When was the last time I wrote about Psalms 12? I cannot find a single post on it (on this blog). The last post was on Bob's Log in 2008 when I was just barely a toddler.
This is continuing from the post on Psalms 11, starting a new 'folio' in Book 1 of the Psalms from a few days ago - to the next acrostic, Psalms 25. In the meanwhile I have posted on Psalms 82 and 83, and a return to Psalms 3 and some comments on 110-112, part of the first folio in Book 5. It's a big book, the Psalms. It will take some work to get into it. Translation is not a slam dunk.
Take verse 2 below. What is the ksid? (chasid - the strong aspirate is the first letter.) Does it deserve a definite article or an indefinite article in English? Articles behave differently in different languages. The ksid is singular and its parallel, amunim ('amen' in the plural) the faithful - collective plural. The stem for obliterate (gmr) occurs 5 times in the Psalms - and that's it (the other occurrences are a name and an Aramaic root). Vanished (pss) is equally rare. (You see how valuable the concordance is!)
thlim ib | Psalms 12 | Fn | Min | Max | Syll |
a lmnxk yl-hwminit mzmor ldvid | 1 For the leader over octaves. A psalm of David. | 3e | 3f | 13 |
|
b howiyh ihvh ci-gmr ksid ci-psu amunim mbni adm | 2 Save Yahweh, for obliterated is the merciful one, for vanished are the faithful among the children of humanity. | 3e | 4B | 9 9 |
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g wva idbru aiw at-riyhu wpt klqot blb vlb idbru | 3 Vanity they speak, each to his friend, lip divided, and heart from heart they speak. | C | 3e | 4C | 14 8 |
d icrt ihvh cl-wpti klqot lwon mdbrt gdolot | 4 Yahweh will cut off all lips divided ... tongue speaking greatness, | 3e | 4B | 10 9 |
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h awr amru llwonnu ngbir wptinu aitnu mi adon lnu | 5 who said, With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are ours. Who is Lord to us! | 3e | 4C | 17 5 |
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v mwod yniim manqt abionim yth aqum iamr ihvh awit biwy ipik lo | 6 From the devastation of the poor, from the groaning of the needy, Now I will arise, says Yahweh, I will impose in safety. He snorts at him. | 3d | 4B | 11 8 9 |
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z amrot ihvh amrot 'thorot csf xruf bylil larx mzuqq wbytiim | 7 The sayings of Yahweh are clean sayings, silver refined in a furnace of earth, purged seven times. | 3d | 4B | 11 10 7 |
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k ath-ihvh twmrm tixrnu mn-hdor zu lyolm | 8 You Yahweh you keep them. You will preserve us from this generation forever. | 3e | 4B | 7 10 |
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't sbib rwyim ithlcun crum zulut lbni adm | 9 On every side the wicked are walking, so exalted is the vileness of the children of humanity. | 3e | 4A | 9 8 |
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