Category Archive: Bible – OT – Psalms
Psalm 56
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!
For the director.
On a silent dove among distant people.
By David.
Mikhtam,
When Philistines seized him in Gath.Be gracious to me, God, because man pants for me;
All the day, fighting, he oppresses me.
My foes pant all the day;
Indeed, many are fighting against me proudly.The day I fear,
I myself trust in you.
In God (I praise his word),
In God I trust; I do not fear.
What will flesh do to me?All the day my words they twist;
Against me are all their thoughts for evil.
They assemble; they lurk;
They themselves watch my heels,
Just as they wait for my soul.By trouble is there deliverance for them?
In anger bring down peoples, God!
My wanderings you yourself count.
Put my tears in your bottle.
Are they not in your book?Then my enemies will turn back in the day I call.
This I know, that God is for me.
In God (I praise the word);
In Yahweh (I praise the word);
In God I trust; I do not fear.
What will man do to me?Upon me, God, are your vows;
I will perform a Thanksgiving to you,
Because you have delivered my soul from death —
Have you not delivered my feet from falling? —
To walk before God
In the light of the living.
Some comments on the translation of this psalm, which, though brief, seems surprisingly difficult to translate:
(1) The title is literally “on a silent dove, distant ones.” The “distant ones” may be distant lands or distant people; I’ve opted for the latter here. Many take this to be the title of a tune to which the psalm would be sung or perhaps a setting for the instruments, but it strikes me that Alexander is right and that it may be a reference to David, who is like a dove (Ps. 74:19), suffering in silence in his exile among the Philistines. On the other hand entirely, if the Thirtle thesis is correct and Habakkuk 3 gives us the pattern for how Psalm titles and postscripts work, then this line may be the postscript of Psalm 55, in which David wishes he had wings like a dove so that he could fly far away.
(2) Any guesses as to what mikhtam means?
(3) In line 1, the word for “man” (enosh) usually refers to mortal, frail man, in contrast to God. Later on, in the question “What will man to do me,” the word is adam.
(4) In lines 1 and 3, the word translated “pant” is often rendered “trample.” It appears also in Ps. 57:3, where the meaning is ambiguous. In Amos 2:7 and 8:4, many commentaries render it “trample,” taking it as a variant spelling of the usual verb for trampling, but I’m not sure that these passages (or any of the passages in which this verb appears) clearly speak of trampling. So, following Alexander and Kidner, I’ve stuck with “pant.”
(5) In line 2, the word for “fighting” can mean both “dining, eating” as well as “fighting, doing battle.” Alexander renders it “devouring,” as he does also in Ps. 35:1.
(6) In line 4, the term translated “proudly” here generally refers to a high place or a high social position, and sometimes to heaven. Nouns in Hebrew, however, can be used as adjectives or adverbs and in Ps. 73:8, this same word appears to describe the way the wicked speak (“They speak loftily”). Other translators take this word as an indirect reference to God who is on high, and so they render it “Most High.”
(7) Line 10 can be rendered something like this: “All the day, my affairs they hurt.” In that case, David would be saying that they cause him trouble all day long. So are they twisting David’s words or harming his “things, matters, affairs.”
(8) In line 12, the word translated “assemble” (following Alexander’s suggestions and how the word seems to be used in some other passages) can refer to an attack or perhaps even to stalking (which is how the NET Bible takes it). In Ps. 140:2, it appears to refer to assembling for war, and that’s the sense here, too, I suspect: David’s enemies are gathering in order to attack him.
(9) Line 13, “They watch my heels,” may mean “they watch my steps” (see the use of “heels” in Pss. 77:19; 89:51; Song 1:8). Alexander points out that “they” is emphatic and that fits best with taking “heels” as a description of these people: hence he takes this term to be shorthand for “supplanters,” people who grab the heel, as he does also in Ps. 49:6. The word here is, of course, the same word that appears in Jacob’s name. That leaves the verb without an object (“they watch”), though I suppose it could also be “they guard” (that is, they are surrounding David like guards) which is often what the verb means. Still, it seems simplest here to translate it “They watch my heels.”
(10) I’ve translated line 15 as a question because taking it as a statement doesn’t make any sense to me (“On/by trouble, there is deliverance for them”). It may be David asking whether they the trouble they cause can deliver them or even whether they can be delivered in light of the trouble they’ve caused. Alexander leaves it as a statement and admits it’s mysterious. Others emend the text, adding a “not” to the statement, but that’s not my preferred option.
