both are happening, the volcanic eruption and the thunder-storm: boy but the gods are angry! We should start to expect that traditional image: the inflated nostrils (and isn't a volcanic crater a sort of nostril, in shape, in the way it opens, slightly elevated from the face of the earth?).

22:16 VA YAR'U APHIKEY YAM YIGALU MOSDOT TEVEL BE GA'ARAT YHVH MI NISHMAT RU'ACH APHI

וַיֵּֽרָאוּ֙ אֲפִ֣קֵי יָ֔ם יִגָּל֖וּ מֹסְד֣וֹת תֵּבֵ֑ל {ס} בְּגַעֲרַ֣ת יְהֹוָ֔ה מִנִּשְׁמַ֖ת ר֥וּחַ אַפּֽוֹ

KJ: And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

BN: The bed of the sea was exposed, the foundations of the world were laid bare by the mighty roaring of YHVH, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.

APHIKEY YAM: To this day Jewish, Christian and secular folk are still seeking the location of this mountain. Yet is it not obvious, from the location of Lot at Sedom, from the location of Mosheh when he saw the first volcanic fissure opening and setting a bush on fire, and then endorsed by our current verse: this was what became the Yam ha Melach, the Dead Sea, after the volcano blew itself out of existence.

22:17 YISHLACH MI MAROM YIKACHENI YAMSHENI MI MAYIM RABIM

יִשְׁלַ֥ח מִמָּר֖וֹם יִקָּחֵ֑נִי {ס} יַֽמְשֵׁ֖נִי מִמַּ֥יִם רַבִּֽים

KJ: He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;

BN: He reached down from on high; he took hold of me, drew me out of the mighty waters.

All of which sounds rather more like the Creation of the Earth out of the primordial waters, than the rescuing of a runaway from the pursuing king: David as earth-god. The Psalm as a myth of Creation. The same waters that broke after Mosheh had led the Beney Yisra-El across the Reed Sea. The same waters whose breaking caused No'ach to build a sun-Ark in the early dawn and sail to the restarting of the Cosmic cycle when the sun set.

22:18 YATSIYLENI ME OYEVI AZ ME SEN'AI KI AMTSU MIMENI

יַצִּילֵ֕נִי מֵאֹיְבִ֖י עָ֑ז {ס} מִשֹּׂ֣נְאַ֔י כִּ֥י אָמְצ֖וּ מִמֶּֽנִּי

KJ: He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.

BN: He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from foes who hated me because they took their strength from me.

KI AMTSU MIMENI: My translation goes against all traditional readings of this; but I go word for word, and KI means "because", and MIMENI means "from me". Why would they hate him because they were stronger than him? Despise him, maybe, but SEN'AI is unequivocally "hatred".

22:19 YEKADMUNI BE YOM EYDI VA YEHI YHVH MISH'AN LI

יְקַדְּמֻ֖נִי בְּי֣וֹם אֵידִ֑י וַיְהִ֧י יְהֹוָ֛ה מִשְׁעָ֖ן לִֽי {ס}

KJ: They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

BN (traditional translation): They confronted me on my day of calamity, but YHVH was there to support me.

EYDI: Yes, this root is used to mean "calamity" (click here for multiple examples), but the king has just been rescued from his enemies, or the Earth born from the primordial womb, so this is a joyful day, a day to celebrate annually - an Id in the Moslem world, an Ide in the Roman, an Ed in the Jewish.

BN: (preferred translation): They dared to confront me on my very feast day, but YHVH was there to support me.

Memories of the 1973 Yom Kippur war stirred by that way of phrasing it!

22:20 VA YOTS'E LA MERCHAV OTI YECHALTSENI KI CHAPHETS BI

וַיֹּצֵ֥א לַמֶּרְחָ֖ב אֹתִ֑י יְחַלְּצֵ֖נִי כִּי־חָ֥פֵֽץ בִּֽי {ס}

KJ: He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

BN: He brought me out into the big, wide world; he rescued me because he found delight in me.

MERCHAV: My translation allows this to retain all three of its simultaneous levels, the David-Sha'ul pseudo-history, the volcanic eruption, and the Creation myth: the middle of those now serving as a variant of Big Bang theory.

22:21 YIGMELENI YHVH KE TSIDKATI KE VOR YADAI YASHIYV LI

יִגְמְלֵ֥נִי יְהֹוָ֖ה כְּצִדְקָתִ֑י כְּבֹ֥ר יָדַ֖י יָשִׁ֥יב לִֽי {ס}

KJ: The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

BN: YHVH rewarded me according to my just deserts; he honoured the cleanness of my hands.

22:22 KI SHAMARTI DARCHEY YHVH VE LO RASHA'TI ME ELOHAI

כִּ֥י שָׁמַ֖רְתִּי דַּרְכֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה וְלֹ֥א רָשַׁ֖עְתִּי מֵאֱלֹהָֽי {ס}

KJ: For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

BN: For I have kept the ways of YHVH, and have not turned from my gods to wickedness.

ME ELOHAI: Again we have both YHVH and the Elohim, the middle stage between polytheism and the Omnideity; this was the stage of development of the time of the return from exile in Babylon under Ezra and Nechem-Yah, so see my notes here for a fuller explanation of this.

