Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church, Manhattan, KS, 3 Dec. 2023
This is the last of the four maskil (wisdom) psalms of David in the second book of Psalms.
It
fits with the time in David’s life when his son Absalom and his
expert advisor Ahithophel tried to overthrow him, although many
modern commentaries deny it1.
2 Samuel 15:10ff Absalom
commissioned spies into all the tribes of Israel to say, "As
soon as y'all hear the sound of the trumpet, then say, 'Absalom is
king in Hebron!'" Now 200 men invited from Jerusalem went with
Absalom, and they went with integrity, for they did not know the
whole of the matter. Also, while he was sacrificing the sacrifices,
Absalom sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, a counselor of David's,
from his town of Giloh. So the conspiracy became strong, and the
people were going along and becoming numerous with Absalom.
Presently, the communication came to David, saying that the heart of
each Israelite was behind Absalom. Then David said to all his
servants who were with him in Jerusalem, "Get up and let us
flee, for there will be for us no escape from Absalom's presence.
Move quickly2
to go, otherwise he will move quickly and overtake us, and unleash
the worst upon us, and he will strike the city with the edge of a
sword." So the king's servants said to the king, "As to
what ever my lord the king chooses, here we are to be your
servants!" And the king went out - along with all his household
- on foot, although the king left ten women of {his} concubines to
tend to the house…. 30 David was ascending up the Mount of Olives,
going up and weeping with his head covered, and he was walking
barefoot, and all of the people who were with him, each covered his
head, and they went up, ascending and weeping. Presently it was
communicated to David, saying, "Ahithophel is among the
conspirators with Absalom," so David said, "Please
befuddle the counsel of Ahithophel, O Yahweh." (NAW)
Now, you may never have been the object of a coup d’état, like David was, with an army breathing down your neck, threatening to conquer your capitol city, but most of us have had some experience with people not wanting us around.
I remember joining the basketball team in junior high school, only to discover that I was not wanted there. Teammates bullied me in the locker room, left me out of important team communications, and generally avoided me, and the coach left me on the bench more than any other player. I dreaded going to practices, knowing that my team and my coach wished I wasn’t there, and I dreaded the shame of going to games. I’ll never forget when one of my classmates in the bleachers yelled at me during a game, “Hey Wilson, can I borrow your jersey?” He was voicing what everybody knew: I would never be allowed to play in the game, so why was I even wearing a team jersey? Maybe that isn’t the best illustration, because I wasn’t actually any good at basketball, but the point is that rejection by people you wanted to be with is a devastatingly-difficult experience.
It happens at work, perhaps if you’re a rookie, or perhaps if you’re nearing retirement, or when there’s a change in management.
But the pain is even worse when it’s in your own home: when a parent plays favorites with your sibling, or when a spouse discovers that their partner has chosen somebody else to be intimate with.
The anguish that David expresses in Psalm 55 gives us words to express these feelings, and his desperation for God’s comfort gives us an example of what to do when it feels like somebody has stuck a knife in your heart.
Read
my translation:
{For
the concertmaster with strings, a thoughtful one by David.}
Please give ear, O God, to my prayer. And don’t act like you
didn’t hear about my petition! Please be attentive to me and
answer me! I am restless in my complaint, so I am going to make some
noise as a result of the voice of an enemy {and} as a result of the
oppression of the wicked, for they are passing off iniquity on me,
and they are antagonizing me angrily. As for my heart, it writhes in
my innards, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. Fear and
trembling enters into me, and shivering overwhelms me. And I say,
“If only I could be given a wing like the dove! I would fly away
and then settle down! Hey, I would go fleeing far away, {and} I
would spend the night in the wilderness. {Selah} I will hurry to the
one who brings deliverance to me from the rushing wind – from the
storm...
In the midst of such a whirlwind of emotions and circumstances, most people in this world respond to the pain of broken relationships by pursuing a naturalistic remedy:
trying to sooth the grief by eating comfort food, or through a sexual experience,
or numbing the grief by getting absorbed in a movie or a game,
or redirecting energy toward something at which you can excel, trying to prove (to an indifferent world) that you are not as worthless as they say you are.
And, oh, what an empty, hollow pursuit these humanistic strategies are!
David points us in the only direction that will do any good, and that is to talk to God about it!
He opens Psalm 55 with a plea for God to listen to him.
As I mentioned before, God doesn’t “miss a thing,” so you don’t have to ask Him to hear, for Him to listen to you,
but sometimes we need to ask Him anyway in order for us to believe that He will listen.
And David follows that up in v.17 by asserting, “...He will hear3 my voice.” He will! You may also need to tell yourself that! He will hear me.
It could also be a way to show some politeness and respect to the Almighty God of the universe when you know you are being petty and complain-ey, but you want to talk to Him anyway. “God, I don’t even know what to ask for right now, and my emotions are in such a tangle that I don’t know if I can make any sense, but would you please just listen to me vent for a little bit?”4
And if you look at what David says in the last phrase of v.1, it is a bit raw: “Don’t hide yourself/don’t ignore my prayer/don’t pretend You didn’t hear it!”
