The theological negative

I was a singer for many years, and I was often tense as I held my music in concert. The music would gradually get higher and higher in my hands, until a friendly soprano next to me would push it down slightly and say, "Relax." Well, it's easier said than done, but I do love her and will never forget her gentle correction. I was raised with a stick as a singer. I would be punished by the priest if I sang a wrong note. It's a wonder I ever sang. But the singer in me won out for a good while. I never resolved all the tension.

The priest in question was himself a product of centuries of distortion. Part of his problem was that he had studied the King James translation of the Bible, replete with its notion of punishment. He inherited both the theology of fear and the abuse it perpetuates. His punishments were more deeply wrong than I will describe. And he forgot that he was not supposed to be the one to deliver it, -- whether we call it chastisement, or correction, or tutoring, or mentoring, all of which are glosses that bear a closer sense of the sound of the Hebrew stem.

I have reported before that there is no Hebrew stem that demands punish as a gloss, e.g. here and here and here and over seventy other places. Look at Leviticus 26. Don't imagine that there are no consequences to running off the rails. There are plenty of consequences, but listen: 

  

Leviticus 26:29 imitating the opening of Genesis. 

Genesis begins with the same E-major rising triad -- all this instruction and learning is part of being created.

The whole of Leviticus 26 is a complex of logic, and at every painful step, God walks with the people of this covenant even in their contrariness. To have God walking with you is not punishment, it is the consequence of covenant -- and  of presence. When people translate, they move rapidly from one thought to another, and may well fail, even in committee, to critique the move from cause to consequence, -- or worse, from cause to the supposed cure. 

How well does this fit with the New Testament promises? Perfect love casts out fear. The one who was before Abraham said: I am with you to the end of the age -- not to indulge your foolishness, but to keep you in all things because I cherish you. Well, I am paraphrasing of course -- and from distant memories of the NT.

We watched a live performance of E.T. the other day. (Film + live orchestra.) I heard it from one of the violinists that it is an impossible-to-read score -- no key signature, but every note with accidentals, and often spelled differently. It was a moving performance. The Bible also has no key signature.

Precious is the mortal more than pure gold

Is there anger in the love song? 

Yes, and plenty of it. Under the generic domain of wrath there are 5 stems that could be glossed as anger in some translations.

• rage -- קצפ (qxp) 66 times in 62 vs. 
• anger --  אפ (ap) 415 times in 397 vs -- but of these only about half are glossed as anger. The stem also is used for a particle, indeed, and for the body part, nose. 
• burning -- חרה (krh) 146 times in 140 vs, used with אפ sometimes and sometimes without it but interpreted or glossed as if the stem for anger was present.
• fury  -- עבר (ybr) 734 times in 645 vs but of these many more are glossed as cross over. Only 40 or so are about fury.
• angry -- אנפ (anp) probably related to ap, 19 times in 19 vs.

I don't blame humans, let alone G-d for getting incensed at at the state of the world. 

For example, here's a statement against Babel - a whole chapter of the song, but I will only pick verses 9 to 13. They surround a verse that proclaims the mortal human is precious. Maybe that's why there is anger in the love song. 

Fury and fierce anger mark the bounds of these verses

9 Behold the day of Yahweh comes, vicious and furious and fierce anger, to set the land desolate. And sinners he will exterminate from it.
ט הנ֤ה יום־יהוה֙ ב֔א אכזר֥י ועבר֖ה וחר֣ון א֑ף לש֤ום הא֙רץ֙ לשמ֔ה וחטא֖יה ישמ֥יד ממֽנה	16 18		T hnh iom-ihvh ba aczri vybrh vkron af lwum harx lwmh vkTaih iwmid mmnh
10 For the stars of the heavens and their follies will not boast their light. The sun will be darkness in its going forth, and the moon will not illuminate its light.
י כֽי־כוכב֤י השמ֙ים֙ וכס֣יליה֔ם ל֥א יה֖לו אור֑ם חש֤ך הש֙מש֙ בצאת֔ו ויר֖ח לֽא־יג֥יה אורֽו	16 17		i ci-cocbi hwmiim ucsilihm la ihlu aorm kwç hwmw bxato virk la-igih aoro
11 And I will visit on the world its hurt, and on the wicked their iniquity, and I will eradicate the pride of the presumptuous, and the pride of the ruthless I will abase.
יא ופקדת֤י על־תבל֙ רע֔ה ועל־רשע֖ים עונ֑ם והשבתי֙ גא֣ון זד֔ים וגאו֥ת עריצ֖ים אשפֽיל	17 17		ia upqdti yl-tbl ryh vyl-rwyim yvonm vhwbti gaon zdim vgavvt yrixim awpil
12 Precious is the mortal more than pure gold, and the human than the finest gold of Ophir.
יב אוק֥יר אנ֖וש מפ֑ז ואד֖ם מכ֥תם אופֽיר	6 8		ib aoqir anow mpz vadm mctm aopir
13 Therefore I will make heavens shudder and will the earth quake from her place, in the fury of Yahweh of hosts and in the day of his fierce anger.
יג על־כן֙ שמ֣ים ארג֔יז ותרע֥ש הא֖רץ ממקומ֑ה בעברת֙ יהו֣ה צבא֔ות ובי֖ום חר֥ון אפֽו	15 14		ig yl-cn wmiim argiz vtryw harx mmqomh bybrt ihvh xbaot ubiom kron apo

Other translations render visit as punish. But a visit of G-d should not be seen as negative. There are real consequences of our action or inaction, of course. If you look at that root pqd, visit, you can see it has a variety of possible glosses. Other translations interpret it as punish. I never do. 

I can certainly allow that it may be painful to our self-image to be corrected by God, but we should welcome such a visitation, because we may actually grow from it. The same life-giving spirit that broods over chaos can also give us life and get us to put aside our presumption and pride.

Let this mind be in you

 Punishment in a love song? Divine punishment in a love song? 

Let this mind be in you: God does not punish. It is not in the character of God to punish, to inflict pain on the creation. There is no word for punish in Hebrew. Let me make this clear. The gloss punish is frequently used in the King James translation in English and in other translations into other tongues. Punish is attributed to God in these versions of the Bible. These bibles propagate and teach a false theology.

I am not singing this truth to you. There is no music in this post. You can't hear the love if you think punishment. Humans punish. God does not. How often have I heard these excuses: "I'm doing this for your own good." Or "this hurts me more than it does you." What nonsense. Those sentences are also lies.

I'm not going to prove this or justify my words with a thousand quotes. Just think about it.

God is light. God is love. God is holy. There are many ways of pointing to God. 

You don't have to look very far on this blog to find what I really think about this error of attributing punishment to God. Just put punish into the search. Or link to this post from a few years ago. https://meafar.blogspot.com/2021/08/misunderstanding-god.html. 

Or press the link on my word map for the 77 posts substantiating this conclusion from my translating.

#Moses, #Psalmtweet Deuteronomy 32:4-6

 

Deuteronomy 32:4-6

Is it Yahweh's fault that the world is impaired wkt? 

Just consider the first two words and their usage in the psalms. How close this language is to the Psalter. 

Rock as a symbol for Yahweh is common. It is used this way in the Psalms -- 8 times the phrase is 'my rock'. It is personal and reliable. I could not say this for the teachers I grew up with, especially the religious ones. They failed completely in their need to punish - a practice that is neither personal nor reliable. It's probable that you grew up with the 16th century fetish of necessary punishment. There is no such attribution of this character or name or reputation to Yahweh. It is entirely a human deviation and tortuous practice. If we are the destroyers, the ones who impair creation, our character and motivation is not of God.