I have wondered whether this could be a prayer: “Unto trouble let there be deliverance for them” (that is, “Let them be handed over to trouble”). Or perhaps it could be a statement about birth, since that’s one way the term for “deliverance” is used in Scripture (hence something like “Unto trouble they have been brought forth”). That would make the statement the grounds for the plea in the next stich. But I don’t know that the term used here can be understood as a reference to goal or purpose (“unto”).
(11) In line 27, the word for performing here has to do with fulfilling a vow. It appears that the vow includes the presentation of a thanksgiving offering to Yahweh. Is there a better term than “perform”? “Pay” is one possibility, but it doesn’t seem particularly helpful, given the economic connotations the term has for us.
(12) In line 29, the word translated “falling” is a strong term that refers to being pushed or knocked down. Any suggestions for a better translation?
Psalm 55
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!
For the director.
On stringed instruments.
Maschil.
By David.Give ear, God, to my prayer;
And do not hide from my supplication.
Attend to me and answer me;
I roam in my thought and I make an uproar.
Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down upon me trouble;
And in anger they oppose me.My heart writhes within me;
And terrors of death have fallen upon me.
Fear and trembling come into me;
And shuddering covers me.
And I said, “Who will give me a wing like a dove?
I would fly away and settle down.”
Look, I would wander afar;
I would lodge in the wilderness. Selah.
I would hasten my escape
From rushing wind, from tempest.Swallow up, Lord! Divide their tongue,
Because I have seen violence and strife in the city.
Day and night they surround her upon her wall;
And trouble and distress are within her.
Destructions are within her;
And there will not depart from her street oppression and deceit.Indeed, it is not an enemy who reviles me,
Or I could bear it.
And it is not one who hates me who magnifies himself against me,
Or I would hide from him.
But it is you, a man my equal,
My confidant and my acquaintance,
With whom together I enjoyed sweet counsel;
In the house of God we walked in the throng.Desolations upon them!
They will descend to Sheol alive,
Because evils are in their dwellings, within them.As for me, I call to God;
And Yahweh will save me.
Evening and morning and noon, I think and roar;
And He hears my voice.
He will redeem my soul in peace from the war against me,
Because many are against me.The Mighty One will hear and answer them,
And he who sits from of old (Selah)
Will answer those to whom there are no changes,
And who do not fear God.
He has stretched out his hands against those at peace with him;
He has profaned his covenant.
Smooth are the butterings of his mouth
But war is in his heart.
Softer are his words than oil,
But they were drawn swords.Cast upon Yahweh your burden, and he will sustain you.
He will never give shaking to the righteous.And you, God, will bring them down to the pit of corruption;
Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live half their days.
But as for me, I will trust in you!
A multitude of comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In line 4, the verbs aren’t clear. The first verb has to do with roaming or restlessness. The second is often taken to mean “make a noise,” since it is related to a word for an uproar. It may mean that he makes an uproar (see Micah 2:12).
(2) In line 14, David says that he will “fly and dwell.” The word for dwelling has to do with settling, with finding a place to live, and so it also implies resting.
(3) In line 19, “swallow up” is a cry for the Lord to destroy, to wipe the wicked out.
(4) In line 25, the word for “man” implies frailty, mortality.
(5) Line 31 is impossible to translate exactly. The verb is plural (“whom together we sweetened counsel”), but that doesn’t work in English. I thought the singular form might work better. “To sweeten counsel” means to enjoy sweet counsel and fellowship. The idea here is also that they were close enough to say things that were confidential.
(6) Line 32 mentions “the throng.” This terms implies noise, and “throng” sounds noisier to me than “crowd.”
(7) Line 41 says that there were many “with me,” which might make one think that there were many people siding with David. It actually means that there were many contending with him, that is, many against him.
(8) In line 43, “sits” probably has the sense of sitting enthroned, sitting as king. Lines 43-45 are complex and hard to reproduce in English, not least because of the interjection of “Selah” in the middle of the second sentence. To make the thought clear, I supplied the words “will answer” in line 44. I don’t know what “there are no changes” means for the wicked here.
(9) For an explanation of “smooth are the butterings” in line 48 and why the word has to be taken as a participle and not as a comparison (“smoother than butter”), see Alexander’s commentary. Basically, it’s because the comparison would have different vowel pointing.
