1. For the concertmaster on the eight[-string], a psalm belonging to David.
Yahweh, please bring about salvation,
because [the] godly one is over with,
because faithful men have disappeared from among Adam’s descendents.
2. It is vanity that they speak – each one to his neighbor.
[It’s with] lips of flattery – with [one] heart and then [another] heart – they speak.
3. Yahweh will bring about an end to all flattering lips
– the tongue that speaks of big things,
4. which say, “It is our language that we will make mighty;
our lips will be with us! Who will be master over us?”
5. “From devastation of lowly ones,
from sighing of needy ones,
now I will arise,” says Yahweh, “I will put in safety.”
(He’s going to cause them to suck wind!”)
6. The sayings of Yahweh are sayings of purity –
silver, smelted in the crucible on the ground, refined seven times.
7. As for you, Yahweh, You will take care of them;
You will protect us from this generation forever.
8. Wicked men are all around.
They conduct themselves according to the exaltation of shaky business toward Adam’s descendents.
· Like Psalm 6, this one has the word sheminith in the superscription, which literally means “eight”. Guitar players nowadays have a similar name for a guitar that we call a “twelve string.” Mandolins have eight strings, but this shemminith may have been more like a small harp.
· This Psalm is used by Jews in association with circumcision on the 8th day.
· This Psalm is organized with both overall chiasm and with has a set of parallel statements (which say essentially the same thing) in each verse.
· This Psalm is about good words and bad words.
· But I want to begin with another story from the Bible, the story of Elijah from 1 Kings 19: Elijah had just prayed on Mount Carmel and gotten God to send fire from heaven to burn up his sacrifice, then executed hundreds of pagan priests and then saw God break a three-year drought with rain. King Ahab saw it all too, and when Ahab came home and told his wife Jezebel about all that Elijah had done, “Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not [kill you] by tomorrow about this time.’ And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life... he… went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough; now, O LORD, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers…’ [After a while he told God,] ‘I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.’ [And after showing his presence] The LORD said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place… Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him…’” (1 Kings 19:1-19 NASB)
· Are you discouraged like Elijah was after hearing bad news? Are you discouraged that there seems to be so much corruption in our government and apostasy in our churches and discord in our homes? David struggled with that too, and that’s what this psalm is about:
· The ESV is correct in that David’s opening request is the Hebrew root word for “save” rather than the word for “help,” although practically that’s what we mean when we say, “HELP!” (I translated the paragogic He suffix as “please,” a polite form of the imperative.)
· Did you realize that “HELP!” is a Biblical prayer? Use it!
o Charles Spurgeon called it your “angel’s sword… to be used on all occasions,” and added, “As small ships can sail into harbours which larger vessels, drawing more water, cannot enter, so our brief cries and short petitions may trade with heaven when… the stream of grace seems at too low an ebb to float a more laborious supplication.”
· David then gives God concrete reasons for his request. The word “because/for” is a biblical pattern for prayer. When you pray, consider stating your reasons to God for the requests you are bringing before Him.
o The two reasons David gives are pretty much one and the same: people whose lives are oriented around God just aren’t around any more; they’ve been finished off, and people who are honest and true to their word, faithful in following God have vanished/disappeared.
· Have you ever felt that way? Elijah felt that way in 1 Kings 19.
o “[T]he death, departure, or decline of godly men should be a trumpet-call for more prayer... We must not, however, be rash in our judgment on this point, for Elijah erred in counting himself the only servant of God alive, when there were thousands whom the Lord held in reserve. The present times always appear to be peculiarly dangerous, because they are nearest to our anxious gaze, and whatever evils are rife are sure to be observed, while the faults of past ages are further off, and are more easily overlooked.” Charles Spurgeon, Treasury of David.
· Have you ever felt that way? “I just wish somebody would tell me what they really think rather than what they think I want to hear!”
· The wording of this verse in Hebrew is literally they have “a heart and then a heart” – they are “two-faced” and deceptive; they “talk out of both sides of their mouth.”
· Consider the phrase “reproductive rights.” You would think it means a set of rights related to reproducing something, presumably children, but these days, the phrase is used to mean the rights of some women to make the public pay doctors to disable said women from reproducing and to end the lives of any children that they did reproduce[2]. It is a deceptive and duplicitous use of words. But so is the phrase, “Thanks a lot!” – said in the wrong way.