If you had to save the world from itself, how would you do it? How would you define a satisfactory or complete result? Complete (tmm) is used 30 times in the psalms.

Impair / destroy occurs 18 times in the psalms, and most strangely in four psalms (57, 58, 59, 75) inscribed 'do not destroy'. In contrast, spot is never used. Blemish is a hapax, occurring once only in Psalm 50.

הַצּוּר֙ תָּמִ֣ים פָּעֳל֔וֹ כִּ֥י כָל־דְּרָכָ֖יו מִשְׁפָּ֑ט אֵ֤ל אֱמוּנָה֙ וְאֵ֣ין עָ֔וֶל צַדִּ֥יק וְיָשָׁ֖ר הֽוּא ר		4 The Rock, complete is his work, for all his ways are judgment. A God of faithfulness, and there is no injustice. A righteous one, and upright is he.
d hxur tmim poylo ci cl-drciv mwp't al amunh vain yvvl xdiq viwr hua r	14 15	h/xvr tmm pyl\v ci cl drc\iv m/wp't al amvn\h v/ain yvl xdiq v/iwr hva
שִׁחֵ֥ת ל֛וֹ לֹ֖א בָּנָ֣יו מוּמָ֑ם דּ֥וֹר עִקֵּ֖שׁ וּפְתַלְתֹּֽל ר		5 It became impaired for him. Not his children, their spot, a generation devious and tortuous.
h wikt lo la bniv mumm dor yiqw uptltol r	8 7	wkt l\v la bn\iv mvmm dvr yqw v/ptl\tl
הֲ־לַיְהוָה֙ תִּגְמְלוּ־זֹ֔את עַ֥ם נָבָ֖ל וְלֹ֣א חָכָ֑ם הֲלוֹא־הוּא֙ אָבִ֣יךָ קָּנֶ֔ךָ ה֥וּא עָֽשְׂךָ֖ וַֽיְכֹנְנֶֽךָ ר		6 Do you to Yahweh reward this, senseless people and unwise? Is not he your father? He purchased you himself. He made you, and he established you.
v h-lihvh tgmlu-zat ym nbl vla kcm hloa-hua abiç qnç hua ywç viconnç r	14 17	h l/ihvh t/gml\v zat ym nbl v/la kcm h/lva hva ab\ic qn\c hva yw\c vi/cn\nc

8. Perfect

Dear children,

Another invitation comes to us in the same form as the invitations to be holy and compassionate or merciful: You will be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect. This word perfect has the sense of completeness. And it's a completeness that includes what we might think of as imperfections. This invitation comes from the stories of Jesus that we have in the Greek New Testament. (Jesus is the Greekish pronunciation of Jehoshua - Yahweh saves - in Hebrew.)

I was thinking the other day about music and time that passes by during a performance when we are captivated by the music for its rhythm, or multiple interlocking voices, the grandeur of its sound. And I thought - this is a kind of stoppage of time. Though it has a beginning and an end, it is also making the voice of the composer in the past heard and it ties together our moments into a single shared experience.

Remarkable really - so I thought the commonplace phrase, Practice makes perfect. What is perfect in this context has the sense of flawless. To be rather than the sense of completion. My thought then is about the experience of performer and audience - how there is a presence of something more in the passage of time. In a sense, time is tied together: performance perfects the present. A great performance captures us and makes time stand still. This is the sense of completeness that is in the command. In music, it is very memorable. I still remember the first performance I heard of Gershwin's opera Porgie and Bess. One day maybe you will hear it. And of course you will remember the very well behaved 'perfect' children in The Sound of Music.

I am sure you can see that these letters of mine are going to take some teasing out to see if there is usefulness in them. At a minimum they have some historical usefulness. They reflect how I think about a whole bunch of things from God to human social attitudes and structures and science.

But ... I say, God is not 'a thing' that we can know it. And Science is what we think we know about things from our theories and experiments. Science is itself a great wonder and it strives for its own completeness. Science works by hypothesis and testing to see what can and cannot be repeated. Tests are successful even if they fail, because failure demonstrates that something is incomplete, that we have more to learn.

Science can then describe how things work, but it cannot describe or explain puzzle pieces such as we have looked so far: like safety, holiness, trust, truth, or others like courage, faithfulness, fear, discipline, persistence, respect, justice, love. For that we need mutual agreement on how we will live together. If that agreement is broken then all sorts of other things will break and have to be mended in some way.

I should eventually get to the agreement that God lays out in the 5th book of Moses, Deuteronomy (chapter 28). It is like a peace agreement after war with promises and penalties. And it is fun, but oversimplified. An answer to this almost military covenant is in the book of Job. People think of this long poem as if it is a horror story, but it is a setup for managing our expectations. It is an epic poem. The idea of punishment is removed from the discussion. It is not in the character of God to punish.

I think this is very important. There is no Hebrew word that is used consistently for punishment in the old English translations, and none where punish is used more often than other senses of the word. This not to say that actions do not have consequences and the consequences can be undesirable. 

People miss too that God can be grieved. God, in other words, can be saddened. But Heaven rejoices when someone says thank-you. People will tell you that God is all-knowing, all-powerful etc, but they are just repeating a formula by rote. You remember how I said that any sentence containing God is not fully known - as if we somehow had God under our control.

To review: so far I have sketched a beginning (letter 1) - to the earth, the heavens, and the stars, each one of them unique and differing from the others in brightness and complexity, and to the structures of life, (letter 2) our human situation, genes and cells, and microbes, the invisible half of the life on earth and in the waters much more than half.

And I wrote a brief intro to our responsibility in life (letter 3) as if we were working with hidden and uncertain puzzles. And I have begun to explore some language to talk about what is good and what is not good. I have done these things so that somehow we can find a place where we can stand and make suitable judgments - even if we are incomplete (as we all are).

I began that search for shared language with holiness (letter 4) - and wrote that it is like the table on which we could examine some hefty and complex puzzle pieces. Then I began with trust, (letter 5) and next with the idea of instruction, (letter 6) perhaps even instruction from God. And next with image (letter 7).

Such sketches attempt to describe, but description cannot fully catch the depth of things. We still need the whole web. So I will keep throwing out my threads into the wind of experience and examples to explore but I will hope to do it in the context of real life examples like these - in no particular sequence:

• war and violence in our lives and the lives of others and our failure to change old attitudes.
• the inequality between rich and poor everywhere and how we might approach caring for the weak.
• the protests we have seen in our country and whether we can answer the flaws in their approach.
• the breakup of families, and the character of human intimacy.
• the work of the poets and the ways that words are used and abused
• the music around us and the creation of beauty.
• the systems we build in real cooperation with each other and how difficult it is to learn how to do this flawlessly and to manage the processes, for example, the long learning process that produced the Webb telescope - and the resulting power that we have in our hands for extending our knowledge.

Then I think we may find some language to explore the good and the bad that you already face and are going to face, and the foundation you will need so that you be able to stand and thrive.

That is a tall order, and I will admit that some of my web segments may be weaker than others. I tell you the truth that I find this process very hard to do. I am heading towards some conclusions, but I am not at all sure how to express them. It's important to have discernment in yourselves and to draw your own conclusions.

Till the next letter ...