(10) In line 53, “not forever” could mean “never,” which is how virtually all translations put this. Maybe that’s just the Hebrew idiom for “never.” But it seems to me (without regard now for Hebrew idioms) that “not forever” expresses something different from “never.” Is this line saying that God never sends shaking to the righteous? Or is it saying that when he does send things that shake the righteous, he sees to it that the shaking is not forever, that it lasts only for a time? I don’t know Hebrew well enough to say for sure. Thoughts?
Psalm 54
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!
For the director.
On stringed instruments.
Maschil.
By David,
When the Ziphites came and said to Saul,
“Is not David hiding with us?”God, in your name save me;
And in your might vindicate me.
God, hear my prayer;
Give ear to the sayings of my mouth,
Because strangers have risen up against me,
And oppressors seek my soul;
They have not set God before them. Selah.Look, God is a helper for me;
The Lord is among the supporters of my soul.
Cause the evil to return to my enemies;
In your trustworthiness destroy them.With a free-will offering I will sacrifice to you;
I will praise your name, Yahweh, because it is good,
Because from all my trouble he has delivered me,
And on my enemies my eye has looked.
A few comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In line 1, “in your name” may mean “by your name,” as “in your might” in line 2 seems to mean “by your might.” God’s name, Yahweh, indicates that he is the faithful God, and so, in keeping with his name, he will be faithful to David.
(2) In line 11, the word for “destroy” may mean “silence,” as it appears to in some other passages. “To silence” is how Holliday’s lexicon renders this word, but most Bible translations use “to destroy” or “to cut off.”
(3) In the last line, “to look upon one’s enemies” is to gaze with delight at their destruction.
Psalm 53
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!
For the director.
Upon mahalath.
Maschil.
By David.A fool says in his heart, “No God.”
They act destructively and they do an abominable wrong;
There is no doer of good.God from heaven looks down upon the sons of Adam
To see if there is one who acts wisely,
Who seeks God.
All of them have turned back;
Together they have become corrupt.
There is none who does good,
Not even one.Do they not understand, the workers of wickedness,
Who eat up my people?
They eat bread;
On God they do not call.There they fear a fear, where there was no fear,
Because God has scattered the bones of your besieger.
You have put them to shame,
Because God has rejected them.Oh that from Zion would come salvations for Israel!
When God returns the captivity of his people,
Let Jacob rejoice!
Let Israel be glad!
A few comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In the title, “mahalath” may be the name of a particular tune to which the song is sung. But it doesn’t appear anywhere else. The word itself appears to be related to a word for sickness, and perhaps “upon mahalath” means “on the occasion of sickness.” We don’t know what maschil means.
(2) This psalm is a variation on Psalm 14. It’s interesting to compare the two. Notice, for instance, that Psalm 14 uses the name “Yahweh” but this psalm says “God” (Hebrew: Elohim). There are some more significant differences, too.
(3) The first line is often rendered, “There is no God.” But it’s not just a denial of God’s existence; it’s a denial that God is relevant. God’s response is an echo of these words: “No one doing good.”
(4) “They eat bread; on Yahweh they do not call” may mean that they eat David’s people like bread. Or it may indicate that they feast on bread but don’t call on the Breadgiver, as Israel did in the wilderness.
(5) “Fear a fear” is a typical Hebrew expression, using the same word as a verb and as a noun for emphasis.
(6) “Oh that …” is literally “Who would grant … ?” It’s an expression of a great wish: “If only someone would give me what I long for!”
(7) The phrase “return the captivity” is used when God restored Job’s fortunes. It may refer to a return of captive people, but it may also refer to the restoration of anything that was lost.
Psalm 52
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!
For the director.
Maschil.
By David,
When Doeg the Edomite came and reported to Saul, and said to him,
“David came to the house of Ahimelech.”Why do you boast in evil, mighty man?
The loyalty of God last all the day.
Calamities your tongue devises,
Like a sharpened razor, working deceit.
You love evil more than good,
A lie more than speaking righteousness. Selah.
You love all devouring words,
Deceitful tongue.Likewise God will tear you down everlastingly;
He will take you away and tear you out of the tent;
And he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah.The righteous will see and fear,
And at him they will laugh:
“Look, the young man who does not make God his strength;
And he trusts in abundance of riches;
He is strong in his calamities.”But I myself am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the loyalty of God forever and ever.
I will praise you forever because you did it,
And I will wait on your name (because it is good) before your loyal ones.