· The first key word in Hebrew is shava, which some translate “lies/falsehood,” but its primary meaning is the concept of being “empty/idle” and would include speech that is “insincere” or “irresponsible.” (Boice)
· The Hebrew word translated “flattering” literally has to do with being “flat” and “smooth.”
o In Proverbs 6:24, it’s the strange, adulterous woman who speaks with a “flattering tongue,”
o and in Isaiah 30:10, it was the unfaithful Jews who told the prophet to “prophecy “pleasant/flatteries.”
· But that’s not what prophets are supposed to do. Prophets are supposed to point out sin and help God’s people change to obey God.
o Now, it’s one thing to be polite and redemptive rather than obnoxious and shaming when it comes to other people’s sin, but people who would never mention it if you did something wrong are NOT your friends.
o Here’s another Spurgeon quote, “He who puffs up another man’s heart has nothing but wind in his own!”
o Those kind of people don’t love you enough to help you find God’s blessing, and they will just as soon say bad things about you behind your back. We need friends (and family) who will love us enough to point out sin in our lives and encourage us to get right with God.
o Our template is Ephesians 4:25, “Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.” (NASB)
· I find it interesting how the verbs describing the Lord’s action to save (in v.1) and to cut off evil (in v.3) are indirect (Hiphil stem). As supreme king, it is expected that God’s agents are the ones who will do the dirty work for Him. On the other hand, God’s personal actions of hearing our cries and loving and keeping us are described in the Psalms with direct verb forms like the Qal stem. What an amazing privilege to have a direct relationship with God, even though He is the King of the universe!
· In v.3, another problem with words is lined out, and that is the problem of proud boasting about big stuff.
· Flattery and boasting are actually the same vice, because boasting is just flattering yourself. (Spurgeon)
· How many times have you had to listen to someone go on and on about how clever they are or how awful their health is or how successful their children or grandchildren are or how awesome their game is or how many famous people they have met or whatever. Sure we can “rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep,” but when they go on and on about it, they’re just bragging and it is grating-ly unpleasant to listen to. What can a Christian pray or think in such circumstances?
· Here, the Hebrew imperfect tense supports either a Jussive interpretation (“May the lord cut off” – Del.) or a Future interpretation (“The Lord will cut off”); either of which is true theologically as well.
· The figurative interpretation of “bring an end to” flattery seems more likely to me than the literal interpretation of “cut off lips” – the latter of which sounds like something from Sharia’ law.
· We can pray for the day when God’s greatness is no longer ignored or challenged, and then one day it will be a reality when “every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord” and glorifies God the Father.
· At the same time, as Augustine pointed out, it will be ALL boastful, flattering speech that our Lord Jesus will judge, and so we need to examine our own speech.
o Are there any ways that we fudge on telling the truth?
o Are there any ways that we draw attention away from God by what we say?
o Romans 2:9-11 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God.” (NASB)
· Verse 4 speaks of the way unbelievers – then and now – put themselves in the place of God, rejecting the authority of the one true God and claiming that no one can judge them or tell them what to do; they want to be autonomous. “[W]e will give emphasis to our tongue” (Delitzsch).
· The Hebrew word it in ittanu can be translated either as a definite object indicator, making –nu (“us”) a predicate nominative, as the NKJ, NIV, and ESV rendered it, “our lips are our own,” or this Hebrew word it can be translated as a preposition (“with”) as the KJV, NAS, AJV did[5], similar to the word Immanuel, which means “God with us,” but here they are saying, “our lips are with us.”
o Now, which would you rather have with you when you’re in trouble? Jesus or your lips? That’s a serious question!
o Both the claim that they own their lips (and therefore God is not lord over what they say), as well as the claim that their lips will always be with them (to talk themselves out of any future problems they might have), both claims are realistic descriptions of ways people think when they are in rebellion against God.
· “To chose the way of the lie and deception is to reject decidedly the way of Yahweh and to opt instead for self-power and self-interest.” ~Gerald Wilson, NIV Application Commentary
· The French atheist Voltaire wrote in the mid-1700’s, “In twenty years, Christianity will be no more. My single hand shall destroy the edifice it took twelve apostles to rear[6].” Those words might have been unsettling to Christians in his day, but we can laugh now at his vain boasting!
· This reminds me of Jeremiah 9:2-6 “Oh that I had in the desert A wayfarers' lodging place; That I might leave my people And go from them! For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men. They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” declares the LORD. “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the LORD… 9. “Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD.
· Indeed God did punish the Jews of Jeremiah’s day which “would not obey God, but walked after the stubbornness of their own heart.” He punished them with exile in Babylon. This assures us that God will judge the arrogant, rebellious words of those who think they can get away with it still today.