Theology and the Psalms - preliminaries

 Dr. D in his first statements on preliminaries asks first what is our standpoint — and he underlines three possibilities:

• the standpoint of the poet, 
• or the standpoint of the Old Testament church, 
• or the standpoint of the church of the present dispensation

This will take some digging since these are not how I see my standpoint today. Dispensation is a term I leave to one side. The assemblies of the emerging faith of Torah and Psalms I do not characterize as 'church'. There must be a standpoint of the poet. That is where I began. I don't expect it encompasses the totality of either Torah or Psalms.

But I must also stand in my own time, past the era of the imposition of salvation (as if that were even possible!) and into the cacophony of bullying such as is seen in China's century of humiliation —following the opium wars, Russia's pride and fear —following the second world war, Ukraine's terror today, the inability of Canada (temporarily we hope) to manage false claims of freedom and the American right's inability to count, to trust, to be civil, and the overall failure to manage "whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;". 

The notion of what is 'Christian' is so torn from its roots that it is almost completely dead for lack of suitable nutrients and water. The problem has been from the beginning of course, but I cannot put to one side the Shoah, nor the facts of climate change and the human capacity for self-destruction through nuclear annihilation. We have become so good through our sin at destroying each other. There is not one that doeth good, as the poet says.

A few 'facts' that trouble me and 'theories' that encourage me:

'Facts' - the blockaders in Canada did not and do not speak for most of us in this country. A blockade that exposes its own stupidity and makes itself obnoxious is not speaking to any notion of freedom that can be acceptable. If indeed they die for their sins, well let that be an end of them. Sin has no resurrection. Vindication requires angels beholding the face of God, and the childishness of these mockers does not qualify. Those who support them are equally obnoxious. I am sure they include many who think that the US election was stolen. The end of this lie has yet to be seen. The Canadian government's response was overly reasonable. These people could not see the will of God for our freedom but they should be able to see the will of the people they have damaged. Let them live then and pay their dues for the consequences of their actions. Ignorance masking itself as faith, and bluster masking itself as hope, stand against love, the greatest of these three gifts. The obnoxious do not will the good of others.

Encouraging 'theories' - we live in a time of immensely productive science. There are some doing good for the environment, some for the fauna and flora of the world, and some for the knowledge of the beginnings and endings of the cosmos, the dark matter that helped the visible form into stars and galaxies, that shapes the gravity of our situation cosmically and caused light to shine in the universe. If we as a species want to continue, we must incorporate a full science into our faith. 

I am also encouraged by faithful scholarship applied to the source of our ability to read, write, and think across the centuries. It is not a bad thing to pay attention to this emergence of knowledge, physical and spiritual. We still know 'in part'. We are all still bound by our assumptions. 

I wrote the above before the current war. What consequences are there for power and lies, evil and wickedness in this world? These will be determined, but putting aside the mad actions of a deranged and self-deluded man attempting to mislead everyone with his lies, if we all survive another 10 years, I hope we will see the international criminal court bring Putin to justice for war crimes. Anyone who praised him is as sick as he is. 

The psalms end in praise because Yahweh relieves the afflicted. He humbles the wicked to earth. And the job is given to those who know mercy: to bind this sovereign in chains, and this self-glorifying one with iron fetters. 

The oppressed of the earth know this is true and are showing their support for the one who has been attacked. We don't need correct theology to figure this out. 

It turns out that when I read the preliminaries, as Delitzsch calls this section, they raise so many questions about his thinking that I feel I am in an episode of Vienna Blood. So I will leave any further immediate comment. Dr D's theological summary is as would be expected, thorough, well-informed, and coherent for him. [He only uses the punish word twice in the theological preliminaries]. 

He does have a section that justifies wrath in the face of such injustice as we see today not only from Putin and his cronies, but from all the rich whose wealth is extracted from the people to their detriment and to the detriment of their earthly homes, "vine and fig tree" as given to them.

But as to the so-called imprecatory psalms, in the position occupied by the Christian and by the church towards the enemies of Christ, the desire for their removal is certainly outweighed by the desire for their conversion: but assuming, that they will not be converted and will not anticipate their punishment by penitence, the transition from a feeling of love to that of wrath is warranted in the New Testament (e. g. Gal. v. 12), and assuming their absolute Satanic hardness of heart the Christian even may not shrink from praying for their final overthrow. For the kingdom of God comes not only by the way of mercy but also of judgment; and the coming of the kingdom of God is the goal of the Old as well as of the New Testament saint (vid. ix. 21, lix. 14 and other passages), and every wish that judgment may descend upon those who oppose the coming of the kingdom of God is cherished even in the Psalms on the assumption of their lasting impenitence (vid. vii. 13 sq. cix. 17).

[I doubt that the Gal. 5:12 proof text is apt, Dr. D. It is a fit of pique from Paul. We don't need proof texts for this kind of judgment at this stage of human learning - though it remains to be seen if we have maturing within our current international consensus against the aggression of Russia - Gog or no Gog.]

As for what the OT and NT distinguish - here Dr. D and I are going to diverge. While I see the fullness of the Firstborn, I do not doubt that 'life after death' in an everlasting linearity is a misunderstanding of the eternal. We are still exploring the extremes of our knowledge of the heavens and the earth and there is no final theory that could have been expressed pre-science any more than the Patristic authors who had no Hebrew could effectively do grammar with Dr. D. As I quoted him in an earlier post, there is still more to come.

I will leave you dear reader to chose for yourself whether to read the whole epub section for this beginning. I want now to see more into what Delitzsch writes for a psalm. I may start with Psalms 1 - but may or may not proceed in sequence. In any case this is a long process, up to two years if I do the whole Psalter. And I have to intersperse it with other things, like music and grandchildren, and so on.

I hate, I refuse your translations

Bosco Peters notes that a new new revised standard version of the Bible is emerging from the bruit of the modern world.  He has committed himself to the RSV traditions. One reason he gives is for memorization. I agree with him that it is very hard to memorize 100 different translations. (And I am sure he hasn't read mine!)

Let's face it, the Bible is a big library representing 1000s of years of 'tradition' as the Fiddler notes. How does God get a good word about character to the billions of people to be spoken to?

Flood, fire, tempest, war, persecution, or a book? I suspect consequences are among God's modes of communications. God simply does not have time, (just all of it), to get to the folks to be loved and cherished. Consequences are a blunt instrument. I suspect also that the invisible and non-confrontational but sharp voice of tenderness is another mode. Does God use the churches? Committees, drafts, studies, scholarship, layer upon layer of signs and tongues, and revision after revision?

Who knows! 

As the king of Nineveh says. This God may turn and sigh, and turn from his fierce anger and we will not perish. 

The king was right in his assessment of anger. Jonah was wrong in his schadenfreude implying his assessment of punitive damages deserved. Who is revealing the character of God? 

Here is God as revealed to Moses. This is the verse (Exodus 34:6) that you need to memorize and see how often it is referred to in the Old Testament. (Yup - it's in the story of Jonah.)