22:23 KI CHOL MISHPATAV LE NEGDI VE CHUKOTAV LO ASUR MIMENAH

כִּ֥י כׇל־מִשְׁפָּטָ֖ו לְנֶגְדִּ֑י וְחֻקֹּתָ֖יו לֹא־אָס֥וּר מִמֶּֽנָּה

KJ: For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.

BN: For all of his requirements were clearly laid out before me, and I have not strayed from his laws.

22:24 VE EHEYEH TAMIM LO VA ESHTAMRAH ME AVONI

וָאֶהְיֶ֥ה תָמִ֖ים ל֑וֹ {ס} וָאֶשְׁתַּמְּרָ֖ה מֵעֲוֺנִֽי

KJ: I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.

BN: And I remained in a state of purity before him, and kept close watch on myself to avoid sinning.

TAMIM: The key-word used for both Iyov (Job 1:1) and No'ach (Genesis 6:9); in Exodus 12:5 it describes an animal fit for sacrifice; and the same but even stronger at Leviticus 1:3.

22:25 VA YASHEV YHVH LI KE TSIDKATI KE VORI LE NEGED EYNAV

וַיָּ֧שֶׁב יְהֹוָ֛ה לִ֖י כְּצִדְקָתִ֑י {ס} כְּבֹרִ֖י לְנֶ֥גֶד עֵינָֽיו

KJ: Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.

BN: And YHVH recompensed me according to my merits, according to my purity in his sight.

22:26 IM CHASID TIT'CHASAD IM GIBOR TAMIM TITAMAM...

עִם־חָסִ֖יד תִּתְחַסָּ֑ד {ס} עִם־גִּבּ֥וֹר תָּמִ֖ים תִּתַּמָּֽם

KJ: With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.

BN: With the loyal you deal loyally, with he who remains upright, you too remain upright...

CHASID: Loyal, faithul or pious; it is used for all three at different times.

22:27 IM NAVAR TITABAR VE IM IKESH TITAPAL

עִם־נָבָ֖ר תִּתָּבָ֑ר {ס} וְעִם־עִקֵּ֖שׁ תִּתַּפָּֽל

KJ: With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.

BN: With the pure you act in purity, but with the perverse you are wily.

IKESH TITAPAL: Interesting moment for the poets this, as a way of deploying language to achieve a very specific effect: each of the positive virtues in verses 26 and 27 gets a response of the same: the same root, but used in the Hit'pael to make it doubly reflective. But with the only negative (IKESH) a different word is used (TITPALAL), still in the Hitpa'el, so it is still the deity reflecting (thinking how to respond), but not reflecting (mirroring the act in his own act).

VE IM: Yehudit does not go in for conjunctions with much variation. And, but, when, because, also... everything tends to be VE, which really only means "and"; so we have to deduce the conjunction from the meaning in the context, and clearly, here and in the next verse, the intention is "but".

22:28 VE ET AM ANI TOSHI'A VE EYNEYCHA AL RAMIM TASHPIL

וְאֶת־עַ֥ם עָנִ֖י תּוֹשִׁ֑יעַ {ס} וְעֵינֶ֥יךָ עַל־רָמִ֖ים תַּשְׁפִּֽיל

KJ: And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.

BN: And the people who are going through hard times you will bring through them, but the high and mighty you will bring back down to earth.

TOSHI'A: Yes, salvation (as in the names Joshua, Isaiah and Jesus), but that is such a vague and generalised term we really don't know what it means. Until we reach a verse like this one, and then we know exactly what it means.

22:29 KI ATAH NEYRI YHVH VA YHVH YAGIYAH CHASHCHI

כִּֽי־אַתָּ֥ה נֵירִ֖י יְהֹוָ֑ה {ס} וַיהֹוָ֖ה יַגִּ֥יהַּ חׇשְׁכִּֽי

KJ: For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

BN: You, YHVH, are my lamp; YHVH lights up my darkness.

God not as the sun, but as an electric light bulb. Ahura Mazda! (Only in today's world! For the other Ahura Mazda, click here).

And for the modern Jewish equivalent of this, click here.

22:30 KI VECHAH ARUTS GEDUD BELOHAI ADALEG SHUR

כִּ֥י בְכָ֖ה אָר֣וּץ גְּד֑וּד {ס} בֵּאלֹהַ֖י אֲדַלֶּג־שֽׁוּר

KJ: For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

BN (option a): With You, I can rush a barrier; with the gods on my side, I can scale a wall.

BN (option b): With you I can outrun fate and fortune; with the gods on my side I could leap over an ox.

BN (option c): With you I can fight off an entire troop; with the gods on my side I could travel the whole world round.

And in truth all three of these are viable.

GEDUD: The KJ goes for "troop", as do I in option c); based on Genesis 49:19, where the tribe of Gad is given its symbolical description. But Gad in the Kena'ani world was the god of fortune, my option b); and in Aramaic, the lingua franca of the period when this text was receiving its final redaction, a "gudda" was a "wall" (plural gedudiyot), my option a).