· Now we reach the end of the words of the godless, and God starts talking in v.5!
· We have already seen in Psalm 10:2 and 9:18 that God sees it when poor/afflicted/weak/lowly people are taken advantage of, and that God will bring to justice those who take advantage of them.
o Eventually the time will come – that “‘ata [“now”], that decisive turning-point from forebearance to the execution of judgment” (Delitzsch).
· David prayed in the first verse Hoshi’ah (“Cause to be safe”), and now God is answering that prayer by actively intervening and moving His vulnerable people into a yaysha’ (“safe place”) – using the same Hebrew root word.
o God had shown salvation in the past when He delivered the children of Israel from being captured by the Egyptian army at the Red Sea: “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.” (Ex. 14:13, NASB)
o And later on, when the Moabite army threatened Israel, God told King Jehosaphat, “…stand and see the salvation of the LORD on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out to face them, for the LORD is with you.” (2 Chron. 20:17, NASB) And they were amazingly delivered.
o And then in Luke 2:30, Simeon saw Jesus in the temple and praised God saying, “My eyes have seen Your salvation!”
· The last verb in this verse:
o is interpreted by the KJV, AJV and NIV[7] the same way the word was used previously in Psalm 10:5 as a sort of breathing that is like a scornful snort,
o but other English translations, (and, as far as I can tell, most translations into other languages[8], translate it as a sort of breathing that is a “panting/ yearning/ longing” on the part of the sufferer[9].
o Another possibility is that since this verb is singular and the nouns for “the wicked” and for “the poor” are plural, this could be referring to the singular “God,” and would make a third verb in a row with God as the subject, saying that He is going to make the bad guys “suck wind” because they’re going to chase after the poor like Wile E. Coyote chases after Roadrunner, but God is going to keep moving the poor to safety such that the oppressors just tire themselves out in a vain pursuit[10].
o This is poetry, so it may be impossible to nail down for sure, but these meanings all make sense to me and are all consistent with the rest of the Bible.
o The point is that God pays attention and responds to our suffering. Charles Spurgeon put it this way, “Observe that the mere oppression of saints, however silently they bear it, is in itself a cry to God... Jesus feels with his people, and their smarts are mighty orators with him… Nothing moves a father like the cries of his children; he bestirs himself, wakes up his manhood, overthrows the enemy, and sets his beloved in safety… It is a fair day when our soul brings God into her quarrel!”
· Next, in v.6, David comments on the words of the Lord:
· We’ve looked at the words of the wicked, but God has words too; He is the personal God who can formulate words and propositions, the communicative God who speaks[12] to mankind, so let us look at what His words are like.
· God’s words are of a different quality from the words of men, they are clean rather than unclean, uniquely fitted to His nature and to His standards and not fitted to the sinful nature of man.
· The metaphor of the purity of God’s words is that of a precious metal which is refined an extraordinary number of times.
o The decorations of pure gold used in the tabernacle (Ex. 25ff) were also a symbol of the purity of God.
o His words are not junk silver, not tarnished silver, they are sparkling clean, out-of-the-ordinary, and highly valuable.
· Is that how you think of God’s words in the Bible?
o Do you treat God’s word with respect? I often have to tell my children during family devotions, “Don’t talk while the Bible is being read.” When God’s word is spoken, you should drop everything else and put your mind at attention.
o God’s word is not to be taken for granted. Do you take the time to read it? Do you value it enough to memorize parts of it?
o If God’s words are unique and extraordinary and precious, let us not treat it casually!
· Likewise, if we are children of God, then our words should reflect His words. Are the words we say pure, clean, true, and fitting to the character of God?
· The KJV, NIV, and most ancient versions (LXX, Vulgate) match the objects of the two parallel verbs shamar “keep” and natzar “preserve” so that they both say “them” or both say “us.” But the ESV & AJV preserve the reading of the Masoretic Hebrew text which says “keep them… guard us.” (However, other eminent Hebrew scholars Kimchi, Delitzsch, and Cohen say the second is not “us” but “him,” which is the reading of the NASB and some Greek versions.) Whether or not the pronouns are identical, the two halves of this verse point to the same truth: God’s watch-care applies to all those who humbly trust God. Do you believe that God is “guarding” and “protecting” you to take care of you and preserve you from being destroyed by the wickedness of the generation we live in today?