וַיַּעֲבֹ֨ר יְהוָ֥ה ׀ עַל־פָּנָיו֮ וַיִּקְרָא֒ יְהוָ֣ה ׀ יְהוָ֔ה אֵ֥ל רַח֖וּם וְחַנּ֑וּן אֶ֥רֶךְ אַפַּ֖יִם וְרַב־חֶ֥סֶד וֶאֱמֶֽת ׀		6 And Yahweh, passed over before him, and he called, Yahweh, Yahweh, a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in kindness and truth,
v viybor ihvh yl-pniv viqra ihvh ihvh al rkum vknun arç apiim vrb-ksd vamt	22 11	vi/ybr ihvh yl pn\iv vi/qra ihvh ihvh al rkvm v/knvn arc ap\im v/rb ksd v/amt

Bosco believes that the RSV tradition is "as literal as possible, as free as necessary". This policy is simply not followed by the NRSV, no matter what they say. I noted a number of thoughts on NRSV in the Biblical Studies carnival 189 published Dec 1. E.g. in Habakkuk 1 and 2:1, how do you read the gloss punishment for the root that indicates correction, or referee, or reproof (yod-kaf-chet)? And then read in the very next chapter, that they fail to use the same gloss for the same root. 

The traditional translations in the versions derived from the KJV use punish for a half a dozen roots and sometimes when there is no root at all to match the gloss with. But even KJV does not use punish for i-c-k (yod kaf chet in SimHebrew) and in that translation the two glosses (correction / reproof) don't match, but at least the imputation for the character of God is acceptable. This is only one of the many tangles of glosses that are used in the standard / authorized versions.

Should we be memorizing the implication that God is one who punishes rather than corrects or reproves or visits or whatever? These translations - called standard and authoritative - bear false witness to the character of God.

Here's my story of Jonah - layer upon layer of signs interpreted, language, music, and character revealed. It's free (but the Ninevites paid dearly as did the Hebrews). Let me know if you like it.

My translation has been on the market for 2 years. It has been a dedicated 15 year effort. It has been published with the Hebrew text in a left-to-right accurate readable full-spelling. It's the only recent single-person translation I know of that has been published with a full concordance online. It is all in an Oracle database so it is updatable. This is a big job. What I have done is to comb out the tangles in the beloved's hair. But there is still work to be done. I have no doubt I have reduced the complexity of management of a translation. Equally I have no doubt there are blunders that should be corrected. Like Habakkuk, I am waiting for my own correction.

Habakkuk 1:1-2:1

Tomorrow I read NRSV Habakkuk 1. NRSV manages to get punishment into the text in verse 12. About half the modern translations use punish for the root ick (no that's not the origin of the English word, icky). The root is pronounced roughly as ykhach - i.e. the i (yod) is a consonant, the c (kaf) is a hard c with some air, and the k (chet) is ch as in loch.

Why is it that we have such punishment on the brain? ick signifies correction, reproof, and so on. It is a key word for understanding the book of Job. Such things are not punishment but they are evidence of presence. What if translators cooperated with God rather than imputing to God things that are not in God's character?

I do not like the NRSV. I am happy that scholars try, and I use whatever results of scholarship that seem useful that come across my desk. I am not anti-scholarship. Is my prejudice that God does not punish worse than the prejudice that God is one who punishes? Did you believe them when they said, "This will hurt me more than it does you"? 

That was a false statement by the wielders of corporal punishment. They were fighting the last war. Perhaps I am a losing battle.

The committees I suspect have a bias towards doctrines like penal substitution. I am Christian but I don't accept this idea of punishment since reading the Old Testament. There is no Hebrew root that has punishment as its dominant sense. We can certainly read that into several words but their other senses give the lie to our readings. I've gone on about this before.

Anyway - here is Habakkuk 1:1-2:1 - ick (reprove, correct) occurs in Hab 2:1 also and the NRSV renders it as complaint. What! Where did the committee get that gloss from? Must have been a dusty shelf they pulled it off at random. None of the glossaries derived from the last 400 years of English translation give complaint as a gloss for ick.

There is no simple rule to follow when glossing a word in Hebrew. Several of them have multiple senses, often related, but distinguishing different things. In Hab 1:12 and Hab 2:1 there are two words that are shared, ick and xvr. The second is rock, or fortification. You can see all my choices for glosses at the links.

So what will I read tomorrow? Last time I read I read my own translation of Ecclesiastes 11-12 (aka Qohelet). This time is it too different?

There is another change in verse 12 - 'we will not die' (Hebrew) is rendered as 'you will not die'. Apparently this is one of the scribal corrections to the text. (According to Wiki at least.) Some scholars put it down to a squeamish pious scribe who can't see that the prophet would appeal to the deathlessness of God. I doubt it. As far as I can see, and that's not far, this reading goes back to the Aleppo codex. The Greek is first person plural. So if it reflects the text prior to the common era, the change must have been very early indeed. I can't see a notification of this reading as a correction from the Habakkuk in the Dead Sea Scrolls. 

Anyone out there got any advice? (Other than just do as you're told, MacDonald.)

This is my translation. 

1 The load which Habakkuk the prophet gazed on.

2 How long please, Yahweh, will I cry and you will not hear?
Will I appeal to you of violence and you will not save?

3 ♪B Why do you show me mischief and misery you make me notice, and devastation and violence before me?
And there is contention and sentence borne.

4 Therefore numbed is instruction and lasting judgment fails to emerge,
for wickedness encircles the righteous one, therefore crooked judgment emerges.

5 See among the nations and take note and marvel with astonishment,
for he worked a work in your days you would not have believed though it were recounted.

6 For note me well, I raise up the Chaldeans, the bitter and swift nation,
to rush into the broad land to possess dwellings that are not theirs.

7 Horrible and feared it is.
From this its judgment and its forbearance will emerge.

8 And fleeter than leopards are its horses, and keener than wolves of evening, its cavaliers frisk about.
And its cavaliers come from afar. They fly like an eagle hurrying to eat.

9 All for violence it comes, their faces pumped up as the east wind,
and it gathers captives as in a dance.

10 And it, among sovereigns, ridicules them, and the rule-makers laugh at it.
Itself, at all enclosure it laughs and it accumulates dust and catches it.

11 ♪B Then it is renewed in spirit when it has passed through and been declared guilty.
This is its power for its god.

12 Are not you from the east, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die.
Yahweh, for judgment, you have set it up, and for a rock of correction you have founded it.

13 Too clean of eyes than to see evil and you cannot notice misery?
Why do you notice the treacherous? You are silent when wickedness swallows one more righteous than itself.

14 And you make humanity as the fish of the sea,
as a creeper that has no governor over it.

15 All of it with a fishhook brought up, it gullets them in utter destruction, and it gathers them into its own cravings,
therefore it will be glad and it will rejoice.

16 Therefore it will offer its utter destruction and burn incense to its own cravings,
for in them is the oil of its share and its plenteous food.

17 ♪f Will it therefore empty its utter destruction,
and continually slay nations without pity?

1 On my watch I will stand and I will station myself on the fortification.
And I will be on lookout to see what he will speak in me and what I will bring back concerning my correction.

This translation is part of the English guide to the SimHebrew Bible. The whole Bible in Simulated Hebrew with English, verse by verse is available through this link. Look around, there are good deals available.

Punishment vs consequences

 Fifty six times out of 382 pqd is used with the preceding word being yl. 

I have not been absolutely consistent in my translation but I wondered if 'visit against/on/upon' could be allowed to be glossed as punish in English. It cannot. Because as is obvious pqd is used with yl for a variety of contexts.

There is certainly a threat in some of them. Who would want to have the consequences of some actions held against them? If husband or wife are to leave their spouse and children without cause - then will want and misery stand over the parent when the visitation is made against the parent? (You may note that Mr Dickens never uses the word punish in A Christmas Carol - he knew.)