SHUR: An ox, according to Exodus 21:37 et al. But Ezekiel 27:25 has a verb with the same letters as its root, and uses it for maritime commercial expeditions. On the other hand, Genesis 49:22 has SHUR for a wall, and given that this is just three words on from the "troop" reference... SHUR was actually a town, and probably the word came to mean "wall" because the town was famous for being heavily fortified even though it stood in the middle of the desert; see Genesis 16:7, though that is probably the wilderness of Shur, as per Exodus 15:22, as is the reference at Genesis 20:1, so better to see 1 Samuel 15:7 or 27:8.

22:31 HA EL TAMIM DARKO IMRAT YHVH TSERUPHAH MAGEN HU LE CHOL HA CHOSIM BO

הָאֵ֖ל תָּמִ֣ים דַּרְכּ֑וֹ אִמְרַ֤ת יְהֹוָה֙ צְרוּפָ֔ה {ס} מָגֵ֣ן ה֔וּא לְכֹ֖ל הַֽחֹסִ֥ים בּֽוֹ

KJ: As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.

BN: The way of El is perfect, the manifestations of YHVH are tested and proven. He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

EL: See the link. Based on the second part of this verse, I read EL as the seed without which the Cosmic egg cannot be inseminated, with the DAVAR of YHVH - not mentioned here - as the means of bringing the Cosmos out of that essence, via parturition (the breaking of the waters at the Reed Sea, or in the No'ach tale, Chavah as "the mother of all living things"), to their actual, physical embodiment, as algae, fish, land creatures, humans, planets, galaxies...

TAMIM: See verse 24.

IMRAT: That latter, the physical embodiment, being the IMRAT. I have explained this in much more detail in several of the later Psalms, but see also my pages on YHVH, and especially CHAVAH.

22:32 KI MI EL MI BAL'ADAI YHVH? U MI TSUR MI BAL'ADAI ELOHEYNU

כִּ֥י מִי־אֵ֖ל מִבַּלְעֲדֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה {ס} וּמִ֥י צ֖וּר מִֽבַּלְעֲדֵ֥י אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ

KJ: For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?

BN: For who is El if not YHVH? Who is "the rock" except our gods?

Which verse provides the final dating for this version of this piece: between the end of the 3rd century BCE and the start of the Hasmonean era. YHVH is now in process of becoming the Omnideity, the role and functions of Kena'ani El being absorbed into him. But early Hasmonean era at the latest, because he has not yet completed the coup that takes him from, so to speak, Prime Minister at the Head of the Cabinet, the role of YHVH Tseva'ot, to the status of Autocratic President for Life; the other deities still inhabit the "rock" - the holy mountain, the equivalent of Olympus or Valhalla - and therefore still require naming.

TSUR: There is of course a town in southern Lebanon that bears the name - Tyre in English. But this is the metaphorical "rock", not necessarily a physical one. Like SHUR, in verse 30, TSUR got its name from its geography.

22:33 HA EL MA'UZI CHAYIL VA YATER TAMIM [DARKO] [DARKI]

הָאֵ֥ל מָֽעוּזִּ֖י חָ֑יִל {ס} וַיַּתֵּ֥ר תָּמִ֖ים (דרכו) [דַּרְכִּֽי]

KJ: God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.

BN: The deity is my strengthener and power-giver, the means by which my way is rendered perfect.

HA EL: Where in the previous verses he was named, EL, here he is provided with a definite article, so this is not the "deity named El", but the concept of "deity" itself.

MA'UZI: Verb or noun? EL of course is a verb, as are all the deities: the kinetic processes of the physical Cosmos; though today we prefer to anthropomorphise them into nouns. So EL here becomes HA EL, and MA'UZI mirrors it: as the IMRAT has made perfection manifest in the Cosmos, so it has made strength manifest in me, the author of this Psalm (Dylan Thomas captured this idea to perfection when he wrote that "the force that through the green fuse drives the flower drives my green age"; click here for the full poem). Normally we would expect OZ for "strength", but this is the Hiph'il, Causative, form, MA'OZ, "to make something strong"; and it may even be Huph'al, the passive form of ther causative.

DARKO: The Masoretic text appears to render this as DARKO, "his way", but the context argues against that, which is why even the most orthodox of Jewish editions square-bracket it and offer the more logical DARKI - "my way" - instead. The same applies to RAGLAV-RAGLI below.

22:34 MESHAVEH RAGLI KA AYALOT VE AL BAMOTAI YA'AMIDENI

מְשַׁוֶּ֥ה (רגליו) [רַגְלַ֖י] כָּאַיָּל֑וֹת {ס} וְעַ֥ל בָּמֹתַ֖י יַעֲמִדֵֽנִי

KJ: He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.

BN: The one who makes my legs like deers', who keeps me firm when I climb into the hills.

I have deliberately removed the mythological elements from my translation of this verse, leaving it as purely pastoral poetry. But the AYALOT suggest AYELET HA SHACHAR, the dawn star, the first sign of the dawning of the new day over the eastern hills (the Golan or the Mo'avi Heights, depending on whether you are in the Galil or in Yeru-Shala'im), which is Creation itself, recurring daily; while the BAMOT are not just those physical hills, but also the shrines that take their names from them, the shrines which are the homes of the gods in those holy mountains - see verse 19 above, or elsewhere, for one randomly chosen example, Numbers 22:41; and then click here.