It sounds like what David said back in Psalm 10:1 “Why, Yahweh, will You stand in the distance and ignore things at times when there is a crisis?” (NAW)
(Jeremiah also does this in his book of Lamentations5.)
Now, if I were God, I might take offense at that, “How dare he accuse me of such dereliction of duty! It is my job to intercede for you at the throne of heaven. What makes you think I would ever ignore you??”
But then again, when we have been wounded in one relationship, it’s easy for us to panic and wonder if God too might wound us, and He understands that. “He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14), and He can take it from people He loves and who want to talk to Him, however brokenly.
On the other hand, if you are in rebellion against God, and you are just praying in order to appear pious to other people, that’s an entirely different matter. God doesn’t listen to that kind of praying6 any more than you want to listen to a telemarketer! You’ve got to want a real relationship with Him.
I also see respect toward God demonstrated by David in the form of imperative that he chooses in verses 1 & 2. Most English translations don’t translate the different Hebrew imperative forms differently, but the form David uses (with a paragogic he) is one that an inferior would use to show respect when asking a superior to do something, “Please give ear… please pay attention…”
Some of David’s emotions are described in v.2. The first one gets translated “grieved/painedLXX/mournKJV/restlessNASB/troubledNIV.”
In the Greek NT, Jesus was thus “grieved” in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37), and thus “troubled” over being betrayed by Judas (John 12:27 & 13:21), so this Psalm foreshadows Christ, but
Christians are also promised such “grief/sorrow” (John 16:20 Jesus said, “Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.” ~NKJV)7.
The other emotion David expresses in v.2 is translated “distraught/distracted/troubled,” and it implies making some noise about it.
When David was distraught, he didn’t bottle it up and handle it himself, instead, he “let it all hang out” with God. He “groaned/made some noise,” but he did so in the presence of God as a way of “begging” God for “mercy.” He also did this in Psalm 142:2 “I pour out my complaint before Him; I declare before Him my trouble.” (NKJV)
This is what God’s people do. Consider:
Asaph, who wrote Psalm 77:3-9 “I remembered God, and was troubled; I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed… I am so troubled8 that I cannot speak... Will the Lord cast off forever? ... Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender mercies?” (NKJV)
“Hannah [the mother of Samuel] got up after eating in Shiloh… [to] the temple of Yahweh... bitter of soul and prayed to Yahweh and wept intensely... she prolonged her praying before the face of Yahweh… [and she explained to the priest,] ‘I was just pouring out my soul before the face of Yahweh… it is from the enormity of my complaint and my provocation that I spoke as much here.’” (1 Sam. 1:9-16 , NAW)
King Hezekiah , as he lay dying of an incurable disease prayed, “Like a swallow or a crane I chirp; I moan9 like a dove. My eyes have become weary to the heights. My Master, pressure is on me; bail me out!” (Isaiah 38:14, NAW)
Isaiah 59:11 “We growl like the bears – all of us; we mutter repeatedly like doves. We wait for the justice, but there is none – for the salvation – it is far from us.” (NAW)
The same Greek words for “prayer” and “supplication” which are in the Greek version of Psalm 55:1 also show up10 in the New Testament together in Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but rather in everything by prayer and by petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known before God.” (NAW)
Are you anxious or afraid? Go to God and talk with Him! Ask Him for what you need, let your requests be known to Him!
“Prayer is a salve for every sore and a relief to the spirit under every burden… If we, in our prayers, sincerely lay open ourselves, our case, our hearts, to God, we have reason to hope that he will not hide himself, his favours, his comforts, from us.” ~Matthew Henry
Now, in v.3, David complains to God of 4 things that his enemy is doing:
The enemy is making “noise”/speaking with a loud “voice”
This sounds a lot like what happened as David fled from Absalom’s onslaught in 2 Sam. 16:5-6 “King David arrived at Bahurim, and there was a man from there – from the family of the house of Saul, who came forth, and his name was Shimei, son of Gera. He kept coming out and cursing. And he took potshots at David, and at all the servants of King David and all the people and all the mighty men at his right and at his left, with rocks.” (NAW)
And that’s not the only “voice” David had heard. There was also the one that had said, “the heart of every Israelite is behind Absalom.” (2 Sam. 15:13, NAW)
And Psalm 71:11 mentions another voice that said, “God has forsaken him; Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.” (NKJV)
The enemy is putting “pressure” on David through some kind of “oppression”
The NIV pictures it as the enemy “staring” at David.
And David has referred to stressful pressures before, using synonymous words in Psalm 17:9-11 “...wicked men... have devastated me. As for my enemies… they have surrounded me... he is like a lion longing to tear me up…!” (NAW, cf Psalm 143:3)
David faced the likelihood of 12,000 soldiers being commissioned by Absalom that very night to hunt him down and kill him.