Genesis 39:4	vipqdhv yl bitv	ויפקדהו and he had him officiate over ביתו his house
Genesis 41:34	pqdim yl harx	פקדים officers over הארץ the land
Exodus 32:34	vpqdti ylihm k+atm	ופקדתי then I will visit upon them חטאתם their sin
Exodus 38:21	pqd yl pi	פקד is the office over פי the mandate of
Leviticus 26:16	vhpqdti ylicm bhlh	והפקדתי I will visit against you בהלה vexation
Numbers 4:27	vpqdtm ylhm bmwmrt	ופקדתם and you will officiate over them במשמרת in the keeping of
Numbers 16:29	ipqd ylihm la	יפקד is visited on them לא not
Joshua 10:18	vhpqidv ylih anwim	והפקידו and conscript over it אנשים persons
2 Samuel 3:8	vtpqd yli yvn	ותפקד and you visit with concerning me עון the iniquity of
1 Kings 14:27	vhpqid yl id	והפקיד and entrusted them to יד the hand of
2 Kings 11:18	pqdvt yl bit	פקדות officers over בית the house of
2 Kings 25:19	pqid yl anwi	פקיד an officer over אנשי --
2 Kings 25:22	vipqd ylihm at	ויפקד he entrusted to them את --
Isaiah 10:12	apqd yl pri	אפקד I will make a visit to פרי the fruit of
Isaiah 13:11	vpqdti yl tbl	ופקדתי and I will visit on תבל the world
Isaiah 15:7	vpqdtm yl nkl	ופקדתם and what they have conscripted over נחל the wadi of
Isaiah 27:3	ipqd ylih lilh	יפקד any visit against her לילה night
Jeremiah 9:24	vpqdti yl cl	ופקדתי and I will visit -- כל all
Jeremiah 11:22	pqd ylihm hbkvrim	פקד I will visit them הבחורים their youths in their prime
Jeremiah 13:21	ipqd ylic vat	יפקד he visits you ואת and
Jeremiah 15:3	vpqdti ylihm arby	ופקדתי then I will visit upon them ארבע four
Jeremiah 21:14	vpqdti ylicm cpri	ופקדתי and I will visit you כפרי according to the fruit of
Jeremiah 23:2	pqd ylicm at	פקד I will visit upon you את --
Jeremiah 23:34	vpqdti yl haiw	ופקדתי I will visit -- האיש person
Jeremiah 25:12	apqd yl mlc	אפקד I will make a visit to מלך the king of
Jeremiah 27:8	apqd yl hgvi	אפקד I will make a visit to הגוי nation
Jeremiah 29:32	pqd yl wmyih	פקד I will visit -- שמעיה Shemaiah
Jeremiah 30:20	vpqdti yl cl	ופקדתי and I will visit -- כל all
Jeremiah 36:31	vpqdti yliv vyl	ופקדתי and I will visit upon him ועל and upon
Jeremiah 40:11	hpqid ylihm at	הפקיד he had entrusted over them את --
Jeremiah 44:13	vpqdti yl hivwbim	ופקדתי and I will visit -- היושבים the settlers
Jeremiah 44:13	pqdti yl irvwlm	פקדתי I have visited at ירושלם Jerusalem
Jeremiah 51:27	pqdv ylih +psr	פקדו conscript against her טפסר a marshal
Jeremiah 51:44	vpqdti yl bl	ופקדתי and I will visit -- בל Bel
Jeremiah 51:47	vpqdti yl psili	ופקדתי and I will visit against פסילי the graven images of
Jeremiah 51:52	vpqdti yl psilih	ופקדתי and I will visit -- פסיליה her graven images
Jeremiah 52:25	pqid yl anwi	פקיד an officer over אנשי --
Hosea 2:15	vpqdti ylih at	ופקדתי then I will visit on her את --
Hosea 4:9	vpqdti yliv drciv	ופקדתי then I will visit on him דרכיו his ways
Hosea 4:14	apqvd yl bnvticm	אפקוד I will visit -- בנותיכם your daughters
Hosea 12:3	vlpqd yl iyqb	ולפקד and will visit on יעקב Jacob
Amos 3:2	apqd ylicm at	אפקד I will visit upon you את --
Amos 3:14	vpqdti yl mzbkvt	ופקדתי I will visit -- מזבחות the altars of
Zephaniah 1:8	vpqdti yl hwrim	ופקדתי that I will visit -- השרים the nobility
Zephaniah 1:9	vpqdti yl cl	ופקדתי and I will visit -- כל all
Zephaniah 1:12	vpqdti yl hanwim	ופקדתי and I will visit -- האנשים the men
Zephaniah 3:7	pqdti ylih acn	פקדתי I visited on her אכן nevertheless
Psalms 109:6	hpqd yliv rwy	הפקד make officiate over him רשע a criminal
Job 34:13	pqd yliv arxh	פקד has given visitation rights to him ארצה earthward
Job 36:23	pqd yliv drcv	פקד has visited on him דרכו his way
Ezra 1:2	pqd yli lbnvt	פקד has entrusted me לבנות to build
Nehemiah 11:9	pqid ylihm vihvdh	פקיד an officer over them ויהודה and Judah
Nehemiah 11:14	vpqid ylihm zbdial	ופקיד and officer over them זבדיאל Zabdiel
2 Chronicles 12:10	vhpqid yl id	והפקיד and entrusted them to יד the hand of
2 Chronicles 34:17	hmpqdim vyl id	המפקדים the officials and into יד the hand of
2 Chronicles 36:23	pqd yli lbnvt	פקד has entrusted me לבנות to build

God and theatre

So my last post was very short. Here is a view of more detail. The lyrics for the Bernstein Mass are here Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.  It bears some study. They reveal all the contradictions in our thoughts - quite a remarkable achievement in my opinion.

Too much to do recently - so no time for posting. 

In the beginning was ...
and the word was Torah

Torah is from irh, throwing the grappling hook against the wall of time and seeing what it pulls back into our consciousness and what we can bootstrap ourselves into when it catches a useful hold.

Note the use of the verb to throw or shoot.

Notice how close the root irh is to ira (fear).

Bart Ehrman goes on and on about punishment in the OT. He is so well educated. How can he write with such a tiresome motif? Deuteronomy 28 is directly contradicted by the book of Job - or at least attenuated with respect to its intent - so the contracts described in Deuteronomy do not reflect the character of the OT God. Rather that character Job successfully appeals against a trivialized view of God. And as for 'the ban of utter destruction' - obviously there is present day perspective on such tribalism, but it too does not reflect God's character. (Except in the radical death required from us all, and symbolized in the rite of circumcision, an antitype of the cross.)

Also - to repeat, there is no distinct word for punish in the Hebrew canon. English translators have made up out of their own culture the idea that God can be blamed for the human desire for domination and power.

Mind you - God does not need my defense, nor is Ehrman wrong in describing what people think about the OT. What you think is what you get. That's hardly an argument in favour of our thinking or our actions.

Misunderstanding God

OK - so let's be totally negative. How do we escape from the thoughts of the past centuries (millennia?) about the character of God?

Bart Ehrman - entrepreneur, and Biblical Scholar, writes that "This God was indeed a God of wrath, not simply love. When people misbehaved, he punished them. Sometimes severely. Sometimes ruthlessly. We may not appreciate the picture, but you will find it both the both OT and NT." His context is here.

I have not translated the NT, so punish may well occur there, but it is not part of the character of God in the OT. It can be read in - but is it really there? Or are we reading the mind of the 16-17th century in the translation. 