And now take a look at Habbakuk 3.19. I wonder who was quoting who.

22:35 MELAMED YADAI LA MILCHAMAH VE NICHAT KESHET NECHUSHAH ZERO'OTAI

מְלַמֵּ֥ד יָדַ֖י לַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה {ס} וְנִחַ֥ת קֶשֶׁת־נְחוּשָׁ֖ה זְרֹעֹתָֽי

KJ: He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

BN: Who trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

NECHUSHAH: Much is made of the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age in the tales of Sha'ul in the first Book of Samuel, and much too about the develpment of archery as a new specialism in the army. KJ, however, translates NECHUSHAH as "steel", and there is evidence from Anatolia that the Beney Chet developed steel, from around 2000 BCE.

22:36 VA TITEN LI MAGEN YISH'ECHA VA ANOT'CHA TARBENI

וַתִּתֶּן־לִ֖י מָגֵ֣ן יִשְׁעֶ֑ךָ וַעֲנֹתְךָ֖ תַּרְבֵּֽנִי {ס}

KJ: Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.

BN: You gave me the shield of your protection, and your afflicting me has made me strong.

Note the sudden change from speaking about the deity in the 3rd person to addressing him directly in the 2nd person; and at the same time a switch from the present to the past tense.

ANOTECHA: This surprises me, and clearly it surprises most other translators too, because all that I can find change its meaning to something positive, as with the KJ's "providence" here. ANAH, however, is "affliction", "misery", "poverty", and ANOT delivers it plurally. See Genesis 15:13 or 16:6, Exodus 1:11, any number of occurrences in the Psalms... clearly the ancients understood these "psychological" matters more precisely than we today give them credit for. Take a look at Wendy Mogel's "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee".

22:37 TARCHIV TSA'ADI TACHTENI VE LO MA'ADU KARSULAI

תַּרְחִ֥יב צַעֲדִ֖י תַּחְתֵּ֑נִי וְלֹ֥א מָעֲד֖וּ קַרְסֻלָּֽי

KJ: Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.

BN: You provided me with a paved pathway, so that my feet did not slip.

"I am the Light" equivalated in verse 29, "I am the Way" equivalated here - both started in Zoroastrianism, long before Jesus laid claim to them. And here, as with Jewish Law since Mosheh's time, the Way precisely 613 very large paving-stones long, one for each commandment.

22:38 ERDEPHAH OYEVAI VA ASHMIYDEM VE LO ASHUV AD KALOTAM

אֶרְדְּפָ֥ה אֹיְבַ֖י וָאַשְׁמִידֵ֑ם {ס} וְלֹ֥א אָשׁ֖וּב עַד־כַּלּוֹתָֽם

KJ: I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.

BN: I shall pursue my enemies and wipe them out. I shall not turn back until I have destroyed them.

ERDEPHAH...ASHMIYDEM...ASHUV: All three in the future tense, not the present or the past. This is a statement of intent, not a recording of history.

Unlike Sha'ul, who lost his "semicha" precisely because he failed to do this - see the tale of Agag and the Beney Amalek in 1 Samuel 15.

22:39 VA ACHALEM VA EMCHATSEM VE LO YEKUMUN VA YIPLU TACHAT RAGLAI

וָאֲכַלֵּ֥ם וָאֶמְחָצֵ֖ם וְלֹ֣א יְקוּמ֑וּן {ס} וַֽיִּפְּל֖וּ תַּ֥חַת רַגְלָֽי

KJ: And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.

BN: I shall consume them, I shall wipe them out, so that they can never rise again. They shall all beneath my feet.

ACHALEM...EMCHATSEM...YIPLU: Still in the future tense.

22:40 VA TAZRENI CHAYIL LA MILCHAMAH TACHRIY'A KAMAI TACHTENI

וַתַּזְרֵ֥נִי חַ֖יִל לַמִּלְחָמָ֑ה {ס} תַּכְרִ֥יעַ קָמַ֖י תַּחְתֵּֽנִי

KJ: For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.

BN: You provide serious assistance for me in battle, and cause my enemies to prostrate themsevles at my feet...

TAZRENI...TACHRIY'A: But what tense is this? The scholars generally reckon, for TAZRENI, as per this link, "Conj-w | V-Piel-ConsecImperf-2ms | 1cs" - which is the past tense in the Pi'el, and for TACHRIY'A "V-Hifil-Imperf-2ms", which is the past tense in the Hiph'il. But neither of those is correct.

TAZRENI comes from the root AZAR = "to help". Roots that start with an Aleph or Ayin are more complex than other roots, when used in the Pi'el, but AZAR would become IZER, and if this is 2nd person singular, then IZARTENI for "you gave me serious assistance", or indeed "you girded me with strength". So perhaps this is the use of the future tense. But that would only work if the initial Tav is feminine - masculine requires a Yud.

TACHRIY'A: This time the root is KAR'A,and the past in the Hiph'il would be HICHRATA, not TACHRIY'A; with the same Tav-Yud problem for the feminine.