The enemy is also blame-shifting: “they pass off/cast/bring down/drop iniquity on me”
That’s exactly what Shimei did in 2 Sam. 16:5-8 “And in his cursing, Shimei said... ‘Go away, go away, man of bloodshed and man of ungodliness! Yahweh has returned upon you all the bloodshed of the house of Saul, because you became king after him. Then Yahweh has given the kingdom into the control of Absalom your son! Now, look at you in your bad-times, for you are a man of bloodshed!’” Shimei tried to blame David for murders Saul had done, as though they were his fault!
Furthermore, Absalom has been slandering David all along about being unjust. I’m sure you’ve felt the frustration of being blamed for what someone else did wrong.
“and they are antagonizing me angrily/hate/revile/bear a grudge against me.”
This Hebrew word is used in Genesis (27:41) to describe Esau resenting his brother Jacob for stealing their father’s blessing,
and then to describe the rivalry between Joseph and his 11 brothers (Gen. 49:23 & 50:15),
and in Job (16:9 & 30:21) to describe the dreadful afflictions God brought upon Job.
Ahithophel appears to have been Bathsheba’s grandfather11, so he may well have carried a grudge against David for committing adultery with his granddaughter, and that may have motivated him to join the insurrection against David.12
Like we saw in Psalm 54, there is a place for laying out a case before God as to why you are truly in need of His intervention, and David makes his case in v.3.
Then, in verses 4-5, David returns to his...
He mentions his “heart sore pained/writhing in anguish inside” him.
Have you ever been there? I sure have.
And “terrors of death”
You may never have been chased by thousands of assassins bent on killing you (like David was), but I can imagine what that does to your adrenal system, based on close swipes with death that I’ve had on the highway, when I started to fall asleep at the wheel going 75 miles an hour, and woke up as the car swerved, heart pounding, realizing with terror how close I had gotten to running off the road. “Terrors of death.”
Then in v. 5, there’s the “fear and trembling” and “horror/shivering” that creeps “in” and “overwhelms”
Again, although I’ve never been on the battlefield, I can identify somewhat with that physical trembling when I have to talk to someone who is antagonistic toward me. Sometimes, when my anxiety is at a fever pitch, I can’t stop shaking.
Are these emotions and physical sensations things we can talk with God about? Absolutely!
Again, God’s people have talked with God about these kinds of things throughout Biblical history. In addition to David13, consider:
Job 21:6 “Even when I remember I am terrified, And trembling takes hold of my flesh.” (NKJV) But he’s talking to God about it.
Isaiah 21:2-4 after one of his visions wails,“...the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys... my loins filled with agony; pangs seized me, like birth pangs; I have been bent from hearing; I have been dismayed from seeing. My heart staggers; trembling overwhelmed me; He makes the evening... into fright for me.” (NAW)
Heman the Ezrahite wrote in Psalm 88:1-6 “O LORD, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before You... For my soul is full of troubles, And my life draws near to the grave. I am counted with those who go down to the pit; I am like a man who has no strength, Adrift among the dead... In darkness, in the depths.” (NKJV) He was deeply depressed, but he’s still talking to God about it.
We even see the Apostle Paul say in 2 Corinthians 1:8 “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.” (NKJV) Despairing, yet still talking with Christian brothers about it! And in the following verse, he asks them to pray for him14.
It is important, however not to bog down at this stage of tumultuous emotions and sensations in the midst of a crisis. David, after he expresses these problems and emotions to God, moves on in verses 6-8 to talk with God about his hopes and dreams. This is an important development that we need to follow!
David’s first aspiration in v.6 is to be able to “fly away like a dove” and then find a safe place to nest.
Perhaps David was recalling to mind God’s words to Israel in Exodus 19:4-5 “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings15 and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.” (NKJV)
A similar promise, using the same word for “wing/pinions” was made to God’s people later on in Isaiah 40:31 “But Yahweh's attendants will exchange strength; they will take wing like the eagles; they will run and not tire; they will walk and not grow faint.” (NAW)
And we see a similar picture again in Revelation 12:14 where “...the woman [representing the church under “persecution”] was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, [away] from the presence of the serpent.” (NKJV)
God would not have given us these images if He did not want us to dream about them, so bring them into your heart and mind.
But escaping to ease and rest is not always God’s will for us. In many cases, God wants us to stay where we are, in which case, what we must do is trust Him to keep us safe. In such circumstances, instead of flying away, the Biblical imagery is rather to take refuge under God’s wings:
Psalm 36:7 “God, how precious Your lovingkindness is! So the children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.” (NAW)
Psalm 57:1 “...O God, be merciful to me! For my soul trusts in You; And in the shadow of Your wings I will make my refuge, Until these calamities have passed by.” (NKJV, cf. 17:8, 57:1, 61:4, 63:7, 91:4)
The problem, then, is not going to Him when we should, as Jesus put it in Matthew 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones the men who have been sent her. How often I wanted to gather up your children in the way that a hen gathers up her chicks under her wings, yet y'all did not want it.” (NAW)
Considering what was going on in David’s life at the time, he is (or at least was) in the city of Jerusalem when he heard of the coup taking place under his son Absalom under the guidance of his senior advisor Ahithophel. It’s hard to understand why he didn’t just hunker down in Jerusalem and trust the outcome to God, but for whatever reason, David made the decision to abandon his capitol city and retreat to the Jordan River, away from any city, and camp there while he made further plans. Then, when he heard that Ahithophel was advising Absalom to send the army out to finish him off, David retreated east across the Jordan River, and then further East up the ravine of the Jabbok River. Perhaps it was somewhere along this route that he wrote this psalm.
