Psalms 70

The central verse of Psalms 70

	thlim		Psalms
	y		70
a	lmnxk ldvid lhzcir.	1	For the leader. Of David. To remember.
b	alohim lhxilni, ihvh lyzrti kuwh.	2	O God to deliver me, Yahweh to my help, hurry.
g	ibowu vikpru mbqwi npwi. iisogu akor viiclmu, kpxi ryti.	3	Let them be ashamed and disappointed who seek my being. Let them be repulsed and be humiliated, who delight in my hurt.
d	iwubu yl-yqb bowtm, haomrim hak hak!	4	Let them turn, foot firmly planted in their shame, those saying, Aha! aha!
h	iwiwu viwmku bç cl-mbqwiç, viamru tmid igdl alohim, aohbi iwuytç.	5	Let all those who seek you joy and let them be glad in you, and let them say continually, Great is God, those who love your salvation.
v	vani yni vabion alohim kuwh-li. yzri umpl'ti ath. ihvh al-takr.	6	But poor am I and needy, O God. Hurry to me. You are my help and my security. Yahweh, do not delay.

The idea was to read these psalms. I have been a little too busy somehow! Maybe that's the problem. And when I read, perhaps I am too enamoured with technique and music and data and so on, so I fail to read.

So read: .... and note the odd accentuation of verse 3. It is most obvious in the Hebrew where the line break is clearer. I use a line-feed for the cadences marked by the major accents. There is no pause in the first line - the first four words, then there is an ole-veyored, then 3 words, then the atnah, then 2 words. We know that these are the accents, because if they are there, there will be three lines, and the accents always occur in that order, cadence on the supertonic, then on the subdominant, then back to the tonic.

Curious it is that the words are 4 then 3 then 2. 12 then 9 then 6 syllables. You can count the Hebrew words and see that hax hax are the central words.

Psalms 70		Min	Max	Syll
יֵבֹ֣שׁוּ וְיַחְפְּרוּ֮ מְבַקְשֵׁ֪י נַ֫פְשִׁ֥י יִסֹּ֣גוּ אָ֭חוֹר וְיִכָּלְמ֑וּ חֲ֝פֵצֵ֗י רָעָתִֽי	3 Let them be ashamed and disappointed who seek my being. Let them be repulsed and be humiliated, who delight in my hurt.	3d	4B	12 9 6

The sentiment is one that is repeated (35:26 and 40:15). Shame and disappointment, being repulsed and humiliated. Psalms 40:13-17 is a double of Psalms 70.

Half the verses are tricola. (Determined by those major accents. No argument.) 2 are bicola, and one is a single line. It is very clear that this psalm focuses on the domain of shame. What do we need to learn about this?

Roots in this Psalm:

| Covenant: wvb | Flourish: iwy nxl | God: alvh ihvh | Hurry: kvw | Joy: kpx wvw wmk | Life: npw | Love: ahb | Measure: gdl | Modifier: cl | Negative: al | Office: nxk | Particle: hak | Person: dvd | Poor: abivn yni | Prep: akvr b l yl | Pronoun-Sa: ani ath | Protect: pl't | Seek: bqw | Shame: bvw kpr clm svg | Sin: ryy | Speak: amr | Strength: yzr | Time: akr tmid | Walk: yqb | Work: zcr