In the NT, I see with a brief skim that punishment is rendered by two differing Greek words also translated as 'torment' or as 'vengeance', etc. It looks at first glance that the same problem occurs in the NT as in the OT: translators slip from a real character of God to an inferred one. They assume that if God is wrathful, or vengeful, that therefore God punishes, when the reality is that humans punish or that humans are tormented by their unconfessed lies and errors. It looks to me that in neither testament is the word punish required as a gloss for an action where God is the subject of the word. 

I have taken each root used for 'punish' to see and ask - does this really mean 'punish'?

I have written on this before, most recently earlier this year:

The 16th century translators had punishment on their minds a lot. The evidence is in the number of different Hebrew words (יסר נכה ענשׁ פקד רעע עוה) that are glossed as punish.

So I found 6 different roots that have been rendered as punish. I also note that in the version that everyone copies (KJV), Leviticus 26:41 elaborates iniquity into punishment and takes a whole interpretive phrase to render the one word. This is a case where the blood is not dry on the meat and the translator, that butcher of language, has failed to disentangle the ligaments when rendering the packaged gloss. The result reflects the bloody character of the translator rather than the character of God.

I did not set out to do this. I recall being surprised by the result as I combed out the impossible tangles of the KJV.

You can see each root and the glosses I chose for each in the concordance. The dominant glosses for the above list of roots are in this list with their counts for my translation. Punish as a gloss is never needed. It is always a slip into unnecessarily interpretive translation. (All translation is interpretation of the base data - but interpretation should not reduce the scope of what is said.)

• isr mentor (16), bewilder (3), chasten (62), warn (11), tutor (7)
• nch struck (331), stricken (8), strike (189), mill (1), gash (2)
• yvh wretch (2), perverse (16), perversity (2), pervert (2)
• ynw amerce (2), fine (10)
• pqd visitation (19), conscript (115), took/take census (10), officiate (11), entrust (38), officer (25), conscription (9), office (7), precept (25), visit (108)
• ryy evildoer (15), injure (11), deject (8), evil (654), get hurt (2), deal ill (1), dejection (3), hurt (47), worse (5), grimace (1), spite injury (1), injury (9), disservice (1), hurtful (18)

Conclusion, punish is an unnecessary gloss. It is never the dominant gloss in the KJV or those translations that copy it, and it is abundantly clear that these translators had punishment on their minds or they would not have given us that gloss for 6 different roots in the Hebrew.

I very much doubt that Bart Ehrman will notice this post. And I am not going to pay for the privilege of commenting on his post (sapphire membership or something). He is right in using punish to report what people thought and think today. I doubt he is right in assuming that Jesus thought this. Jesus expects to be tutored, chastened, warned, and taught. But Jesus seems to see clearly the love of God in the Old Testament. He accepts the role of son of God as one who is grieved by and absorbs rather than punishes evil. And so must we if indeed we are children of the same God.

Afterthought - God has visited and redeemed his people - do you think of this as positive or negative? pqd - visit - has overtones but punish is not one of them.  A visit from God is uniformly for good - not for evil. I wonder when we will learn to distinguish these things.

The character of the protagonist of Tanach

One picks and chooses which descriptions of the living God one decides to emphasize when doing a 'theology'. I have just noted a brief return to considering Jesus last week - have a look. And now I will concentrate on what I see concerning ihvh. I think it may turn out to be both interesting and unexpected.

My foundational verses are these two. You can see that face and presence are the same root. The English corresponds to the bolded pn in the Hebrew. My point here is not to repeat the sounds but to show the immediacy and tangibility of 'presence'. In most places I want to show repetition, but here a slightly different view of our relationship to this 'living God'. (See previous post).

wmot lg	Exodus 33
i't viamr ani aybir cl-'tubi yl-pniç vqrati bwm ihvh lpniç vknoti at-awr akon vrikmti at-awr arkm	19 And he said, I myself will make all my good pass over your face, and I will call in the name of Yahweh in your presence. And I am gracious with whom I will be gracious, and I have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
wmot ld	Exodus 34
v viybor ihvh yl-pniv viqra ihvh ihvh al rkum vknun arç apiim vrb-ksd vamt	6 And Yahweh, passed over before him, and he called, Yahweh, Yahweh, a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in kindness and truth,

These two verses are alluded to by a host of other verses in the Scripture. I think we may conclude that the Old Testament, just from this starting point, testifies to a character of God that is meant to be present to others in us, teaching us maturity (and thus overcoming our tendencies to 'me first'). Maturity is a word I might return to. It is glossed largely as reward, recompense, but also wean, grow (acrostic necessity), mature. Detail here of course.

Here are the other references: First to gracious preceded by compassionate. al rkum vknun. If you look at knn in the glossary and scan for lag = rkm, there are only two additional. Look the other way around for eight more. And slow to anger (ap preceded by arc) raises 16 more verses that allude to Exodus 34:6. I could stop here with laying out these verses. You can find them all easily in the concordance.

So I will move on to the explicit statements of the character of the living God in the Psalms. You know my favorite section, Psalms 146, verse 6 and following.  Can you read it?

This section speaks of 

ihvh

yowh wmiim varx at-him vat-cl-awr-bm 

hwomr amt lyolm

yowh mwp't lywuqim

notn lkm lrybim 

ihvh mtir asurim

ihvh poqk yivvrim

ihvh zoqf cpupim 

ihvh aohb xdiqim

ihvh womr at-grim

itom valmnh iyodd 

vdrç rwyim iyvvt

Here as usual, the phrasing illustrates the compactness of the Hebrew. You can find early posts on Psalms 146 here and here. They do have a version of my translation. I am just learning to read SimHebrew too.

Do the stories of Jesus reflect the character of the living God of the Old Testament? They do. Why is the general presumption different? Because what we also hear and see in the OT are the violent actions of many peoples and the interpretations of the consequences.

One example: Cain murders his brother, and then most translations into English have Cain say: My punishment is greater than I can bear. If Cain is punished, who is punishing him? Implied answer, God. 

But there is no word for punish in the Biblical Hebrew of the OT. There are a half-dozen words that translators have glossed as punish. But they have also glossed them as other English words as well, in every case, more often than they used punish. In this case for Cain the word is yvn. If you look, you will see that I always translate yvn as iniquity. (Maybe) Cain perceives punishment as the consequence of his iniquity. But it is just plain wrong to translate it as punishment. And there are 50 different translations that copied the King James translation and therefore got this wrong again. And therefore they get the character of God wrong again. And they can't blame it on the Vulgate: Major est iniquitas mea, quam ut veniam merear. Or the old Greek.

Of course Cain can't bear his iniquity. Who will? Well, maybe we will together. Following the character of God will be costly.

Psalms 99

This performance of Psalms 99 is quite a change from the robust performances of Psalms 96 and 98. (See this post for a full list of available performances.)

So here is the raw data. Note that the performer has chosen the augmented fourth yet she does not observe it in the revia mugresh, that ornament that so commonly follows the rest on the subdominant. She emphasizes the thoughtful undercurrent in the poem. We are not dealing with a tame lion. I thought Haïk-Vantoura used the default mode as I coded in the score below. (But see her original score here which Lamandier is singing from - and it is clearly both not the default mode and it sharpens the subdominant only for the atnah. Curious. I doubt I could have coded her note heads with Musescore. They do not represent duration but accent interpretation.)

