Comfort - #Messiah texts #Psalter Isaiah 40:1-2, 3

We begin after the Sinfonia – (Instrumental) with an Accompagnato (a recitative with orchestral accompaniment) for Tenor.

2. Accompagnato (Tenor) – Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. These are the opening words of Messiah. The verb is imperative, second person plural. The archaic comfort ye fits well for rhythm and sense. Perhaps we should bring thou and ye back into regular usage. This is not under my control -- but it would clarify singular and plural throughout my translation -- and guarantee that I look at the whole thing again.

Isaiah 40:1-2

All my automated transcriptions of the music for the cantillation are based on Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura's inferred deciphering key of the te'amim, those little jots and tittles that aren't vowels above and below the Hebrew consonantal text of manuscripts since the Aleppo Codex.

In each of these posts, I will examine what happens to the snippets / sound bites chosen for Handel's libretto when I compare them to my rigidly concordant translation? It's not, by the way, that translation needs precise accuracy. That's not the way that God or language works! I am convinced that the Most High can speak even through the distorted lens of the King James rendering, and even through my own errors and distortions. Convincing myself (or others)  through accuracy or logic is not possible. The affective impact of language is an internal mysterious human and presumably divine process the effect of which is not at all subject to my or the king's control.

נַחֲמ֥וּ נַחֲמ֖וּ עַמִּ֑י יֹאמַ֖ר אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם		1 Comfort [ye], comfort [ye], my people, says your [plural] God.
a nkmu nkmu ymi iamr alohicm	8 6	nkm\v nkm\v ym\i i/amr alh\icm
דַּבְּר֞וּ עַל־לֵ֤ב יְרֽוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙ וְקִרְא֣וּ אֵלֶ֔יהָ כִּ֤י מָֽלְאָה֙ צְבָאָ֔הּ כִּ֥י נִרְצָ֖ה עֲוֺנָ֑הּ כִּ֤י לָקְחָה֙ מִיַּ֣ד יְהוָ֔ה כִּפְלַ֖יִם בְּכָל־חַטֹּאתֶֽיהָ ס		2 Speak [ye] to the heart of Jerusalem and call [ye] to her, for fulfilled is her pressed service, for accepted is her iniquity, for she has received from the hand of Yahweh double in all her sins.
b dbru yl-lb iruwlim vqrau alih ci mlah xbah ci nrxh yvonh ci lqkh mid ihvh cpliim bcl-k'taotih s	26 16	dbr\v yl lb irvwlm v/qra\v al\ih ci mla\h xba\h ci n/rxh yvn\h ci lqk\h m/id ihvh cpl\im b/cl k'ta\tih

Verse 1. The first thing I notice is that the emphasis is all on the second person plural: The archaic ye gets the rhythm right. Handel's music, as does English, tends to emphasize the action rather than the one(s) who are acting. But the 'you' and 'your' and 'my' in the Hebrew are all accented syllables on the strong beat of 4 of the first few bars (1 to 6 below). Who is this second person plural? Is it the same body as 'my people'? Then it would be the people who must comfort / sigh / regret / console / show pity for themselves? Or is it another set of persons -- a call to all nations spoken by their God also?

Verse 2. The traditional English has repeated a form of comfort (speak ye comfortably), where the Hebrew uses the word heart, clearly metaphorically, i.e. in the same way that English uses heart. 'My people' is addressed as feminine Jerusalem. Verse 2 continues the action of comfort with the imperative speak again with an emphatically ornamented 'ye'. 

The traditional translation is warfare. I have used pressed service. This is the same root as hosts as in Lord of Hosts. War is lkm rather than xba. Given the nature of language, warfare works fine and it is a gloss I haven't used so I could use it within my rules. But the word derivation from host speaks of mobilization and conscription. Is the iniquity a result of rebellion against conscription?

I have not used the gloss accomplished in relationship to this word mla, fill, fulfill. For me, this is too close in sense to completed (tmm), a word I consider has more connotations than I would attribute to iniquity. 

Iniquity accepted (rxh) is a strange gloss in this context. Pardon and forgive (slk) I use for a differing Hebrew roots so I kept the shock (to English ears) of accepted. The theological question is whether God will accept sin in a sacrifice. (You may want to keep this in mind.)

ק֣וֹל קוֹרֵ֔א בַּמִּדְבָּ֕ר פַּנּ֖וּ דֶּ֣רֶךְ יְהוָ֑ה יַשְּׁרוּ֙ בָּעֲרָבָ֔ה מְסִלָּ֖ה לֵאלֹהֵֽינוּ		3 ♪B The voice of one calling in the wilderness, Face the way of Yahweh. Make a level place in the steppe, a highway for our God.
g qol qora bmdbr pnu drç ihvh iwru byrbh msilh lalohinu	12 13	qvl qvra b/mdbr pn\v drc ihvh iwr\v b/yrb\h m/sl\h l/alh\inv

Isaiah 40:3

Verse 3. Handel changes style abruptly and separates verses 2 and 3 whereas the Hebrew music connects them. (A starting recitation note that is not the implied tonic, such as the opening B here, connects a verse to what has gone before.)

It might seem that facing pnh (traditional gloss preparing - see cvn) the way of the Lord is work, but the words lead to a recitation on the subdominant, a point of rest in the phrasing for any verse that reaches this note. So given the connection, who is the voice in the wilderness? Whoever speaks, whoever comforts, is not necessarily guaranteed a response even though the content of the call is good news. Perhaps the one who comforts is sighing over Jerusalem.

You can see from the links under the three letter roots that there is a full concordance to my translation available online. At least this makes my work transparent. You will see that I allow multiple English words for some Hebrew roots, but to every extent possible, I have rejected mapping multiple Hebrew roots to the same English gloss.

In a word, I do not search for meaning but for sound and pattern. We all make our own meanings -- and often with mean intent -- a leveling of the valley that is not level at all. The word level, by the way in the opening of Messiah is iwr, a word with a primary gloss of upright.

Much is to be learned from the Psalms. Here is iwr in its primary sense. Note too in this psalm the use of pnh, face.

יְהוָ֤ה ׀ נְחֵ֬נִי בְצִדְקָתֶ֗ךָ לְמַ֥עַן שׁוֹרְרָ֑י הַיְשַׁ֖ר לְפָנַ֣י דַּרְכֶּֽךָ		9 Yahweh, guide me in your righteousness on account of my watchers. Upright to my face be your way.
't ihvh nkni bxdqtç lmyn worrii hiwr lpnii drcç	15 8	ihvh nk\ni b/xdq\tc lmyn wvrr\i h/iwr l/pn\i drc\c

The music for this verse is unique.

Psalm 5:9 set in a major mode for a change.