A few comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In line 7, “devouring words” is literally “words of swallowing.” In other words, these are words by which a person swallows you up and destroys you.
(2) In line 16, when it says that this man is “strong in his calamities,” it is referring to the ones that he has been devising (see line 3). In other words, he thinks that because he has plotted calamity against the psalmist and others, he will be strong himself.
(3) The last line of the psalm is a bit complex, at least in English. It appears to mean that David will wait on Yahweh before the ones who are loyal to Yahweh. His waiting appears to be public, and he’s waiting on Yahweh’s name (which implies calling on Yahweh by name, I suspect) because his name summarizes his whole character and his name is good.
Psalm 51
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!
For the director.
A psalm.
By David,
When Nathan the prophet came to him,
As he had come to Bathsheba.Be gracious to me, O God, according to your loyalty;
According to the multitude of your mercies blot out my rebellions.
Thoroughly wash me from my liability
And from my sin cleanse me,
For my rebellion I myself acknowledge,
And my sin is before you continually.
With regard to you, to you only, have I sinned
And what is evil in your eyes I have done,
In order that you may be righteous when you speak,
And be pure when you judge.Look, in liability I was born,
And in sin my mother conceived me.
Look, trustworthiness you desired in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part you will make me know wisdom.
You will purge me with hyssop and I will be clean;
You will wash me and I will be whiter than snow.
You will make me hear gladness and joy;
The bones you crushed will shout for joy.
Hide your face from my sins,
And all my liabilities blot out.
A clean heart create in me, O God,
And a steadfast spirit renew within me.
Do not cast me away from before you,
And your holy Spirit do not take from me.
Return to me the gladness of your salvation,
And with a willing spirit support me.
I will teach rebels your way,
And sinners to you will return.
Free me from bloodguiltiness, O God, God of my salvation,
And my tongue will celebrate your righteousness.
Lord, my lips you will open,
And my mouth will declare your praise,
For you do not desire sacrifice, or I would give it;
In Ascension offering you do not delight.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A heart broken and crushed, O God, you do not despise.Do good, in your favor, to Zion;
You will build the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be pleased with righteous sacrifices, Ascension offering and Whole offering.
Then they will make bulls ascend on your altar.
A few comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In line 3, the word for washing is the normal word for washing clothing, not the human body. Liability stains us. Question: Would “launder me” get the idea across?
(2) In line 15, the word translated “purge” has to do with freedom from sin. It’s related to the word for bringing a sin-offering. Hyssop was used for sprinkling those who were unclean.
(3) I’ve followed J. A. Alexander in rendering the verbs in lines 14-17 as future (“You will….”) instead of as imperatives, as most translations have them. More accurately, most translations render the verb in line 14 as a future and then translate all the rest of them as imperatives. It’s certainly possible to translate all of these verbs as imperatives, and, given the context, they doubtless do express David’s desire and prayer.
But the imperatives that start in verse 18 all have a different form. If the previous verbs were all imperatives, then I wonder why the psalmist switched to use a new form. Why not just stay with the form he has been using for imperatives?
So for now, I’ve rendered these desires for the future as simple futures, hoping that the context makes it clear that they aren’t statements about what God is going to do regardless of what David asks, but rather are the future as it will be if God grants David’s pleas.
(4) In line 29, the word translated “bloodguiltiness” is actually “bloods,” but it’s the term that is used when murder and the guilt for committing murder is in view.
(5) In lines 34 and 39, the psalm mentions “Ascension offerings.” Line 39 adds, for emphasis, “Whole offering.” The “Whole offering” is likely another name for the Ascension, which was the offering in which the entire animal went up on the altar and was turned to smoke, which ascended to God’s presence. That is also the explanation of the last line. Making bulls ascend on the altar means presenting them as Ascension offerings.
Psalm 50
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!
A psalm.
By Asaph.The Mighty One, God, Yahweh speaks and calls the earth
From the going forth of the sun to its coming in.
From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine.
Our God will come and he will not keep silent.
Fire before him will devour,
And around him it will be exceedingly stormy.
He will call to the heavens above
And to the earth, in order to judge his people:
“Gather to me my loyal ones,
Who have cut a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
And the heavens declare his righteousness,
Because God, He is Judge. Selah.“Hear, my people, and I will speak,
Israel, and I will testify against you.
God, your God am I!
Not for your sacrifices will I reprove you,
And your Ascension Offerings are before me continually.