	Psalms 99	Fn	Min	Max	Syll
יְהוָ֣ה מָ֭לָךְ יִרְגְּז֣וּ עַמִּ֑ים יֹשֵׁ֥ב כְּ֝רוּבִ֗ים תָּנ֥וּט הָאָֽרֶץ	1 Yahweh reigns. Let peoples shudder. He sits on the cherubim. Let the earth be displaced.		3e	4B	9 10
יְ֭הוָה בְּצִיּ֣וֹן גָּד֑וֹל וְרָ֥ם ה֝֗וּא עַל־כָּל־הָֽעַמִּֽים	2 Yahweh is great in Zion, and he is himself exalted over all the peoples.	g	3e	4B	7 8
יוֹד֣וּ שִׁ֭מְךָ גָּד֥וֹל וְנוֹרָ֗א קָד֥וֹשׁ הֽוּא	3 Let them confess your great and fearful name. He is holy.		3e	4B	12
וְעֹ֥ז מֶלֶךְ֮ מִשְׁפָּ֪ט אָ֫הֵ֥ב אַ֭תָּה כּוֹנַ֣נְתָּ מֵישָׁרִ֑ים מִשְׁפָּ֥ט וּ֝צְדָקָ֗ה בְּיַעֲקֹ֤ב ׀ אַתָּ֬ה עָשִֽׂיתָ	4 And the king's strength loves judgment. You yourself establish uprightness. Judgment and righteousness in Jacob, you yourself make.		3d	4C	8 8 14
רֽוֹמְמ֡וּ יְה֘וָ֤ה אֱלֹהֵ֗ינוּ וְֽ֭הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַהֲדֹ֥ם רַגְלָ֗יו קָד֥וֹשׁ הֽוּא	5 Exalt Yahweh our God, and worship at his footstool. He is holy.		3e	4C	21
מֹ֘שֶׁ֤ה וְאַהֲרֹ֨ן ׀ בְּֽכֹהֲנָ֗יו וּ֭שְׁמוּאֵל בְּקֹרְאֵ֣י שְׁמ֑וֹ קֹרִ֥אים אֶל־יְ֝הוָ֗ה וְה֣וּא יַעֲנֵֽם	6 Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among those calling on his name. They called on Yahweh and he himself answered them.	~	3e	4C	18 11
בְּעַמּ֣וּד עָ֭נָן יְדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵיהֶ֑ם שָׁמְר֥וּ עֵ֝דֹתָ֗יו וְחֹ֣ק נָֽתַן־לָֽמוֹ	7 In the pillar of cloud he spoke to them. They kept his testimonies and the statute he gave them.		3e	4B	11 11
יְהוָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵינוּ֮ אַתָּ֪ה עֲנִ֫יתָ֥ם אֵ֣ל נֹ֭שֵׂא הָיִ֣יתָ לָהֶ֑ם וְ֝נֹקֵ֗ם עַל־עֲלִילוֹתָֽם	8 Yahweh our God, you yourself answered them. A God of forbearance you were to them, but avenging their wantonness.		3d	4B	11 8 8
רֽוֹמְמ֡וּ יְה֘וָ֤ה אֱלֹהֵ֗ינוּ וְ֭הִֽשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְהַ֣ר קָדְשׁ֑וֹ כִּֽי־קָ֝ד֗וֹשׁ יְהוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ	9 Exalt Yahweh our God and worship at his holy hill, for Yahweh our God is holy.		3e	4C	17 8

Shudder, recall Psalms 4. Tate translates avenge as punish. I cannot fathom this. Yet another Hebrew root abused. But he gives a good recount of the opinions of many. That is the nature of scholarship. How will we who are not scholars observe and hear this psalm in a liturgical context? Because we are not likely to prosper in worship if we only hear the opinions of others, however learned they may be.

The key word behind this psalm is holy. Each of the preceding three psalms has qdw (holy) at least once. This psalm has it 4 times. Twice it is qdow hua He is holy. This phrase where the antecedent of the pronoun is Yahweh is unique to this Psalm. The phrase is used with the pronoun in other contexts, but there the antecedent is some consecrated thing or geographic feature, not Yahweh specifically.

I am surprised by this, even though it is my software that pointed it out to me. Tate takes the pronoun as applying to the name in verse 3. Certainly plausible. That make the phrase in verse 5 unique in the Bible. Though perhaps even here, qdw could apply to the footstool. Verse 9 is unambiguous as to the source of the holy, whatever object we might apply it to.

So where does such mystery lead us? Perhaps to a love of judgment, the establishment of uprightness and righteousness, in forbearance. Perhaps to seeing out and imitating the character of this God. No slight thing.

Psalms 6

One more in sequence - The text is below. I have added back the Fn (first-note) column that shows the first note for a verse.

Quite likely based on the first note, I would reason that verses 4 and 6 are connected to 3 and 5 respectively. Verse 10, on the other hand, though starting dramatically on the dominant seems to signal a resumption following a pause in which the poet has received assurance from the one whose anger was feared. It's like the sign in the English Underground: mind the gap. Psalms have to be read slowly.

thlim v		Fn	Psalms 6	Min	Max	Syll
לַמְנַצֵּ֣חַ בִּ֭נְגִינוֹת עַֽל־הַשְּׁמִינִ֗ית מִזְמ֥וֹר לְדָוִֽד	a lmnxk bnginot yl-hwminit mzmor ldvid		1 For the leader on strings over octaves. A psalm of David.	3e	4B	16
יְֽהוָ֗ה אַל־בְּאַפְּךָ֥ תוֹכִיחֵ֑נִי וְֽאַל־בַּחֲמָתְךָ֥ תְיַסְּרֵֽנִי	b ihvh al-bapç tocikni val-bkmtç tiisrni		2 Yahweh, do not in your anger correct me, and do not in your heat chasten me.	3e	4A	10 10
חָנֵּ֥נִי יְהוָה֮ כִּ֤י אֻמְלַ֫ל־אָ֥נִי רְפָאֵ֥נִי יְהוָ֑ה כִּ֖י נִבְהֲל֣וּ עֲצָמָֽי	g konni ihvh ci aumll-ani rpani ihvh ci nbhlu yxmii		3 Be gracious to me, Yahweh, for I, I am feeble. Heal me Yahweh, for vexed are my bones.	3e	4C	10 6 7
וְ֭נַפְשִׁי נִבְהֲלָ֣ה מְאֹ֑ד וְאַתָּ֥ה יְ֝הוָ֗ה עַד־מָתָֽי	d vnpwi nbhlh maod vath ihvh yd-mtii	g	4 And my being is vexed much. And you, Yahweh, how long?	3e	4B	8 8
שׁוּבָ֣ה יְ֭הוָה חַלְּצָ֣ה נַפְשִׁ֑י ה֝וֹשִׁיעֵ֗נִי לְמַ֣עַן חַסְדֶּֽךָ	h wubh ihvh klxh npwi howiyni lmyn ksdç		5 Turn Yahweh, rescue my being. Save me for the sake of your kindness.	3e	4B	8 10
כִּ֤י אֵ֣ין בַּמָּ֣וֶת זִכְרֶ֑ךָ בִּ֝שְׁא֗וֹל מִ֣י יֽוֹדֶה־לָּֽךְ	v ci ain bmvvt zcrç bwaol mi iodh-lç	C	6 For there is not in death remembrance of you. In the grave who will give thanks to you?	3e	4C	8 6
יָגַ֤עְתִּי ׀ בְּֽאַנְחָתִ֗י אַשְׂחֶ֣ה בְכָל־לַ֭יְלָה מִטָּתִ֑י בְּ֝דִמְעָתִ֗י עַרְשִׂ֥י אַמְסֶֽה	z igyti bankti awkh bcl-lilh mi'tti bdmyti yrwi amsh		7 I am weary with my sighing. I make my couch swim every night. In my tears my bed I dissolve.	3e	4C	16 8
עָֽשְׁשָׁ֣ה מִכַּ֣עַס עֵינִ֑י עָֽ֝תְקָ֗ה בְּכָל־צוֹרְרָֽי	k ywwh mcys yini ytqh bcl-xorrii		8 Swollen from grief my eye, viscous in all my troubles.	3e	4B	7 6
ס֣וּרוּ מִ֭מֶּנִּי כָּל־פֹּ֣עֲלֵי אָ֑וֶן כִּֽי־שָׁמַ֥ע יְ֝הוָ֗ה ק֣וֹל בִּכְיִֽי	't suru mmni cl-poyli avvn ci-wmy ihvh qol bcii	B	9 Depart from me, all workers of mischief, for Yahweh has heard the voice of my weeping.	3e	4B	11 7
שָׁמַ֣ע יְ֭הוָה תְּחִנָּתִ֑י יְ֝הוָ֗ה תְּֽפִלָּתִ֥י יִקָּֽח	i wmy ihvh tkinti ihvh tpilti iiqk		10 Yahweh hears my supplication. Yahweh will my prayer receive.	3e	4B	8 8
יֵבֹ֤שׁוּ ׀ וְיִבָּהֲל֣וּ מְ֭אֹד כָּל־אֹיְבָ֑י יָ֝שֻׁ֗בוּ יֵבֹ֥שׁוּ רָֽגַע	ia ibowu viibhlu maod cl-aoibii iwubu ibowu rgy		11 Shamed and vexed much all my enemies. Let them turn and be ashamed in a moment.	3e	4C	13 8