· “It should be our daily prayer,” wrote Spurgeon, “that we may rise above our age as the mountain-tops above the clouds, and may stand out as heaven-pointing pinnacle high above the mists of ignorance and sin which roll around us.” Not in our own strength but because of God Himself who will “keep” you and “guard” you all the way into eternity.
· The word for “vileness”
o only occurs once in the Bible, and that is here.
o It is singular, (which is perhaps why the NKJ abandoned the KJV plural translation of “vile men”)
o According to Strong’s and Brown-Driver-Briggs’ Hebrew lexicons, the root meaning has to do with “shaking,” so I thought the phrase “shaky business” might fit well here.
o (cf. words with the same root in Deuteronomy 21:20; Proverbs 23:20,21; 28:7; Isaiah 18:5; 64:1,3; Jeremiah 15:19; Lamentations 1:8,11)
o Delitzsch, however, traced the verb to a different root זָלַל “to be supple and lax, narrow, low, weak and worthless…” and said, “[I]t is the epithet applied to that which is depreciated, despised, and to be despised.” I don’t know how to evaluate that claim, as I don’t have any further evidence in favor of it.
o It certainly reminds me of a lot of things I’ve seen happen in our day.
§ Flying gay pride flags at U.S. embassy buildings
§ and celebrating a criminal child-abuser with a postage stamp.
§ Requiring employers to fund abortions and illegal immigration
§ while requiring taxpayers to pay for sex-change surgeries for soldiers,
§ clean needles for drug users, and free guns to drug lords.
§ But consider the problems in our own hearts! “We have an almost unlimited ability to deny the truth. [We say, ‘]I have not chosen wrongly, but I am a victim forced into this lifestyle by a hurtful society, parent, spouse, and so on. What I am doing is not so bad – especially when you compare it to what others are doing. If you had a spouse (job, problem) like mine, you would drink (smoke… act out…) too. No one is getting hurt…’ Most of us know someone who uses these types of blatant distortions to justify a path of destructive behavior. Perhaps we are there ourselves. There are other, more subtle lies that we tell ourselves… ‘I am not worth much. I can’t do anything of value. I am unlovable. I am incompetent. I have to control my life and others to see that my needs are met.’ These are all attitudes based on a series of foundational lies. If my value is based on what others perceive about me, then I must always present an acceptable outside. Since I cannot always do that, then I must become better and better about hiding the truth about myself from those whose opinion I value and whose relationship I fear to lose. This way of the lie is a setup for failure.” ~Gerald Wilson
§ Yeah, we do our share of exalting shaky business.
§ But if we get stuck in the last verse of the Psalm, we haven’t gotten the message of the Psalm. You have to go back into the Psalm to grasp its message.
· The ancient church father Augustine did this by ending at verse 1. He brought the psalm back full circle by returning to the sheminith or number 8 which opens the psalm: “The ungodly walk …” he wrote, “in a repeated circle of seven days; and therefore they do not arrive at the eighth, that is, at eternity, for which this Psalm is entitled.” The eighth day is the day of completion and of rest.
· I also like the way Franz Delitzsch wrapped up the psalm. He said, “[This] Psalm is a ring and [its] central oracle is its jewel,” referring to the six lines just past the middle of the Psalm which, in chiastic organization is the focal point: “‘I will arise now,’ says Yahweh, ‘I will put in safety that for which he longs.’ The sayings of Yahweh are sayings of purity – silver, smelted in the crucible on the ground, refined seven times. As for you, Yahweh, You will take care of them; You will protect us from this generation forever.” That is the precious jewel to stare at.
· It is these perfect words of God that transform David’s perspective and give him the resolve to keep on walking faithfully in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation. In the words of the late Dr. Jim Boice, “[T]he psalmist now realizes that, regardless of what others do, he has the word of the reliable God as his rock and is able to stand on this firm foundation.” And he ends his commentary on Psalm 12 with a quote from J.C. Ryle, “While I wait, I am standing on the rock.” The rock of God’s pure words is a sure foundation!
· God’s words of course include the words in the Bible, but also include Jesus, the “word made flesh,” and ultimately our confidence is in Him.
