Jeremy Thompson Catholic PhD in Biblical Languages, Programmer, Runner

I glanced at the lectionary readings earlier in the day, but spent a little more time with them tonight, especially the response, which was Psalm 98.  I wanted to point out one feature of verse 1 in particular that struck me, and this is one of the types of things I think we miss in English.

The English of Psalm 98.1

Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
His right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm. (NAB)

This second half of this verse communicates the strength of God’s right hand and of his holy arm.  That seems fairly straightforward, and frankly, that language might get a little boring as often as one hears about God’s right hand in the Old Testament.  However, I think something more is going on at the level of the sounds of the verse, specifically in the second part which reads: “His right hand has won victory for him, his holy arm.”

The Hebrew of Psalm 98.1

Since my main audience for this site is not necessarily scholars, I’m going to leave the text out.  (You can check out the Hebrew of Psalm 98 at the link if you would like).  I think many listeners may be able to catch this on the basis of sound alone (plus I’ve given it away a little in the title of the post).  At any rate, check it out and see if you notice anything interesting (it’s only three seconds long):

AssonancePsalm98

Did you catch it?

There is a pretty significant repetition of the “o” vowel sound especially at the ends of words.  There is even  a use of the “o” vowel that might not be necessary (for my more advanced readers, lo [prep + pronominal suffix] doesn’t occur with the verb translated above as “has won” anywhere else that I am aware of).  Perhaps I am making too much of this, but it seems to me that the repetition of the “o” vowel may be adding an additional layer to attempting to convey the awe-inspiring nature of the wondrous deeds of the Lord and the power of his right hand/holy arm.

Perhaps, I’m making too much out of too little, but we have something analogous in English when we speak of something eliciting “oohhs” and “aahhs.”

Related – Check out some of my other Psalms posts from this week:

Psalm 103 & Prosperity Thought

Psalm 1.4 – A Video Illustration of Chaff

Psalm 1.1 – Translation Comparison

Just started teaching a study on Psalms today in my parish.  One of the texts we looked at was Psalm 33 and I was reminded from verse 17 that there is a lot of hatin’ on horses in the Old Testament.  Here’s a sampling:

1. Useless is the horse for safety; its great strength, no sure escape. (Psa 33:17 NAB)
2. Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who depend upon horses; Who put their trust in chariots because of their number, and in horsemen because of their combined power, But look not to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the LORD! (Isa 31:1 NAB)
3. you shall set that man over you as your king whom the LORD, your God, chooses. He whom you set over you as king must be your kinsman; a foreigner, who is no kin of yours, you may not set over you.  But he shall not have a great number of horses; nor shall he make his people go back again to Egypt to acquire them, against the LORD’S warning that you must never go back that way again.
   (Deu 17:15-16 NAB)

There are number of other texts that are similar.  Two things are at work, namely the horse’s association with war and the horse’s association with Egypt.   Surely this is not the whole story as the Biblical authors were probably more well disposed to horses at times of military strength, but even still I suppose the Bible is not a book for horse lovers.

Today’s responsorial Psalm blew my mind, but not in some super spiritual way.  Psalm 131 reads as follows:

1 O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
too great and too marvelous for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.
3 O Israel, hope in the Lord
from this time on and forevermore (emphasis added).

I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’ve experienced calm and quiet since our children were born (and the oldest is 5 going on 6).  But, they sure are beautiful and I love them.

Abigail

Katherine

Abigail, Katherine, & Me

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Here is some listening for today’s responsorial Psalm, which was Psalm 24.  Many people may not realize that the song “Give us Clean Hands” is taken almost entirely from this text:

Psalm 124:7

“We escaped with our lives like a bird from the fowler’s snare; the snare was broken and we escaped.”

Thought he had one … but it got away.

Been slacking on my link posts lately.  But, it’s been a busy month at work.  At any rate, HERE is a post worth a link.  John Hobbins offers a few thoughts on prayer according to the Psalms.  In it he notes that God desires both reverence and honesty in prayer.  Many feel like to be reverent one cannot be honest.  One cannot complain against God.  This is not what one finds in the Psalms.

The Old Testament lectionary reading today was from Malachi 3 and the responsorial Psalm was Psalm 1.  When you read these two passages together, there is an amazing contrast and I wonder if it was purposeful.  First, read Psalm 1 (NAB):

1

Happy those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, Nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.

2

Rather, the law of the LORD is their joy; God’s law they study day and night.

3

They are like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.

4

But not the wicked! They are like chaff driven by the wind.

5

Therefore the wicked will not survive judgment, nor will sinners in the assembly of the just.

6

The LORD watches over the way of the just, but the way of the wicked leads to ruin.

Next, read what those who displease YHWH are saying in Malachi 3 (though it seems these words are obviously being placed in their mouths):

You have said, “It is vain to serve God, and what do we profit by keeping his command, And going about in penitential dress in awe of the LORD of hosts? Rather must we call the proud blessed; for indeed evildoers prosper, and even tempt God with impunity.”

The complaint being placed in their mouths is basically that texts like Psalm 1 do not appear to be true.  In Psalm 1, the righteous man prospers in whatever he does and the wicked man is ruined.  But, the people have noticed that often righteous men do not profit in whatever they do and wicked men get ahead in life being left unpunished.  Thus, they go ahead and “call the proud blessed.”

The prophet then proceeds to tell them that this is not the proper attitude to take, though he appears assume that there conclusions about their life situation (i.e. that the wicked prosper and the righteous do not) are correct.  The promises of texts like Psalm 1 are shifted to the future.  There is going to be a future day when YHWH “takes action” (Malachi 3.17).  There is going to be a future day when the distinction between the righteous and the wicked becomes clear again (Malachi 3.18).  A considerable number of centuries later we still pay heed to this advice.  Righteousness and wickedness seem to have little to do with who prospers in this life.  Sometimes righteous people do and sometimes they don’t.  Sometimes wicked people do and sometimes they don’t.  But, it is important to approach this situation with a proper attitude.  Just because wicked people get ahead doesn’t mean that we call evil good.

Today’s responsorial Psalm is Psalm 137.  Here’s a YouTube video of my favorite version of “Rivers of Babylon,” which was inspired by this Psalm.  It is a cover by Sublime and may not be what some people are accustomed to when thinking about this Psalm.  Enjoy!

One of the primary features of the Hebrew poetry of the Old Testament is parallelism.  One of these types of parallelism is called synonymous, which means that the writer is essentially saying the same thing two different ways.  In today’s responsorial Psalm, there is a potentially helpful example of synonymous parallelism.  It may demonstrate the idea that God’s name is synonymous with God’s power.  Psalm 54.3 reads:

O God, by your name save me,

by your power plead my cause.

The parallels here are your name/your power and save me/plead my cause.  Of course, there is no such thing as full correspondence between synonyms.  God’s name can communicate more than the idea of power.  And, power is not limited to God’s name.  Perhaps this is even some other kind of parallelism (though I don’t think so).  However, it is sometimes said that God’s name is representative of God’s power.  Yet many people may not know where this idea comes from.  Psalm 54.3 is one potential place to drawn upon for that idea.

For more on parallelism check out:

Words for idols in Hebrew are almost always very interesting.  In the Responsorial Psalm for today, many translations of Psalm 96.6 read: “For all the gods of the people are idols…” (NRSV, NASB, among others).  Yet when one looks at the root idea of the word underlying the translation idols it appears to mean something akin to worthlessness.  So, it is not that the Psalmist is saying that the gods of the nations are little statues.  He is making a value judgment about them.