I will not take from your house a bull,
From your folds a ram,
Because to me belongs every beast of the forest,
The cattle on a thousand hills.
I know every bird of the hills,
And the moving thing of the field is with me.
If I were hungry I would not tell you,
Because to me belongs the world and its fullness.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls
And the blood of goats do I drink?
Sacrifice to God a Thanksgiving,
And pay to the Most High your vows.
And call upon me in the day of trouble.
I will deliver you and you will glorify me.”And to the wicked man God says,
“What right have you to recount my statutes,
And to lift up my covenant on your mouth?
And you have hated instruction
And you have cast my words behind you.
If you saw a thief, you made friends with him;
And with adulterers is your portion.
Your mouth you have sent out with evil,
And your tongue attaches to evil.
You sit; against your brother you speak;
The son of your mother you slander.
These things you do and I kept silent;
You thought I was exactly like you.
I will reprove you and lay things out before you.
Consider this, please, forgetters of God,
Lest I rend and there be no deliverer.
The one sacrificing a Thanksgiving, he glorifies me;
And to one who sets his way, I will show the salvation of God.”
A few comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In line 2, the “going forth” (or “shining forth”) of the sun is sunrise or east; the “coming in” (or “going down”) is sunset or west. The whole earth is included here.
(2) In line 3, there’s no way in English to capture the play on words between the word for beauty and the word for shining. They’re related words, but there’s no way to show that in a translation. Or is there? You tell me.
(3) In line 4, the word translated “keep silent” is used of God staying silent when people cry out to him. God is not going to turn a deaf ear and say nothing; he’s going to speak up in response to our cries. This verb here appears later in the psalm, though in a different form. I’ve translated them both “keep silent,” but I wish I could show the difference somehow.
(4) Line 42 is literally closer to “Against the son of your mother you give a fault” or “stain.” It probably has to do with finding fault, staining the man’s reputation. I’ve paraphrased a bit (“slander”), simply because I don’t know how to make a smooth translation. Suggestions?
(5) The last two lines may be “he glorifies me and sets a way. I will show [him] the salvation of God.” In either case, “sets a way” refers here not just to taking a journey, but to taking the right course.
Psalm 49
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!
For the director.
By the sons of Korah.
A psalm.Hear this, all peoples!
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
Even the sons of Adam, even the sons of man,
Together the rich and poor.
My mouth will speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart understanding.
I will turn to a parable my ear;
I will open with a harp my riddle.Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the liability of my heels surrounds me?
As for the ones who trust in their wealth,
And in the multitude of their riches they boast,
A brother a man can surely not redeem;
He cannot give to God his ransom —
And costly is the redemption of their soul,
And he ceases forever —
That he should still live everlastingly
And not see the Pit.Indeed, he sees that wise men die,
Together the fool and the stupid man perish,
And they leave to others their wealth.
Their inward thought is that their houses are forever,
Their dwellings to a generation and a generation.
They call by their own names their lands.
But man in honor does not lodge;
He is like the cattle that are silenced.This is their way; folly belongs to them;
And their followers will delight in their mouth. Selah.
Like sheep to Sheol they are appointed;
Death will shepherd them.
And the upright will rule over them in the morning,
And their form Sheol will waste away, away from their palace.
Only God will redeem my soul from the hand of Sheol;
Because he will take me. Selah.Do not fear when a man becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is multiplied,
Because when he dies he will not take anything;
His glory will not descend after him.
Though while he lives he blesses his soul —
And they will praise you because you do well for yourself–
It will go to the generation of his fathers.
For everlasting they will not see light.
Man who is in honor and does not understand
Is like the cattle that are silenced.
A few comments on this psalm, which is quite difficult to translate in parts (I’d really welcome suggestions on how to make this psalm smoother in English while keeping, as much as possible, the features of the Hebrew text):
(1) In line 3, the psalm uses two different words for man: “Both sons of Adam and sons of Ish.” Some translations take this to refer to people of high and low degree, but there’s little evidence to support that.
(2) In line 10, “the liability of my heels” is really unclear. “Heels” here may be shorthand for heel-grabbers, people who seek to supplant the psalmist. (This is the same word that shows up in Jacob’s name.) Or it may refer to the guilt and liability of wicked people as a snare, seeking to entangle the psalmist.
(3) Line 13 is awkward. “A brother” comes first for emphasis, but “a man” is the subject of the sentence. The verb here is doubled in the typical Hebrew style for emphasis: “not redeeming he will redeem.” I’m not sure how to get that across.