In v.7, he tells God that he longs to retreat deep into the wilderness and find a lodge where he could spend the night peacefully.
God granted David’s desire by giving him safe haven inside the walled city of Machanaim, where he was welcomed and protected until Absalom’s insurrection was put down and David was restored to Jerusalem.
Yet not everyone who longed to retreat into the wilderness got to do so.
The Prophet Jeremiah 9:2 early in his career wrote, “Oh, that I had in the wilderness A lodging place for travelers; That I might leave my people, And go from them! For they are all adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men.”
And yet God never gave Jeremiah peace about leaving Jerusalem. His calling was to stay there until the bitter end – until the last Israelite had been chased out from it by the Babylonians. Jeremiah had to stay-put and find refuge under God’s wings.
Nevertheless, if God gives you the ability, I believe it is appropriate to try to get away-from-it-all from time to time, for spiritual refreshment. The sentiment David expresses is a good one.
In the Mosaic Law, God commanded that the Israelites leave their farms and hold worship services for a whole week in Jerusalem three times a year.
During Jesus’ public ministry, He regularly withdrew from the people to lonely places where He could pray in peace.
In my own thought life, I have periodic longings to get away to a secluded place and find refreshment in the Lord. There’s nothing wrong with that, if it energizes you to fulfill God’s calling on your life, and if it doesn’t conflict with God’s will.16
Perhaps another way of putting it is that we are not to become preoccupied with escapism; our focus should be going towards the Lord.
Verse 8 highlights that: There’s a rushing/raging wind and a tempestuous storm, but the godly person is not merely preoccupied with getting away from the turbulence, the godly person is hurrying toward his “escape/shelter/refuge/deliverance.” It’s not what you’re running away from, it’s what you’re running toward.
And Jesus is that “deliverer,” that rock of “refuge,” that “shelter in the time of storm.”
Are you running towards Jesus, or are you just trying to run away from the storms of life? He is the only place where you are going to find peace.
Augustine commented on this verse: “Let Him [Jesus] stretch forth hand, who doth the waves tread fearlessly, let Him relieve thy dread, let Him confirm in Himself thy security, let Him speak to thee within, and say to thee, ‘Give heed to Me, what I have borne:’ an evil brother, perchance thou art suffering? or an enemy without art suffering? which of these have I not suffered? There roared without Jews, within a disciple was betraying. There rageth therefore tempest, but He doth save men from weakness of mind and tempest. Perchance thy ship is being troubled, because He in thee is sleeping. The sea was raging, the bark wherein the disciples were sailing was being tossed; but Christ was sleeping: at length it was seen by them, that among them was sleeping the Ruler and Creator of winds; they drew near and awoke Christ; He commanded the winds, and there was a great calm. With reason then, perchance thy heart is troubled, because thou hast forgotten Him on whom thou hast believed: beyond endurance thou art suffering, because it hath not come into thy mind what, for thee, Christ hath borne. If unto thy mind cometh not Christ, He sleepeth: awake Christ, recall faith!”
Isaiah 25:1-9 “O Yahweh, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise Your Name, for You have done a wonderful thing... For You have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm of a wall, like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners; heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is put down. On this mountain Yahweh of Hosts will make for all the peoples a rich feast, a feast of aged wine, of rich things full of marrow, of refined, aged wine. And he will swallow up on this mountain the face of the covering that is covering all the peoples and the veil that is spread over all the nations. He has swallowed up death for always; and Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from all faces, and the shame of His people He will take away from over all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken. And one will say on that day, ‘Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He saved us. This is Yahweh; we have waited for Him; let us be glad and rejoice in His salvation.’” (NAW)
Vulgate (Ps. 54)B |
LXXC
|
Brenton (Vaticanus)D |
KJVE |
NAW |
Masoretic TxtF |
PeshittaG |
1 in finem in carminibusH intellectus David 2 exaudi Deus orationem meam et ne despexeris X deprecationem meam |
1
Εἰς τὸ τέλοςI,
ἐν ὕμνοιςJ·
συνέσεωςK
τῷ Δαυιδ. |