So what is this? I honestly don't know! The only suggestion I can offer is one I have offered in previous similar circumstances: that, when the Israelis launched their raid on Entebbe in 1976, to free the hostages from a hijacked airplane, it was only achievable if they could refuel the escape-jet in mid-flight, something that had never been done before, and so they had to invent it, and train it, very quickly. They also had to invent a verb for it, and so, to the word for fuel - DELEK - they added an initial Tav, just like the ones we have here, and came up with LETADLEK, "to re-fuel". Grammatically absolutely right, and known to have been done in the past for other new-needed words. In the Pi'el, which is where it belongs, because the Pi'el is the means by which ordinary verbs become intensified. So, here, it is not just AZAR, "to help", but "serious assistance", and not just "subduing" them, but turning them into his active followers.

And both, if this is the correct explanation, are not just in the present tense, but in the continuous present tense.

22:41 VE OYEVAI TATAH LI OREPH MESAN'AI VA ATSMIYTEM

וְאֹ֣יְבַ֔י תַּ֥תָּה לִּ֖י עֹ֑רֶף מְשַׂנְאַ֖י וָאַצְמִיתֵֽם {ס}

KJ: Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.

BN: And my enemies rush off at the pace of shooting stars - those who hate me - and I break their necks.

TATAH: The same explanation for this. The root is NATAN (not to be confused, as most translators do, with NATAN = "to give"; and no, it is not uncommon for a language to have two identical words with completely different meanings; I am thinking, for example, of the violinist who came on stage to take a bow before he was due to perform; unfortunately his had just snapped, and he needed to borrow one from one of the other players. And why that choice of example, by me, here? Look at 1 Samuel 18 and 22, above, and then at 2 Samuel 1:22 and 35, also above: we have both usages in the English translation). So NOTEN in the regular present of the basic, Po'al (Qal), form; NATATAH in the past. NITATAH in the past for the Pi'el, HINTANTAH for the past in the Hiph'il. Here, with OREPH, it is being used in the same sense that we witnessed at Exodus 23:27, but notice that the verb there is NATATI, correct for the first person singular of the Po'al form in the past tense.

OREPH: See my notes at Psalm 18:10, and the links from those notes.

ATSMIYTEM: The root here is TSAMAT, but the word-play is of a different sort, albeit connecting to the OREPH. That latter is the neck, as well as the star Vega (see the notes to OREPH, above); and when you destroy a neck, you either strangle it or break its bones. Bones in Yehudit are ATSAMOT, and you can figure out the rest of the word-play without needing any more assistance than I have given in my somewhat overdone translation, though I would actually like to make it longer, and have him break their necks at breakneck speed.

22:42 YISH'U VE EYN MOSHI'A EL YHVH VE LO ANAM

יִשְׁע֖וּ וְאֵ֣ין מֹשִׁ֑יעַ אֶל־יְהֹוָ֖ה וְלֹ֥א עָנָֽם

KJ: They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.

BN: They stared, but there was no one to deliver them; to YHVH, but he did not answer them.

YISH'U... MOSHI'A: My translation doesn't make sense; and yet it renders the words as they are given to us, with what is obviously a playing with homonyms again, just as with TATAH and OREPH immediately above. The same verse in Psalm 18 has YESHAVU (יְשַׁוְּעוּ), that additional Vav in the middle changing the root, and so it means "cried", which does make sense. Then was it just a scribal error in this version, and not homonym-play? Is the middle Vav even necessary? Well, actually, yes. When the Vav functions as a vowel, it can be disregarded; but here it is a consonant, and it determines the root. With a Vav, this is SHAV'A (שָׁוַע), "cried"; without the Vav this would be... how neat! How very neat! What an absolutely splendid play on words! Yes, SHA'AH (שָׁעָה), "to gaze" or "stare", but - look at the letters, and then look at word 3 in the verse! Seek the Messiah, find the Messiah! How? By creating the conditions necessary for his appearance; in which case, of course, he is no longer needed. The whole point of verse 37.

22:43 VE ESHCHAKEM KA APHAR ARETS KE TIYT CHUTSOT ADIKEM ERKA'EM

וְאֶשְׁחָקֵ֖ם כַּעֲפַר־אָ֑רֶץ {ס} כְּטִיט־חוּצ֥וֹת אֲדִקֵּ֖ם אֶרְקָעֵֽם

KJ: Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.

BN:I pounded them like the dust of the earth, stamped on them, strewed them like dirt in the streets.

ERKA'EM: this is the key word for our understanding of, not just this verse but this entire Psalm - and I have already explained it at verse 6; but it merits repetition in this specific context. If this were simply a narrative, we would condemn the poet as a sadistic brute who takes pleasure in degrading folk. But this is a mythological narrative, a tale of the descent of the earth-god into the Underworld; and to the ancients the Underworld was not a place of evil, but simply a necessary layer of the Cosmic cycles, the place where the sun goes to revive itself through sleep, every night and every winter; the place where dead matter goes, human or otherwise, and when it is gets there it is pounded by the worms, bio-degraded, reduced to mere compost, and then available for "spreading" and "strewing", but now revived as compost, across the early spring fields. The root, RAKAH means "to strew" or "to spread", but it is also the root-word for the RAKIY'A, the great separator of the layers of the Cosmos, the Earth's atmosphere (or the primum mobile if you are Ptolemy and Aristotle): see my notes at Genesis 1:6.