(4) In line 14, the word for a “ransom” is related to the word for “covering” (which we often wrongly translate “atonement,” as in “Day of Atonement” which is actually “Day of Covering”). These things are closer in Hebrew than most English translations show.
(5) I’m not at all sure what line 16 (“And he ceases forever”) means. Perhaps it means that the person ceases to live forever because no ransom is found or that a person stops trying to provide a ransom because it is too costly.
(6) In lines 26 and 44, the “silencing” of the cattle refers to their destruction.
Psalm 48
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!
A song.
A psalm
By the sons of Korah.Great is Yahweh and exceedingly praiseworthy,
In the city of our God,
His holy mountain —
Beautiful in height,
The joy of all the earth —
Mount Zion, the sides of the north,
The city of the great king.
God is in her palaces;
He is known as a high place.Indeed, look! The kings gathered.
They passed through together.
They themselves saw. So they were astounded.
They were terrified. They hurried away.
Trembling seized them there,
Writhing like a woman giving birth.
With an east wind
You will break ships of Tarshish.Just as we have heard, so we have seen,
In the city of Yahweh of hosts,
In the city of our God.
God will establish her unto eternity. Selah.We have pondered, O God, your loyalty
In the midst of your palace.
As your name, O God, so is your praise to the ends of the earth.
Full of righteousness is your right hand.
Mount Zion will rejoice, the daughters of Judah will shout for joy,
On account of your judgments.Go around Zion and encircle it!
Count her towers!
Set your heart on her bulwark, examine her palaces
So that you can recount it to a generation following,
For this is God, Our God forever and ever.
He will guide us unto death.
Some comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In line 6, the word translated “sides” may refer to the farthest part. It’s not clear to me what this verse means. Some take it to mean that Zion is being compared to Zaphon, a Canaanite mountain, but that seems pretty unlikely to me. Others take it to say that Zion it in the far north. That isn’t literally true, but Eden was a mountain in the north from which the rivers flowed south to the rest of the world, and so this psalm may be identifying Zion as symbolically a new Eden. That’s possible.
(2) In line 9, when it says that God is “known as a high place,” it means that he is known to be a refuge for his people, an elevated place out of the reach of the enemy. As in connection with Psalm 46, “high place” isn’t the best translation and I’m still hoping for a good suggestion that captures both the sense of protection (“fortress, refuge”) and height (“high place, elevation”).
(3) In line 30, the word “examine” is a guess, given the context, since this Hebrew word doesn’t appear anywhere else and no one knows for sure what it means.
Psalm 47
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!
For the director.
By the sons of Korah.
A psalm.All peoples, clap hands!
Shout to God with a voice of exultation,
Because Yahweh Most High is to be feared,
A great king over all the earth.He will subdue peoples under us
And tribes under our feet.
He will choose for us our inheritance,
The loftiness of Jacob whom he loves. Selah.God has ascended with a shout,
Yahweh with a sound of a trumpet.Psalm to God! Psalm!
Psalm to our king! Psalm,
Because the king of all the earth is God.
Psalm a maschil!God reigns over the nations.
God sits upon his holy throne.
The nobles of the peoples have gathered,
The people of the God of Abraham,
Because to God belong the shields of the earth.
He is exceedingly exalted.
Some comments about the translation of this Psalm:
(1) In line 8, the word “loftiness” is sometimes translated “pride.” It can refer to pride or to any kind of exaltation. The “loftiness of Jacob” may be the Promised Land or, more generally, all the privileges Israel has received.
(2) In line 10, the trumpet is specifically a ram’s horn, which is what the word means.
(3) In lines 11, 12, and 14 there is a summons to sing praise. The word here is the verb form of the word we translate as “psalm,” and so to get that across I have translated this word as a command to “psalm” to God. A “psalm” is praise with voices and instruments, and to “psalm” means to praise God musically, with singing and the playing of instruments.
A maschil is a type of psalm (see, for instance, the titles of Pss. 44, 45). It may refer to a teaching psalm and may have something to do with wisdom and understanding, which is why some versions of the Bible have “sing praises with understanding” here.
Psalm 46
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!
For the director.
A psalm.
By the sons of Korah.
Upon Alamoth
A song.God is for us a refuge and strength;
A help in troubles he has been found — exceedingly!
Therefore we will not fear when the earth quakes
And when the mountains shake in the heart of seas.