1 For the end, among Hymns of instruction by David. Hearken, O God, to my prayer; and disregard not X my supplication. |
1 To the chief Musician on Neginoth, Maschil, A Psalm of David. Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication. |
1 For the concertmaster with strings, a thoughtful one by David. Please give ear, O God, to my prayer. And don’t act like you didn’t hear about my petition! |
(א)
לַמְנַצֵּחַ
בִּנְגִינֹת מַשְׂכִּיל
לְדָוִד. |
|
3 intende mihi et exaudi me contristatus sum in exercitatione mea et conturbatus sum |
3 πρόσχες μοι καὶ εἰσάκουσόν μου. ἐλυπήθην ἐν τῇ ἀδολεσχίᾳP μου καὶ ἐταράχθην |
2 Attend to me, and hearken to me: I was grieved in my meditationQ, and troubled; |
2
Attend
unto me, and |
2 Please be attentive to me and answer me! I am restless in my complaint, so I am going to make some noise |
(ג) הַקְשִׁיבָהR לִּי וַעֲנֵנִי אָרִידS בְּשִׂיחִי וְאָהִימָהT. |
3
שׁמעיני
ועניני [ו] |
4
a voce inimici [et]
a tribulatione |
4
ἀπὸV
φωνῆς ἐχθροῦ [καὶ]
ἀπὸ θλίψεωςW
|
3
because of the voice of the enemy, [and]
because
of the oppression of the |
3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. |
3 as a result of the voice of an enemy {and} as a result of the oppression of the wicked, for they are passing off iniquity on me, and they are antagonizing me angrily. |
(ד) מִקּוֹלAB אוֹיֵב ACמִפְּנֵי עָקַתAD רָשָׁע כִּי יָמִיטוּAE עָלַי אָוֶן וּבְאַף יִשְׂטְמוּנִיAF. |
4
מטל
X
בעלד |
5 cor meum conturbatum est in me et formido mortis cecidit super me |
5
ἡ καρδία μου ἐταράχθηAI
ἐνAJ
ἐμοί, καὶ δειλίαAK
θανάτου ἐπέπεσ |
4 My heart was troubled within me; and the fear of death fell upon me. |
4 My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. |
4 As for my heart, it writhes in my innards, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me. |
(ה) לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּיAL וְאֵימוֹתAM מָוֶת נָפְלוּ עָלָי. |
5 X XX XXX ונפלת בי דחלתא X |
6
timor et tremor venit |
6
φόβος καὶ τρόμος ἦλθεν |
5
Fear and trembling came |
5
Fearfulness
and trembling
are come |
5 Fear and trembling enters into me, and shivering overwhelms me. |
(ו) יִרְאָה וָרַעַדAO יָבֹא APבִי וַתְּכַסֵּנִיAQ פַּלָּצוּתAR. |
6 X XX X XX וכסיוני טללי [מותא] |
7 et dixi quis dabit mihi pinnas sicut columbae [et] volabo et requiescam |
7 καὶ εἶπα Τίς δώσει μοι πτέρυγαςAS ὡσεὶ περιστερᾶς [καὶ] πετασθήσομαι καὶ καταπαύσωAT; |
6
And I said, O that I had wings as those of a dove! [then]
would I fl |
6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest. |
6 And I say, “If only I could be given a wing like the dove! I would fly away and then settle down! |
(ז)
וָאֹמַר
|
7 ואמרת מן דין [יהב] לי גפא איך דיונא פרחת ושׁכנת |
8 ecce elongavi fugiens [et] mansi in solitudine diapsalma |
8 ἰδοὺ ἐμάκρυνα φυγαδεύων AV [καὶ] ηὐλίσθηνAW ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. διάψαλμα. |
7 Lo! I have fled afar off, and lodged in the wilderness. Pause. |
7
Lo,
then
would I wander
far off, and
|
7 Hey, I would go fleeing far away, {and} I would spend the night in the wilderness. {Selah} |
(ח) הִנֵּה אַרְחִיק נְדֹד אָלִין בַּמִּדְבָּר סֶלָה. |
8
|
9 expectabam eum qui salvum me fecit a pusillanimitate spiritus [et] a tempestate |
9
προσεδεχόμηνAY
τὸν σῴζοντάAZ
με ἀπὸ BAὀλιγοψυχίας
|
8
I waited
for
him that should
deliver me from distress
of spirit
|
8
I would
hasten
my escape
from the windy storm
|
8 I will hurry to the one who brings deliverance to me from the rushing wind – from the storm. |
9 [ו]כתרת [למן] דמפצא לי מן רוחא X דעלעלא |
1Jewish tradition supports this connection (Cohen, followed by Henry), but Augustine made no such connection, and Calvin objected to that connection, positing instead Saul’s persecution of David as the context. Fausset suggested both could have been on David’s mind; G. Wilson suggested neither could have been. Datta, following Briggs believed it was from the time of Nehemiah.
2 מַהֲר֣וּ - compare to אָחִישָׁה (“hurry”) in Psalm 55:8
3שמע, a synonym of the Hebrew verbs in v.1 (הַאֲזִ֣ינָה – “give ear") and v.2 (הַקְשִׁ֣יבָה – “pay attention”).
4“Our rambling thoughts when we are distracted with grief we may bring before him, and that too in utterances rather to be called “a noise” than language. He will attend so carefully that he will understand us, and he will often fulfil desires which we ourselves could not have expressed in intelligible words.” ~Spurgeon
5Lamentations 3:55-56 “I called on Your name, O LORD, From the lowest pit. You have heard my voice [when I said]: ‘Do not hide Your ear From my sighing, from my cry for help.’” (NKJV)
6Isaiah 1:15 “And when you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from them; and although you multiply prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.” (NAW)
7But Christians are instructed not to be “troubled” (John 14:1 & 27).