22:44 VA TEPHALTENI ME RIYVEI AMI TISHMERENI LE ROSH GOYIM AM LO YADA'TI YA'AVDUNI

וַֽתְּפַלְּטֵ֔נִי מֵרִיבֵ֖י עַמִּ֑י תִּשְׁמְרֵ֙נִי֙ לְרֹ֣אשׁ גּוֹיִ֔ם {ס} עַ֥ם לֹא־יָדַ֖עְתִּי יַעַבְדֻֽנִי

KJ: Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.

BN: And you enabled me to escape from the quarrels of my people. You kept watch over me as the head of many nations - even nations I had never previously known now served me.

TEPHALTENI: See my note on this at verse 2. Translating it as "delivered" infers MOSHI'A, and that is not what this is saying.

AVDUNI: "Served" him as an imperial overlord, or "worshipped" him as the deity they had now adopted?

22:45 BENEI NECHER YITKACHASHU LI LISHMO'A OZEN YISHAM'U LI

בְּנֵ֥י נֵכָ֖ר יִתְכַּחֲשׁוּ־לִ֑י לִשְׁמ֥וֹעַ אֹ֖זֶן יִשָּׁ֥מְעוּ לִֽי {ס}

KJ: Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.

BN: Foreign nations have humbled themselves before me, as soon as their ear caught sound of me, they heard me.

LISHMO'A... YISHAM'U: "Paid me homage at the mere report of me" is one excellent translation I have seen, but the word-play is so powerful and deliberate here, it still fails to translate it. Which is to say, it renders the meaning precisely in English, but it fails to translate the original words.

OZEN: Why is this in the singular when the verbs are in the plural? Is the plural perhaps implicit in the idiom?

Past tense now, not future.

22:46 BENEY NECHER YIBOLU VE YACHGERU MI MISGEROTAM

בְּנֵ֥י נֵכָ֖ר יִבֹּ֑לוּ וְיַחְגְּר֖וּ מִמִּסְגְּרוֹתָֽם

KJ: Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.

BN: Foreign nations will behave foolishly, and prepare for war in their garrisons.

But this time in the future tense again, not the past - KJ seems to have its grammar the wrong way around.

And where KJ (and several others likewise) gets this translation, is simply beyond me.

YIBOLU: The name NAVAL plays an important role in the David epic, a sadistic brute like the one in the narrative version of verse 43, he was the husband of Avi-Gayil... but you can read the tale for yourself at 1 Samuel 25. The point is, NAVAL means "foolish".

YACHGERU: Gird up your loins like a man and go visit Exodus 12:11, 29:9, many others.

MISGEROTAM: From SAGUR, "to close", so this could be "their hidey-holes" rather than their garrisons, though the word is also used for "borders": any form of "enclosure" could be intended by it.

22:47 CHAI YHVH U VARUCH TSURI VE YARUM ELOHEY TSUR YISH'I

חַי־יְהֹוָ֖ה וּבָר֣וּךְ צוּרִ֑י {ס} וְיָרֻ֕ם אֱלֹהֵ֖י צ֥וּר יִשְׁעִֽי

KJ: The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.

BN: YHVH is made manifest and my rock is declared blessed! And may the gods of that rock lead me to salvation.

CHAI YHVH: Not only has YAH been absorbed and assimilated, as we saw earlier, but now CHAVAH has too! The theology of the Omnideity, early Hasmonean era.

ELOHEY: "gods" in the sense of kinetic impulses. And, given the amount of silica to be found around the Dead Sea and the south-eastern desert of Yisra-El, can we assume that the "rock" in question contained quartz? Click here.

22:48 HA EL HA NOTEN NEKAMOT LI U MORID AMIM TACHTENI

הָאֵ֕ל הַנֹּתֵ֥ן נְקָמֹ֖ת לִ֑י {ס} וּמֹרִ֥יד עַמִּ֖ים תַּחְתֵּֽנִי

KJ: It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me,

BN: It is this "power" which vindicates me and makes nations subject to me...

EL in its strict usage, its most ancient meaning: literally "forward motion" - the reason why the Israeli airline is called EL AL: "forward and upward": kinetic motion indeed. Nothing to do with the Christian apotheosis of the ideal of Goodness into the noun God.

NOTEN...MORID: And now, once again, we are in the present tense. Past, future, present, and round again... is this simply a poetic means of conveying the eternalities?

22:49 U MOTSIY'I ME OYEVAI U MI KAMAI TEROMEMENI ME ISH CHAMASIM TATSIYLENI

וּמוֹצִיאִ֖י מֵאֹֽיְבָ֑י וּמִקָּמַי֙ תְּר֣וֹמְמֵ֔נִי {ס} מֵאִ֥ישׁ חֲמָסִ֖ים תַּצִּילֵֽנִי

KJ: And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.

BN: ...which rescues me from my enemies, raises me clear of my foes, and keeps me safe from violent men.