Its waters will roar and foam;
Mountains tremble when it swells. Selah.There is a river — its streams will make the city of God rejoice,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
God is in her midst; she will not be shaken.
God will help her at the turning of the morning.
Nations roared; kingdoms shook.
He gave his voice; the earth melts.Yahweh of hosts is with us!
A high place for us is the God of Jacob. Selah.Come! See the doings of Yahweh,
Who has put desolations in the earth,
Stopping wars to the end of the earth:
The bow he breaks and he cuts up the spear;
Chariots he burns in the fire.Stop and know that I myself am God.
I will be exalted in the nations; I will be exalted in the earth.Yahweh of hosts is with us!
A high place for us is the God of Jacob. Selah.
A few comments about the translation of this psalm:
(1) In the title, alamoth means “virgins,” and upon alamoth may be a musical term (e.g., “For sopranos”).
(2) In line 4, “in the heart of seas” may be the location to which the mountains are moved: they are shaken into the midst of the seas.
(3) In line 12, “He gave his voice” means that he gave utterance to it, he gave it forth.
(4) In line 14, “high place” is another word for a refuge, a high spot where the enemy can’t get at you. “Fortress” doesn’t quite work because it doesn’t get the sense of height which is associated with this word. Unfortunately, the term “high place” sounds too much like the high places where Israel worshiped, so that it has bad connotations instead of good ones and connotations of worship instead of protection. If you have another suggestion for this, besides “refuge,” which I already used to translate the word at the beginning of the psalm, I’d be glad for it.
Psalm 45
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!
For the director.
On lilies.
By the sons of Korah.
Maschil.
A song of loved ones.My heart is boiling with a good word;
I myself am saying, “My works are for the king.”
My tongue is a pen of a skilled scribe.You are handsome, more than the sons of Adam.
Grace is poured out on your lips.
Therefore God has blessed you forever.Gird your sword on your thigh, warrior,
Your majesty and your splendor.
And in your splendor, advance!
Ride forth for the sake of trustworthiness and humble righteousness.
And your right hand will teach you fearful deeds.
Your arrows are sharp —
Nations under you will fall! —
In the heart of the king’s enemies.Your throne, God, is forever and ever.
A scepter of rectitude is the scepter of your kingdom.
You love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God your God has anointed you
With oil of gladness more than your companions.
Myrrh and aloes and cassias are all your garments,
From palaces of ivory, from them they have made you rejoice.
Daughters of kings are among your honored women;
The queen stands at your right hand in gold from Ophir.Hear, daughter, and consider and incline your ear,
And forget your people and your father’s house,
And the king will desire your beauty.
Indeed, he is your lord.
And bow to him!And Daughter Tyre will come with tribute
Your face they will appease — the rich of the people.All glorious is the king’s daughter inside;
Of gold embroideries is her clothing.
In variegated garments she is brought to the king;
With virgins behind her, her companions, being brought to you.
They will be brought with rejoicings and joyful shouts;
They will come into the palace of the king.Instead of your fathers will be your sons;
You will make them rulers in all the earth.
I will make your name to be memorialized generation after generation.
Therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.
A few comments about the translation of this psalm, which I’ll preface by saying “skilled scribe” at the beginning is right: there’s a lot of skill here that isn’t so easy to convey in English.
(1) In the title, we have the words “upon lilies,” which may refer to the song’s tune or perhaps (somehow) to the contents of the song. We don’t know what the word maschil means.
(2) In lines 12-13, the sentence seems to be “Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies,” but in the middle of the sentence there’s an interjection (“Nations will fall under you!”).
(3) In line 16, the king’s scepter is described as “a scepter of rectitude,” which means that the king’s rule, represented by the scepter, is characterized by rectitude, uprightness, fairness, and justice.
(4) It’s possible that line 21 should be translated “From palaces of ivory, stringed instruments have made you rejoice.”
(5) In line 29, some translations have “Daughter of Tyre,” but I suspect that this is a genitive of apposition like “Daughter Zion,” where Zion is herself the daughter. Here, this is Tyre, spoken of as a daughter. I’ve supplied the words “will come” in this line, which may be what’s implied, though it’s also possible that the thought goes like this: “Daughter Tyre with tribute will appease your face” (which means: give you a gift that makes you favorable), and in particular “the rich of the people” will do that.” It’s not unheard of for the Psalms to switch between singular (“Daughter Tyre”) and plural (“they”).