8From פעם, a synonym to the word in Psalm 55:2.
9From הגה, a synonym to the word in Psalm 55:2.
10Cf. commands to do both in Eph. 6:18 & 1 Tim. 2:1.
11Compare 2 Samuel 11:3 with 23:34, the only two places in the Bible which mention Eliam. If Eliam is the same man in both passages, then he was Ahithophel’s son and Bathsheba’s father.
12An argument against this hypothesis, however, is that, if his relationship to Bathsheba was a motivation, why would he support Maacah’s son Absalom instead of Bathsheba’s son Solomon?
13See similar sentiments expressed by David in Psalm 6:3, 18:1-3, 38:8, 69:20, 102:3, 119:120.
142 Cor: 1:9-11 “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us…” (NKJV)
15The Hebrew word כַּנְפֵ֣י here is a synonym to the Hebrew word אֵבֶר in Psalm 55:6, but the Greek word πτερύγων is the same as the one in the Psalm (LXX 54:7). The same goes for the other Psalms mentioned above with the word “wings.” M. Henry: “[H]e wishes for wings, not to fly upon the prey, but to fly from the birds of prey... therefore the wings of an eagle would not become him. The dove flies low, and takes shelter as soon as she can, and thus would David fly.”
16“[T]here
ariseth ofttimes in the mind of the servant of God a longing for
solitude, for no other reason than because of the multitude of
tribulations and scandals.” ~Augustine
“Gracious souls wish
to retire from the hurry and bustle of this world, that they may
sweetly enjoy God and themselves; and, if there be any true peace on
this side heaven, it is they that enjoy it in those retirements.”
~M. Henry
AMy
original chart includes the NASB, NIV, and ESV, but their copyright
restrictions force me to remove them from the publicly-available
edition of this chart. (NAW is my translation.) When a translation
adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done
so by the use of italics (or greyed-out text), I put the added words
in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is
different from all the other translations, I underline it.
When a version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either
departs too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs
too far from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. (I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular.) I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. There are no known Dead Sea
Scrolls containing Psalm 55. Where the DSS is legible and reads the
same as the MT, the Hebrew text is colored purple. Where the DSS and
ancient versions support each other against the MT in such a way
that I suspect they are the original reading, I have highlighted
them with
yellow.
BJerome's Latin Vulgate w/ Deuterocanon using Gallican Psalter, 405 AD. As published electronically by E-Sword.
CThis Greek New Testament (GNT) is the 1904 "Patriarchal" edition of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Robinson-Pierpont Byzantine majority text of the GNT and the Textus Receptus are very similar. The Westcott-Hort, Nestle-Aland, and UBS editions are a slightly-different family of GNTs developed in the modern era as a break from the traditional Greek Bible by compiling just a few of the oldest-known manuscripts, but even so, the practical differences in the text between these two editing philosophies are minimal.
DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.
E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.
FFrom
the Wiki Hebrew Bible
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%A1%D7%A4%D7%A8_%D7%AA%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9D.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com
GThe Leiden Peshitta, Copyright © 2012 by The Peshitta Foundation c/o Leiden University Institute for Religious Studies, as published electronically in BibleWorks.
H“In verses”
IAquilla: nikopoiw, Symmachus: epinikion (“victory”)
JAquilla: en yalmoiV, Symmachus: dia yalthriwn (in Psalms/psalters)
KAquilla: episthmonoV (“upon standing”)
LThe cohortative he- suffix here and on the opening verb of v.2 are a way to express urgency and/or respect while making a request. The imperatives in v.9 do not have these cohortatives.
MThis
Hitpael form is only here and Deut. 22:1, 3-4; Job 6:16; and Isa.
58:7. With the exception of the Job passage (the subject of which is
“ice”), all the other passages describe a person seeing another
person or animal in need, but doing nothing to help, pretending not
to have been aware of the need.
LXX, Vulgate, and Peshitta
have a slightly-different word which means “despise/reject.”
Ncf. David’s assertion that God did hear in Psalm 6:9, and Solomon’s plea for God to hear in 1 Kings 8:28 || 2 Chron 6:19. The root of this noun is the Hebrew word for grace/mercy. LXX and Vulgate omit the mem prefix (“from”) which is in the MT, Peshitta, and Targums, and NIV follows that omission.
O“reject” is the translation of both Lamsa and of Bauscher. It is more like the translations of the LXX and Vulgate (“despise”) than of the MT, which raises the question of whether a synonym crept into the MT.
PSymmachus translated with kathnecqhn (“dragged down/depressed/brought low”).
QLiddel & Scott’s Lexicon entry for this Greek word is “idle talk.” Symmachus’ translation was a close synonym to that (proslalwn). Aquilla translated it with omilia (“associates”).
RNote paragogic he. Cf. other psalms where David opens with the same request: 5:2, 17:1, 61:1, 86:6, 142:7.
