List of the foes Prayer to punish as in the past by a great defeat То call on the mighty forces of nature 2For, lo, thine enemies are in uproar, And thine enemies have lifted up the head. For they have conspired together with one mind; "The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, They have helped the children of Lot. 'Do to them as thou didst to Sisera,1 As to Jabin at the Brook of Kishon. 1o Let them be destroyed as the Midianites at En-Harod," "May their nobles be as Oreb and Zeeb, 130 my God, make them like whirling dust, As the flame that setteth ablaze thy mountains; That they may seek thy name, O Jehovah. 17Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever, 18That they may know that thou alone art Jehovah, b833 Heb. adds, what is implied and usually omitted in the pss., and they say. 836 The parallelism and defective measure indicate that people of has probably been lost from the Heb. d836 Heb., Hagrites. 838 Lit., have been an arm to. 1839 With Briggs, transposing as Midian to 10, where it belongs. The reference in ⚫ is to the defeat of the Canaanites recorded in Judg. 4. 8310 Heb., En-dor; but this is, beyond much doubt, a scribal error for En-Harod, where, according to the late tradition in Judg. 71, Gideon defeated the Midianites. h8311 Cf. Judg. 810-35. 18312 Following Briggs (Pss., II, 224) in a possible reconstruction of the Heb. 18318 Heb. adds thy name; but this makes an impossible construction and was probably appended by a scribe who had in mind 16b. IMPRECATION AGAINST ISRAEL'S PITILESS FOES § 155. Imprecation against Israel's Pitiless Foes, Ps. 137 Ps. 137 1By Babylon's streams we sat down and wept, when we remem- Sorbered Zion; "There, by the poplars in her midst, we hung up our harps, rows of the exile For there our captors demanded of us words of song, 'How could we sing the songs of Jehovah in a land that was strange? "Remember, O Jehovah, the day of Jerusalem against the sons of Edom, IV PETITIONS FOR VINDICATION AND RESTORATION Pss. 26, 277-12, 41, 67, 122, 86, 88, 1021-11, 23-27, 123 § 156. Petition That Innocence May Be Vindicated, Ps. 26 Ps. 26 1Judge me, O Jehovah, For I, indeed, have walked in mine integrity, And in Jehovah have I trusted without wavering. Try my heart and my mind. 155 The two chief notes in this ps. are loyalty to Jehovah and imprecations upon Israel's foes who are represented by the Edomites, that Arab people who by the days of Nehemiah had occupied the territory of southern Judah and were pressing the Jewish community on its southern border. Briggs may be right in his contention that Babylon in the first line is secondary, for it, like the following Heb. word there, is superfluous both from the point of view of metre and the demands of the context. It is again inserted in 8, where it is clearly secondary as well as the untranslatable word which follows. The phrase in her midst, in 2, tends to support, however, the presence of the word Babylon in 1. Its presence there is also consistent with the retrospect of the distant past in 14. It also explains why the scribe inserted daughter of Babylon in 8. The Bab. exile lies so far away from the poet's horizon that it is probable that he did not write before the middle of the Persian period. In later generations, and especially in the early stages of the Maccabean struggle, Jewish hostility to the Edomites increased rather than diminished. The imprecatory spirit of this ps. also finds its closest parallels in the hymns of this later period. The same inference may be drawn from the intense loyalty to Jerusalem expressed in the second stanza. The grim beatitudes at the end of the ps. furnish a striking contrast with those that fell from the lips of the great Teacher of Nazareth. 1372 Transferring the superfluous there, cf. 1, to 2, where it completes the measure. 11373 Slightly revising the untranslatable Heb. text and translating the Heb. word which means joy as the parallelism suggests. m 1374 Lit., song of Jehovah. 1375 So Gk. and Lat. Heb., forget. 1376 Lit., head of my joy. § 156 The two distinctive elements in this ps. are the presence of malicious persecutors, apparently within the Jewish community itself, and the psalmist's devotion to the temple and its services; both point to the second half or middle of the Persian period. Loyalty to Jerusalem Prayer for judg ment upon the Edomites Protestation of innocence Of devotion to the temple and its service Prayer to be kept from sin Hear me Hide me Guide me "Verily thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes, "I do not sit down with men who are false, And I do not sit down in the company of the wicked. "I wash my hands in innocency, And I march around thine altar, O Jehovah, And to tell all thy wondrous works. 'Gather not my soul with sinners,d § 157. Prayer for Help in Time of Need, Ps. 277-12 Ps. 27 "Hear, O Jehovah, my cry, When I call be gracious to me and answer me. Thy face, O Jehovah, do I seek. 'Hide not thy face from me, Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou art my help, do not abandon me, And do not forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10My father and my mother have forsaken me, But Jehovah taketh me up. 11Teach me thy way, O Jehovah, And lead me in a path that is plain.i 12 Give me not over to the will of mine adversaries, a263 Lit., in thy truth or faithfulness. b264 Lit., go in with. 268 Heb. adds O Jehovah. d269 I. e., do not take my life prematurely. 2611 So Gk. Heb. omits Jehovah. 