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Saturday 13 March 2021

Psalms 7

 Remember these are poems. And poems meant to be sung, and here even danced. Poetry, music, and dance deny us, the reader, the privilege of generalization and abstraction. They invite performance, mystery, identification with the writer, and wonder. If you only find abstraction and argument to corner and control others, well, try another approach. Let yourself be 'gripped without cause by your adversary'.

There's no harm in analysis, but beware seeing detailed aspects of grammar as a specific. Details will often disappear and not provide for example, a hiphil as causative. It is often there for the rhythm and sound, not for precision.

thlim z Psalms 7 Fn Min Max Syll
a wigion ldvid
awr-wr lihvh
yl-dbri-cuw bn-imini
1 A reel of David
who sang to Yahweh,
over the words of Cush of Benjamin,
3e 4A 6
5
8
b ihvh alohii bç ksiti
howiyni mcl-rodpii vhxilni
2 Yahweh my God in you I take refuge.
Save me from all my persecutors and deliver me,
3e 4B 10
13
g pn-i'trof carih npwi
porq vain mxil
3 or he will tear me like a lion,
rending apart and there is none to deliver.
3e 4B 8
6
d ihvh alohii am-ywiti zat
am-iw-yvvl bcpii
4 Yahweh my God if I have done this,
if there is injustice in my palm,
3e 4B 10
7
h am-gmlti wolmi ry
vaklxh xorri riqm
5 if I have paid back evil to one who is at peace with me,
then let me be gripped without cause by my adversary.
3e 4B 7
8
v irdof aoib npwi viwg virmos larx kii
ucbodi lypr iwcn slh
6 Let an enemy persecute me and overtake and trample my life on earth,
and make my glory to dwell in the dust. Selah.

3e 4B 18
10
z qumh ihvh bapç hinwa bybrot xorrii
vyurh alii mwp't xivvit
7 Arise Yahweh, in your anger, be lifted up in the outbursts of my adversary,
and be aroused, my God, judgment you command.
~ 3e 4C 16
10
k vydt laumim tsobbç
vylih lmrom wubh
8 And an assembly of tribes surround you,
so for her of the high ground return.
3e 4B 10
9
't ihvh idin ymim
wop'tni ihvh
cxdqi uctumi ylii
9 Yahweh makes the case for the peoples.
Judge me Yahweh,
for my righteousness and for my completeness in me.
3d 4B 6
5
8
i igmor-na ry rwyim utconn xdiq
ubokn libot ucliot alohim xdiq
10 May the evil of the wicked be obliterated and prepare a righteous one.
So testing hearts and vital centres is God, a righteous one.
3d 4B 12
13
ia mgini yl-alohim
mowiy iwri-lb
11 My shield is of God,
saving the upright of heart.
3e 4A 7
6
ib alohim wop't xdiq
val zoym bcl-iom
12 God judges a righteous one,
and God is indignant every day.

g 3e 4B 7
7
ig am-la iwub krbo il'tow
qwto drç viconnha
13 If he will not turn he will hone his sword,
his bow he directs, and he will aim.
3e 4B 8
8
id vlo hcin cli-mvvt
kixiv ldolqim ipyl
14 And for him he has prepared consuming means of death.
His arrows for those in hot pursuit he will draw.
g 3e 4B 7
7
'tv hnh ikbl-avvn
vhrh yml vild wqr
15 Behold he pushes out mischief,
and he is big with toil and he gives birth to falsehood.
3e 4B 7
10
'tz bor crh vikprhu
viipol bwkt ipyl
16 A pit he digs and he excavates it,
and he miscarries into the destruction that he has worked.
B 3e 4B 8
8
iz iwub ymlo brawo
vyl qodqvdo kmso iird
17 He turns his toil in his head,
and onto his scalp his violence descends.
3e 4B 8
10
ik aodh ihvh cxdqo
vazmrh wm-ihvh ylion
18 I will give thanks to Yahweh for his righteousness,
and I will psalm the name of Yahweh on high.
3e 4B 7
9

I have divided the poem into three strophes, just by glancing at columns 3 4 and 5, First note, Min and Max. The division maps well to the concepts of the poem: the problem, the plea, and the description of the altercation between the enemy and Yahweh. Verses 1-6 are framed by persecute and punctuated with ifs. Verses 7-12 are framed by judgment and focused on righteous and heart. Verses 13-18 are framed by turn and focused on toil.

There is an inconsistency in the interpretation of revia in my program for mode 4. I tend to sharpen the third. It is not needed. The mode is awkward for western-trained singers, but far from impossible to learn. This raw data below has adjusted the decision.

Note the two tricola, the upbeat incipit and the central verse. Verse 10 uses the ole-veyored (supertonic) as its midpoint rest. All the others have an atnah, (subdominant).

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