SThere
are only three other instances of this verb in the O.T. : Gen.
27:40, Jer. 2:31, and Hos. 12:1. In those passages it is translated
variously: have dominion, be restless, be lords, be free, roam,
rule, be unruly, and walk.
Here LXX & Vulgate =
“grieved/pained,” Peshitta = “turn,” Targums = “roar,”
Symmachus = kathnecqhn
(“depressed”), and
Jerome’s later edition of the Psalms = humiliatus,
KJV = “mourn,” NASB = “restless,” NIV = “troubled,” AJV
= “distraught,” Rashi/Kimchi = “lament.”
Delitzsch: “The
Hiph. חֵרִיד,
which in Gen. 27:40 signifies to lead a roving life, has in this
instance the signification to move one's self backwards and
forwards, to be inwardly uneasy; root רד,
Arab. rd,
to totter, whence râda,
jarûda,
to run up and down...”
In
the Greek NT,
Jesus was thus “grieved” in the garden of Gethsemane (Matthew
26:37),
and thus “troubled” over being betrayed by Judas (John
12:27 & 13:21), which
gives Psalm 55 some typological fulfillment in Christ.
Christians are also promised such “grief” (John
16:20 "Most
assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world
will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful,
but your sorrow
will be turned into joy.” ~NKJV),
but Christians are
instructed not to be “troubled” (John 14:1 & 27).
TLXX,
Vulgate, and Targums read like the stem is Hophal (“I am
troubled”) instead of Hiphil (“I am causing vibrations”). NASB
and NIV follow that passive reading. Peshitta seems to be out in
left field with “hear.”
Delitzsch: “The cohortative not
unfrequently signifies ‘I have to’ or ‘I must’ of
incitements within one's self which are under the control of outward
circumstances.”
Augustine’s entire commentary on this
section focuses on not hating your enemies. It is an edifying
message, but not exegetical.
UPeshitta reads “and turn to my cry and heed me,” but the Hebrew is “I am rambling in my complaint and I am making noise.”
VAquilla and Symmachus both started this verse with και (“and”) instead of the MT “[resulting] from” and added a word “the sound of the voice” instead of the MT “voice.”
WAquilla = anagkhV (“force”), Symmachus = enoclhsewV (“trouble”).
XAquilla and Symmachus both corrected the LXX to a word closer to the meaning of the MT with asebouV (“ungodly/impious”), although the meaning is not that much different.
YSymmachus = eperriyan (“they dash upon”)
ZSymmachus corrected to hnantiwqhsan (“opposed themselves”), which is closer to the MT.
AAThe Greek word behind this carries a more complex meaning than simply “brought” – literally it is “leaned out.”
AB“By the ‘voice’ some understand such a noise as is occasioned by a multitude of men; as if he had said, that the enemy [Absalom] was mustering many troops against him: but he rather alludes to the threatenings which we may suppose that Saul was in the habit of venting upon this innocent prophet… Our greatest comfort under persecution is conscious rectitude, the reflection that we have not deserved it; for there springs from this the hope that we will experience the help of the Lord, who is the shield and defense of the distressed.” ~Calvin
ACLXX, Peshitta, and Vulgate all add an “and” here.
ADHapex legomenon. Delitzsch: “...pressure or constraint of the evil-doer which he is compelled to feel... עָקָה is a more elegant Aramaizing word instead of צָרָה.”
AECohen:
“‘they burden me with guilt,’ charging me with crimes of which
I am innocent (Hirsch).”
cf.
Psalm 13:3-4
“Look this way; answer
me, Yahweh my God, cause there to be light toward my eyes, otherwise
I will sleep the [sleep of] death. Otherwise my enemy
will say, ‘I have bested him!’ My adversaries will rejoice that
I am overthrown.”
(NAW, cf. 38:17)
AFThis Hebrew root only occurs 5 other times in the O.T., all before the Psalms: Gen. 27:41 (Esau resenting Jacob for getting Isaac’s blessing); Gen 49:23 & 50:15 (rivalries between Joseph and his brothers), and Job 16:9 & 30:21 (speaking of God bringing affliction to Job).
AGThis word is translated “devised” by Lamsa and “prayed” by Bauscher. This is a little different from the word in the MT, which has more to do with “casting,” but still isn’t inimical to the general meaning.
AHLamsa = “reproached,” Bauscher = “regarded with malice”
AIAquilla translated with a Greek word wdinhsen (“writhed in pangs”), closer in meaning to the Hebrew, while Symmachus translated with a word further away in meaning: diestrofato (“misled/perverted”).
AJAquilla (egkatw) and Symmachus (endon) preserved the Hebrew word קרב (“inner part”) omitted by the LXX.
AKSymmachus used a synonym for “fear” and pluralized it foberai to match the MT. The MT, however, used a more specialized word here in v.4 than the generic Hebrew word for “fear.” (The generic Hebrew word for fear is what opens v.5, but clearly it is synonymous, so this is not a significant change in meaning.)
ALOther instances of “my heart” + “in my inward part” = Ps. 39:4, Jer. 23:9, and Lam. 1:20.