TEROMEMENI: See verse 21, where the same word is used, but there definitely describing the state of Nature.

CHAMASIM: In the plural - presumably because there are many forms of violence, and this includes all of them (well, all but one: CHAMAS is also the name of the Palestinian terrorist organisation which has verse forty-threed its way into power in the Gaza Strip at the time of writing these notes).

22:50 AL KEN ODCHA YHVH BA GOYIM U LE SHIMCHA AZAMER

עַל־כֵּ֛ן אֽוֹדְךָ֥ יְהֹוָ֖ה בַּגּוֹיִ֑ם {ס} וּלְשִׁמְךָ֖ אֲזַמֵּֽר

KJ: Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.

BN: For this I will sing your praise, YHVH, among the nations, and hymn your name.

22:51 MIGDOL YESHU'OT MALKO VE OSEH CHESED LIMSHIYCHO LE DAVID U LE ZAR'O AD OLAM

מִגְדּ֖וֹל (מִגְדֹּ֖יל) יְשׁוּע֣וֹת מַלְכּ֑וֹ וְעֹֽשֶׂה־חֶ֧סֶד לִמְשִׁיח֛וֹ {ס} לְדָוִ֥ד וּלְזַרְע֖וֹ עַד־עוֹלָֽם

KJ: He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

BN: He is the tower of victory of his king, who deals graciously with his anointed, with David and his offspring eternally.

And see my OSEH SHALOM note on this at Psalm 18:51.

✡

2 Samuel 23

As per the opening verse, these are David's words on his death-bed (BibleHub says it's the same as Psalm 108:1-13 - need to check that and compare if it is; also mark it there: I have nothing to suggest the connection in my notes there):

And if it is, then this becomes extremely complex, because my own note there says that "Psalm 108:2-6 turns out to be a repetition with very minor variations of Psalm 57:8-12, and Psalm 108:7-14 a repetition of Psalm 60:7-14."

Let us then make comparisons as well as translations and commentaries; if there are any, I will note them below:

23:1 VE ELEH DIVREI DAVID HA ACHARONIM NE'UM DAVID BEN YISHAI U NE'UM HA GEVER HUKAM AL MESHIYACH ELOHEY YA'AKOV U NE'IM ZEMIROT YISRA-EL

וְאֵ֛לֶּה דִּבְרֵ֥י דָוִ֖ד הָאַחֲרֹנִ֑ים נְאֻ֧ם דָּוִ֣ד בֶּן־יִשַׁ֗י וּנְאֻ֤ם הַגֶּ֙בֶר֙ הֻ֣קַם עָ֔ל מְשִׁ֙יחַ֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יַעֲקֹ֔ב וּנְעִ֖ים זְמִר֥וֹת יִשְׂרָאֵֽל

KJ (King James translation): Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,

BN (BibleNet translation): These are the last words of David: Thus spake David ben Yishai, thus spake the hero who was raised up to become the anointed of the gods of Ya'akov, and the sweetest of the Psalms of Yisra-El:

BEN-YISHAI: Was that really his father's name, or does it in fact translate as "the beloved of the Moshi'a", the Moshi'a being the deity and his name thereby honouring both of his parents, Yedid-Yah being the other? And as such an epithet, not a name at all. The same is true of Av-Raham ("Great Father") in the earlier tales, and Ar Thur (ditto) in the Celtic equivalents.

NE'UM....NE'IM: Completely different roots, and one with an Aleph (א), the other with an Ayin (ע). The first is NA'AM, and really means "to mutter" or "to murmur", which fits the splutterings of a dying king to perfection; except that it is also used for the "utterances" of the Prophets, which is to say their oracles, but specifically their attribution of these oracles to the deity. Hundreds of these: Ezekiel 12:25, Isaiah 17:3, Amos 2:16... NE'IM, on the other hand, was David's maternal great grand-mother, Rut's mother-in-law (Ruth 1), Na'ami in the Yehudit, Naomi in English; the name means "pleasant".

ELOHEY YA'AKOV: Yes, plural.

NE'IM ZIMROT: Much dispute among the scholars as to whether David is the subject or the object of this phrase. The problem is raised grammatically, but really it rests on the theology, because the grammar is actually straightforward. If David were the author, this would read ZAMAR, or possibly ZOMER, and would be a verb, whereas ZIMROT is a noun, and a feminine noun at that. So he is "the sweet subject of the Psalms", and not their author at all.

23:2 RU'ACH YHVH DIBER BI U MILATO AL LESHONI

ר֥וּחַ יְהֹוָ֖ה דִּבֶּר־בִּ֑י וּמִלָּת֖וֹ עַל־לְשׁוֹנִֽי

KJ: The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.

BN: The spirit of YHVH has spoken through me, his message is on my tongue;

I have to say I find this conceit rather pleasing. David is an old man, confined to bed, and even the young Shunamite Avi-Shag, sent to "minister" to him, is incapable of arousing the king's manhood (1 Kings 1). And yet here is the king, his mind as agile as ever, creating one last Psalm with his dying breath - and not even the possibility of a read-through and a couple of minor re-drafts because these are his last words, ex tempore and im promptu. The Psalm emerges as we have it, and then the king turns his head slightly to the side, and dies (sorry, that should read, "ascends into the heavens where he sits at the right hand of his father...").

