Psalm 25

A reminder: I’ve prepared these psalms for our liturgy, trying to be as accurate in my translation as possible. The alternation between plain text and bold is for responsive reading. I invite feedback on the translation!

By David.

?    To you, Yahweh,
I lift up my soul!
?    My God, in you I trust: do not let me be shamed;
Do not let my enemies triumph over me.
?    Indeed, all who wait for you will not be shamed;
Shamed will be those who deal treacherously without cause.
?    Your ways, Yahweh, make me know!
Your paths, teach me!
?    Make me walk in your trustworthiness and teach me,
Because you are the God of my salvation;
You I have awaited all the day.
?    Remember your mercies, Yahweh, and your loyalties,
Because they are from everlasting.
?    Sins of my youth and my transgressions do not remember;
According to your loyalty remember me
Because of your goodness, Yahweh.
?    Good and upright is Yahweh;
Therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
?    He leads the afflicted in justice
And he teaches the afflicted his way.
?    All Yahweh’s paths are loyalty and trustworthiness
For those who guard his covenant and his testimonies.
?    For your name’s sake, Yahweh,
Pardon my liability, for it is great.
?    Who is the man who fears Yahweh?
He will instruct him in the way he should choose.
?    His soul will lodge in goodness,
And his seed will inherit the land.
?    The secret counsel of Yahweh is for those who fear him,
And his covenant in order to make them know.
?    My eyes are always toward Yahweh,
Because he will bring my feet out of the net.
?    Turn to me and be gracious to me,
Because lonely and afflicted am I.
?    The troubles of my heart are enlarged;
From my distresses bring me out.
?    See my affliction and my trouble
And forgive all my sins.
?    See my enemies, for they have increased,
And with violent hatred they hate me.
?    Guard my soul and deliver me.
Do not let me be shamed, for I take refuge in you.
?    Let integrity and uprightness preserve me,
Because I wait for you.
Redeem Israel, O God, out of all his troubles.

Psalm 25 is an acrostic.  Each of the twenty-two verses of this psalm starts with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, which has twenty-two letters.  Interestingly, though, there are two anomalies.  The letter vav is missing: we’d expect it between “Make me walk” and “Remember your mercies.”  Also missing is the letter qoph, which we’d expect where we have “See my affliction.”  Instead, we have the letter resh twice (“See my afflection” and “See my enemies”).  Why these anomalies?  I have no idea.

[Update, June 10, 2011: When I first wrote this blog entry, I was able to put the Hebrew font in without a problem. Then … well, it’s become garbled. And now it’s only question marks. Someday, I’ll revisit this blog entry and try to fix that.]