The full music is below.  The incipit for this psalm is upbeat compared to the prior two psalms. The psalmist has a response from ihvh and is therefore happier. (Surprise!) Let it never be said that a visitation from ihvh, even in anger, is punishment. That word has no place in a translation of the Tanakh. God does not punish. Consequences are clear for any action, but it is humans who damage each other with punishment. 

There is a performance for this on my links page. It is a pretty tight voice (in tune but not pleasant to listen to). The notes are somewhat different at the beginning due to errors in the Letteris edition. (Haïk-Vantoura's inferences are spot on as far as I am concerned, but her preference for the Letteris edition is a historical accident.) The source closest to the origin of these markings is the Aleppo Codex. Whoever has the Aleppo codex digitized could duplicate my work (and likely improve it). I think it would be worthwhile.

There is only one tricolon in the psalm, verse 3. The music and the words arrange themselves as 3 verses then 2 then 2 then 3, a circular structure. 

Atonement - in for a penny, in for a pound

This post continues to explore the implications of my assessment that the word punish should not be associated with the actions of God. 

It is commonplace to hear from Christians that God punished Jesus so that we could be saved from our sins and many other words to that effect. This is known as penal substitution. If God does not punish, as I have assumed from reading the Tanakh, then this statement that God punished Jesus cannot be true.

I think it is more likely that no one can be punished for another's sin. We all suffer when anyone sins. 

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. This is accurate reporting, but it is not by any means easy to understand. That preposition for is a slippery beast. 

There are verses in the Old Testament that tradition uses to explain the death of Jesus. Like those of Isaiah 53. These words need not be unique to Jesus.

What Isaiah seems to say is that all can share in the suffering of this person that he is writing about and in the sighing of God over evil. Christians believe that God vindicated Jesus. So be it. And God will equally vindicate with him and has vindicated all those who suffer with him. Isaiah did not compose this passage out of thin air. He knew people whose suffering mirrored the sighing of God for his people. And I have no doubt he and others like him bear my sin also as I have shared in bearing theirs. 

There is not punishment here, but gift. What does he say, Go and do thou likewise. Such action is the obedience of faith rather than self-protection, as if we could be shielded from reality. Yet we cannot fail to know both sides of this. That is the knowledge of good and evil.

	iwyihu		Isaiah
	ng		53
a	mi hamin lwmuytnu? uzroy ihvh yl-mi nglth?	1	Who believes what we heard? And the arm of Yahweh, to whom disclosed?
b	viyl cionq lpniv vcworw marx xiih la-toar lo vla hdr. vnrahu vla mrah vnkmdhu.	2	He grew up as a sapling in his presence, as a root from arid earth. Not handsome was he, nor was he honoured. And if we see him, there is no charisma that we should be attracted to him.
g	nbzh vkdl aiwim aiw mcaobot viduy koli, ucmstr pnim mmnu nbzh vla kwbnuhu.	3	He is despised and set aside by everyone, a sorrowful person, one who knows illness, like someone from whom we would hide our faces. He is despised and we did not consider him.
d	acn kvliinu hua nwa umcaobinu sblm. vanknu kwbnuhu nguy much alohim umyunh.	4	Nevertheless our illnesses he himself bore and the burden of our sorrows he carries. And we ourselves consider him contagion, struck by God, answered.
h	vhua mkoll mpwyinu mduca myvonotinu. musr wlomnu yliv ubkburto nrpa-lnu.	5	But he was profaned for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities. The chastening of our wholeness is on him, and in his stripes is our healing.
v	culnu cxan tyinu aiw ldrco pninu, vihvh hpgiy bo at yvon culnu.	6	All we like sheep have wandered, each facing its own way, and Yahweh has compelled into him the iniquity of us all.
z	nigw vhua nynh vla iptk-piv cwh l'tbk iubl ucrkl lpni gozzih nalmh, vla iptk piv.	7	He is harassed and he himself afflicted and he did not open his mouth. Like a lamb to the slaughter he is escorted, and as a ewe in the face of her shearer is dumb, so he did not open his mouth.
k	myoxr ummwp't luqk vat-doro mi iwokk? ci ngzr marx kiim mpwy ymi ngy lmo.	8	From coercion and from judgment he is taken, and who will ponder his generation? Because he was disconnected from the land of the living, from the transgressions of my people, their contagion.
't	viitn at-rwyim qbro vat-ywir bmotiv, yl la-kms ywh vla mrmh bpiv.	9	So he gives the wicked his tomb as one who is rich in his death, though he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.
i	vihvh kpx dcao hkli am-twim awm npwo irah zry iariç imim. vkpx ihvh bido ixlk.	10	And Yahweh delighted to crush him. He was made illness as if he had set him up as a guilt offering. He will see seed. He will lengthen days. So the delight of Yahweh in his hand will thrive.
ia	myml npwo irah iwby bdyto ixdiq xdiq ybdi lrbim, vyvonotm hua isbol.	11	From his toil he will see. He will be satisfied. In his knowledge, my servant, righteous, will make many righteous, and their iniquities, he himself bears the burden.
ib	lcn aklq-lo brbim vat-yxumim iklq wll tkt awr hyrh lmvvt npwo vat-powyim nmnh, vhua k'ta-rbim nwa vlpowyim ipgiy. {p}	12	Therefore I will divide for him among the many and he will divide spoil among the numerous under which he exposed himself to death and was apportioned transgressions, while he himself lifted up the sin of many and was compelled through transgressions. P