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Psalm 12 |
NAW |
KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
LXX |
Brenton |
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(א) לַמְנַצֵּחַ עַל הַשְּׁמִינִית מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד. (ב) הוֹשִׁיעָהhv2ms יְהוָה כִּי גָמַר חָסִיד כִּי פַסּוּqp3cp אֱמוּנִים מִבְּנֵי אָדָם. |
For
the concertmaster on the eight[-string],
a psalm belonging to David. |
1 To the chief Musician upon X Sheminith, A Psalm of David. Help, LORD; for the godly man ceaseth; for [the] faithful fail from among the children of men. |
1 To
the Chief Musician. On |
1 To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David. Save, O LORD, for [the] godly one is gone; for [the] faithful have vanished from among the children of man. |
1 For
the choir director; upon |
1 For
the director of music. According to X sheminith. A psalm of David. Help, LORD, for [the] godly |
1 Εἰς τὸ
τέλος, ὑπὲρ τῆς
ὀγδόης·
ψαλμὸς τῷ
Δαυιδ. Σῶσόν
|
1 For the end, A Psalm of David, upon the eighth. Save |
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(ג) שָׁוְא יְדַבְּרוּpi3mp אִישׁ אֶת רֵעֵהוּ שְׂפַת חֲלָקוֹת בְּלֵב וָלֵב יְדַבֵּרוּpi3mp. |
2. It is vanity that they speak - each one to his neighbor. [It’s with] lips of flattery - with [one] heart and then [another] heart - that they speak. |
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbour: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak. |
2 They speak idly everyone with his neighbor; With flattering lips and a double heart they speak. |
2 Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. |
2 They speak falsehood X to one X another; With flattering lips and with a double heart they speak. |
2 Everyone X lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips
speak with |
2 μάταια ἐλάλησεν ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ, χείλη δόλια ἐν καρδίᾳ καὶ ἐν καρδίᾳ ἐλάλησαν. |
2 Every one has spoken vanity to his neighbour: their lips are deceitful, they have spoken with a double heart. |
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(ד) יַכְרֵתhj3ms יְהוָה כָּל שִׂפְתֵי חֲלָקוֹת לָשׁוֹן מְדַבֶּרֶתprfs גְּדֹלוֹת. |
3. Yahweh will bring about and end to all flattering lips – the tongue that speaks of big things, |
3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things: |
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, And the tongue that speaks proud things, |
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering
lips, the tongue that |
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, The tongue that speaks great things; |
3 May the LORD cut off all flattering lips [and] every boastful tongue |
3 ἐξολεθρεύσαι κύριος πάντα τὰ χείλη τὰ δόλια [καὶ] γλῶσσαν μεγαλορήμονα |
3 Let the Lord destroy all the deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaks great words: |
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(ה) אֲשֶׁר אָמְרוּqi3mp לִלְשֹׁנֵנוּ נַגְבִּירhi1cs שְׂפָתֵינוּ אִתָּנוּ מִי אָדוֹן לָנוּ. |
4. which say, “It is our language that we will make mighty; our lips will be with us! Who will be master over us?” |
4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us? |
4 Who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; Who is lord over us?" |
4 those who say, "With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?" |
4 Who have said, "With our tongue we will prevail; Our lips are our own; who is lord over us?" |
4 that says, "We will triumph with our
tongue |
4 τοὺς εἰπόντας Τὴν γλῶσσαν ἡμῶν μεγαλυνοῦμεν, τὰ χείλη ἡμῶν παρ᾿ ἡμῶν ἐστιν· τίς ἡμῶν κύριός ἐστιν; |
4 who have said, We will magnify our tongue; our lips are our own: who is Lord of us? |
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(ו) מִשֹּׁד עֲנִיִּים מֵאַנְקַת אֶבְיוֹנִים עַתָּה אָקוּםqi1cs יֹאמַרqi3ms יְהוָה אָשִׁיתqi1cs בְּיֵשַׁע יָפִיחַhi3ms לוֹ. |
5. “From devastation of lowly ones, from sighing of needy ones, now I will arise,” says Yahweh, “I will put in safety.” (He’s going to cause them to suck wind!”) |
5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him. |
5 "For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, Now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set him in [the] safety for which he yearns." |
5 "Because the poor are plunder |
5 "Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise," says the LORD; "I will set [him] in [the] safety for which he longs." |
5 "Because of the oppression of the weak and the groaning of the needy, I will now
arise," says the LORD. "I will |
5 Ἀπὸ τῆς ταλαιπωρίας τῶν πτωχῶν καὶ ἀπὸ τοῦ στεναγμοῦ τῶν πενήτων νῦν ἀναστήσομαι, λέγει κύριος, θήσομαι ἐν σωτηρίᾳ, παρρησιάσομαι ἐν αὐτῷ. |