12612 I. e., in the level court of the temple area as the next line indicates. §157 There are no definite indications of the date of this ps. It probably comes from the first half of the Persian period. Cf., for 1-6, § 104. 8277 So Gk. and Syr. Heb. adds an unnecessary and. b278 The text of this line is badly mutilated, but it is possible to restore what was clearly the original text. 12711 The scribe has added for the sake of mine adversaries; but this is inconsistent both with the metre and with the context. PRAYER FOR HELP IN NEED For false witnesses have risen up against me,j § 158. Petition That Jehovah Will Restore and Vindicate His Servant, Ps. 41 Ps. 41 1Happy is he who acteth wisely, though weak and needy;k In the day of evil may Jehovah deliver him, 2May Jehovah preserve and quicken him in the land,' And may hem not give him over to the greed of his enemies. May Jehovah support him on his couch of illness, May hen wholly transform his bed of sickness. 4I myself say, 'Be gracious to me, O Jehovah; Heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.' "Mine enemies say it is bad with me: 'How long ere he die, and his name perish.' "Even if one cometh to see me, he speaketh falsehood; His mind gathereth iniquity to itself, Invo cation of Jehovah's help in need The mali cious, treach erous attacks of foes As soon as he goeth abroad, he speaketh it altogether. Against me they devise how they may do harm to me: 8A deadly thing is poured out within him, And now that he has lain down, he will never rise again.' "Even mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who hath broken bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me. 10But thou, O Jehovah, be gracious to me, and raise me up;o Jehovah "By this I shall know that thou delightest in me, alone That mine enemy will not shout in triumph over me, can 12But as for me, in mine integrity thou holdest me fast, And thou wilt set me before thy face forever." § 159. Prayer for Prosperity, Ps. 67 Ps. 67 1Jehovah be gracious to us and bless us, And cause his face to shine upon us, 12712 Slightly restoring the text as the context and metre require. To the original ps. a new editor or scribe has added the following prose lines, Unless I had believed to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. ... Wait on Jehovah, be strong, and let thy heart be firm and wait on Jehovah. § 158 It is evident that this is a personal rather than a national song. It is probably one of the many of similar tenor which come from the first part of the Persian period. k411 Following the suggestion of the Gk., which adds needy in reconstructing the text. 1412 Heb. adds make him happy. Possibly this is original, although the absence of the connective and suggests that this one of the three verbs in the line was added by a later scribe. m412 Following the VSS. in correcting an obvious error in the Heb. n413 Translating the Heb., which reads thou hast changed all his bed in his illness, as the parallelism demands. 04110 Heb. adds and I will repay them. Possibly this is a fragment of a line that has been otherwise lost, but more probably it is a scribal addition. P4112 This ps., standing at the end of the first Davidic collection, has appended to it the doxology: Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, From everlasting unto everlasting. Amen and amen. 159 This prayer is based on the promise of Lev. 263-9 and its opening vss. are a paraphrase of the priestly blessing in Nu. 624-26. The broad missionary note relates this hymn of mingled vindi cate Bless thy people with pros perity Let all nations praise thy just rule Also The pilgrim's joy Jerusalem's attractions The pilgrim's benediction Heed the prayer of thy servant "That thy way may be known upon earth, "Let the peoples give thee thanks, O Jehovah, "Let the peoples give thee thanks, O Jehovah, "May" all the ends of the earth fear him. § 160. Prayer for the Peace and Prosperity of Jerusalem, Ps. 122 Ps. 122 1I am glad when they say to me: 'We are going to the house of "I am glad when our feet are standing within thy gates, O Jerusalem. 30 Jerusalem that art again built up, as a city that is compacted together; "Pray: 'Peace be to Jerusalem, and prosperity" to those who love thee. § 161. Appeal to Jehovah for Guidance and Help, Ps. 86 Ps. 86 1Incline thine ear, O Jehovah, Answer me for I am afflicted and poor, 20 keep my life, for I am pious, petition and thanksgiving to Zech. 8 and Is. 40-50. Vs. indicates that its background is a time of prosperity, when the Jews stood on a friendly attitude toward the heathen. It comes either from the days following Nehemiah or from the early Gk. period. The refrain is found at the beginning of the second and third stanzas. 4677 Heb. repeats Jehovah will bless us, but it is incongruous with the prevailing strophic measure and is probably secondary. $160 This beautiful pilgrim ps. is written in the unusual six-beat measure. Like most of the pilgrim pss., it comes from the Gk. period. 1222 Syr., my feet. 1224 Heb. adds as is prescribed to Israel. t1224 Heb., to Jehovah's name. r 1226 So Gk. § 161 This ps. has been described as colorless, lifeless, and void of all originality. It certainly lacks unity and vigor. Its ideas are chiefly drawn from the prophetic books and earlier pss. It also lacks the carefully developed metrical parallelism that characterizes most pss. Its dependence upon Jonah, cf., e. g., 5, 15 and Jon. 42, and upon other late O.T. books suggests that it was written by a person in sympathy with the forerunners of the Hasideans who lived late in the Gk. or early in the Maccabean period. |