AMKimchi
explained this as the fear that they were trying to kill him.
The
first few instances of this word in Genesis and Exodus describe
proper fear when encountering God. The Sons of Korah, for instance
in Psalm 88:14-16 “LORD, why do You cast off my soul? Why
do You hide Your face from me? I have been afflicted and ready to
die from my youth; I suffer Your terrors; I am distraught.
Your fierce wrath has gone over me; Your terrors have cut me off.”
(NKJV, cf. Isaiah 33:18).
LXX, Vulgate, and Peshitta are all
singular, whereas the MT and Targums and Symmachus are plural.
The
only instance in the New Testament of the Greek word for this word
in the MT is 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a
spirit of fear[timidity], but of power and of love and of a
sound mind.” (NKJV)
AN “darkness” – but that is not what the Hebrew says. A. = eilindhsiV (“wrap”?), S. = frikh (“shuddering”) – the latter is a good translation of the MT word.
AOThis
word for “trembling” is not common. It is only found here and in
Exodus 15:15, Psalms 2:11 & 48:6, and Isaiah 33:14. This “fear
and trembling” is considered together so closely that, despite the
compound subject, the verb “comes in” is singular.
These
words, however, are more frequently used to describe a proper
response to God than they are used to describe dismayed believers.
The Greek words for “fear and trembling” here are found in
the GNT in
1 Cor. 2:3 “And I was with you in
weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.”
2
Cor. 7:15 “And his inward affection is more abundant toward
you, whilst he remembereth the obedience of you all, how with fear
and trembling ye received him.”
Eph. 6:5 “Servants,
be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh,
with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto
Christ;”
Php. 2:12 “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye
have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in
my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
(KJV)
APLXX and Vulgate (followed by KJV, NASB, and ESV) read “upon” instead of the MT “in,” and NIV & NLT omit the preposition altogether. Cohen and Fausset affirmed that the MT is “enter into me,” Cohen explaining it as “take possession of me.”
AQLit. “covers,” but English translations chose a figurative meaning.
ARThis word for “trembling” is not common. It is found only here and in Job 21:6, Isa. 21:4, and Ezek. 7:18. It appears that the LXX and Vulgate translators saw this word as stemming from a different Hebrew word with two of the same letters:אפלה (“darkness/dusk”), whereas the Peshitta translators saw it as stemming from צלמות (“shadow of death”).
ASA. metafrena – possibly a more-specific word for “pinions” (like the MT word is), or possibly a non-standard form of metaphorew, in which case the basic meaning would be “transfers.”
ATSymmachus = edrasqhnai (“to sit myself down”) This is a little more literal translation of the Hebrew.
AUThis word for “pinion-feather” is used only here, in Eze. 17:3, and in Isaiah 40:31 “But Yahweh's attendants will exchange strength; they will take wing like the eagles; they will run and not tire; they will walk and not grow faint.” (NAW)
AVInstead of the LXX “I went far, fleeing,” Symmachus rendered it porrw an epoihsa thn anacwrhsin mou “I would make distant my evacuation.” Neither is inimical to the MT.
AWThe only use of this Greek word in the New Testament is in the Gospels (Matt. 21:17; Lk. 21:37), describing Jesus camping out on the Mount of Olives near Bethany during Holy Week.
AXThe MT uses a word for “fleeing,” but the Peshitta just uses the same basic verb for “fly” that it did in the previous verse.
AY2nd century Greek translators Aquilla, Theodotion, and Symmachus favored the MT reading with speusw/exaifnhV epoihsa (“I will hurry/make haste”).
AZCf. synonyms from Aquilla & Theodotion: diaswsmon (“safety” – this form of sozw is used to denote “healing” in the gospels (Matt. 14:36; Lk. 7:3), and to denote safety from drowning in the rest of the NT (Acts 23:24; 27:43-44; 28:1, 4; 1 Pet. 3:20)), and Symmachus: ekfeuxin (“refuge”). In the N.T., this passive participle of sozw is used exclusively of persons who are saved by Jesus (Lk. 13:23; Acts 2:47; 1 Cor. 1:18; 2 Cor. 2:15).
BA A.Q. lailapwdouV (“waterspout?”), S. epairontoV (“sweeping” close to the meaning of the Targum’s word – this was the meaning Tate preferred in his commentary on the Psalms).
BB2nd Century Greek versions all used the practical synonym lailapoV (“hurricane”).
BCHapex Legomenon, but the root is common as a verb, meaning “escape.” LXX renders it “salvation”
BDHapex Legomenon. BDB suggested a meaning of “rushing” (as of “wind”), Holladay suggested a meaning of “slander” (as in a “spirit of slander”?), LXX & Vulgate suggest a meaning of “small/weak,” Targum suggests נטלא (Which seems to be translated “sweeping” in the Hebrew Union College Comprehensive Aramaic Lexicon, and translated “shelter” in Edward Cook’s translation of the Targums), and the Peshitta ignores it. This word rhymes with the next, containing the same first two root letters and ending with a guttural.