5 Because of the misery of the poor, and because of the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord, I will set them in safety; I will speak to them thereof openly. |
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(ז) אִמֲרוֹת יְהוָה אֲמָרוֹת טְהֹרוֹת כֶּסֶף צָרוּףqr(psv)ms בַּעֲלִיל לָאָרֶץ מְזֻקָּקPiPrtms שִׁבְעָתָיִם. |
6. The sayings of Yahweh are sayings of purity – silver, smelted in the crucible on the ground, refined seven times. |
6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver
tried in |
6 The words of the LORD are pure words, Like
silver tried in |
6 The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in |
6 The words of the LORD are pure words; As silver tried in |
6 And the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver refined in |
6 τὰ λόγια κυρίου λόγια ἁγνά, ἀργύριον πεπυρωμένον δοκίμιον τῇ γῇ κεκαθαρισμένον ἑπταπλασίως. |
6 The oracles of the Lord are pure oracles; as silver tried in the fire, proved in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. |
|
(ח) אַתָּה יְהוָה תִּשְׁמְרֵםqi2ms תִּצְּרֶנּוּqi2ms מִן הַדּוֹר זוּ לְעוֹלָם. |
7. As for you, Yahweh, You will take care of them; You will protect us from this generation forever. |
7 Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve |
7 You shall keep them, O LORD, You shall preserve |
7 You, O LORD, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever. |
7 You, O LORD, will keep them; You will preserve him from this generation forever. |
7 O LORD, you will keep |
7 σύ,
κύριε, φυλάξεις
|
7 Thou, O Lord, shalt keep us, and shalt preserve us, from this generation, and for ever. |
|
(ט) סָבִיב רְשָׁעִים יִתְהַלָּכוּןHiti3mp כְּרֻםqInf זֻלּוּת לִבְנֵי אָדָם. |
8. Wicked men are all around. They conduct themselves according to the exaltation of shaky-business toward Adam’s descendents. |
8 The wicked walk on every side, when [the] vilest |
8 The wicked prowl on every side, When vileness is exalted among the sons of men. |
8 On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man. |
8 The wicked strut about on every side When vileness is exalted among the sons of men. |
8 The wicked freely strut about when what is vile is honored among men. |
8 κύκλῳ
οἱ ἀσεβεῖς περιπατοῦσιν·
κατὰ
τὸ ὕψος |
8 The ungodly walk around: according to thy greatness thou has greatly exalted the sons of men. |
[1] (“end/cease/fail” cf. Ps. 7:9 where David prayed for God to “end” wickedness. This is the only instance of the pss root in the Bible.)
[2] Thanks to Boice for this example.
[3] The plural amru (“they say”) seems to refer to the plural “lips” from the previous verse as its subject.
[4] The only other use of the lamed prepositional prefix with the word lishon- in the Bible is three times in Gen. 10 where it refers to language. Nowhere else does lishon appear in the Bible with the 1st plural suffix, though.
[5] (+ LXX, French, Vulgate, and Delitzsch)
[6] As quoted by James M. Boice in his commentary on the Psalms, Vol.1, p.101.
[7] (+ JFB, CHS, & Kimchi)
[8] Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, French L2, but not Spanish RVR
[9] cf. Del., who says the preposition b- would have been used if it was the wicked snorting at the weak
[10] Problems with this view, however are: 1) the sudden shift from God as first person - “I will arise” - to God as third person - “He will cause to pant,” and the singular object to the verb lo which matches the masculine singular “safety” better. However, these objections can be countered with the fact that there is a sudden shift between first and third person in parallel phrases in v.7 where the object is obviously the same, and there is also the fact that the independent third singular personal pronoun is often used throughout Hebrew scriptures to refer to plural entities.
[11] This is the only place in the Bible we have this word for “furnace” and most lexicographers seem to think it is a specialty word for a crucible, although Delitzsch suggests “workshop.” He also says that it’s not a furnace sitting on the ground, but rather the pure molten silver running down towards the ground from the crucible, leaving the dross behind. Cohen says it’s metal being “poured from the crucible into the mould in the ground.”
[12] The Hebrew root is amr (“say”), not dbr (“word”), so these are things God has personally said, not just as poetic sayings (which might be the connotation of our English word “sayings”) but as communication.
[13] The ESV offers a more literal translation of the preposition (c-) by rendering it “as” instead of “when” (which is more usually a translation of the preposition b-)
[14] The ancient translations into Greek and Latin read differently, “According to Your greatness you have multiplied the children of men” (Lamsa’s English translation of the Syriac agrees with the English versions, and so does the French L2 and Spanish RVR.