23:3 AMAR ELOHEY YISRA-EL LI DIBER TSUR YISRA-EL MOSHEL BA ADAM TSADIK MOSHEL YIRAT ELOHIM

אָמַר֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל לִ֥י דִבֶּ֖ר צ֣וּר יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל מוֹשֵׁל֙ בָּאָדָ֔ם צַדִּ֕יק מוֹשֵׁ֖ל יִרְאַ֥ת אֱלֹהִֽים

KJ: The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.

BN:The gods of Yisra-El have spoken to me; the Rock of Israel has spoken: he who rules over the human race must uphold justice, ruling in fear of the gods...

ELOHEY YISRA-EL: And again, as at verse 2, yes, plural; and YHVH still TSUR YISRA-EL, one of his oldest sobriquets, long before he had a Temple in Yeru-Shala'im, long long before he became YHVH Tseva'ot and Prime Ministered the polytheon, long long long before he staged his coup, carried out his night of the long knives, and became sole and supreme autocrat, the Omnideity. Not later than 950 BCE, to put the date of the First Temple upon it. And therefore entirely possible that this was a Psalm from Chevron, not Yeru-Shala'im at all.

23:4 U CHE OR BOKER YIZRACH SHAMESH BOKER LO AVOT MI NOGAH MI MATAR DESH'E ME ARETS

וּכְא֥וֹר בֹּ֖קֶר יִזְרַח־שָׁ֑מֶשׁ בֹּ֚קֶר לֹ֣א עָב֔וֹת מִנֹּ֥גַהּ מִמָּטָ֖ר דֶּ֥שֶׁא מֵאָֽרֶץ

KJ: And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.

BN: And like the light of morning at sunrise, a morning without clouds, he shall not so much as touch the vegetation of the earth with dew.

Which sounds, yet again, rather more like a description of the Earth-god and his father the sun-god than any secular king or abstract deity. And decidedly YEVARECHECHA, which is always the ultimate aspiration in each one of these early Psalms.

23:5 KI LO CHEN BEYTI IM EL KI VERIT OLAM SAM LI ARUCHAH VA CHOL U SHEMURAH KI CHOL YISH'I VE CHOL CHEPHETS KI LO YATSMIYACH

כִּי־לֹא־כֵ֥ן בֵּיתִ֖י עִם־אֵ֑ל כִּי֩ בְרִ֨ית עוֹלָ֜ם שָׂ֣ם לִ֗י עֲרוּכָ֤ה בַכֹּל֙ וּשְׁמֻרָ֔ה כִּֽי־כׇל־יִשְׁעִ֥י וְכׇל־חֵ֖פֶץ כִּי־לֹ֥א יַצְמִֽיחַ

KJ: Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.

BN: Whereas my house is not like that with El; whereas he has placed an everlasting covenant, laid out before me, drawn up in full and provisioned with safeguards. Whereas everything of mine is guaranteed salvation and every honour is assured. Whereas there will be no appendix to these clauses.

And even more so in this verse: the human realm has to rule itself, and humans are flawed, and so they need a set of rules - a SHULCHAN ARUCH to pick up that important word in mid-verse, or the "pathway" paved with mitzvot that we saw in the previous Psalm on this page. The sun is needed, but the earth itself provides the crops.

As to my rendering: KI is the key-word in this verse, and really it means "because", although several translators of this verse go for "although". But the theme is the creation of a covenant, which is a legal document, and it seems to me more logical to use legal language to do so.

23:6 U VELI YA'AL KE KOTS MUNAD KULAHAM KI LO VE YAD YIKACHU

וּבְלִיַּ֕עַל כְּק֥וֹץ מֻנָ֖ד כֻּלָּ֑הַם כִּי־לֹ֥א בְיָ֖ד יִקָּֽחוּ

KJ: But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:

BN: But those who do not follow any gods shall be raked aside like thorns; for no one will take them by the hand.

VELI YA'AL: This came up at 22:5, earlier on this page; as I did there, I now recommend you to my lengthy note on this at Psalm 18:5.

23:7 VE ISH YIG'A BAHEM YIMAL'E VARZEL VE ETS CHANIYT U VA ESH SARUPH YISARPHU BA SHAVET

וְאִישׁ֙ יִגַּ֣ע בָּהֶ֔ם יִמָּלֵ֥א בַרְזֶ֖ל וְעֵ֣ץ חֲנִ֑ית וּבָאֵ֕שׁ שָׂר֥וֹף יִשָּֽׂרְפ֖וּ בַּשָּֽׁבֶת {פ}

KJ: But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

BN: Whoever touches them must arm himself with iron and the shaft of a spear; and they must be burned up on the spot.

And would these really have been the last words of the dying king? Look at 1 Kings 2:1-4, and you will hear what he said to his successor Shelomoh as his last words: yes, the general theme of this Psalm, first; but aterwards a list of all the people to beware of, and in most cases to get rid of. All of which comes across as a man who has already half-descended into that circle of the Netherworld which we today would call the unconscious, and is simply ranting half-crazed.

✡

SurfTheSite

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