Comparing conceptually related and unrelated psalms

I expect I might be surprised at word usage. What sort of impact does volume make for instance?

But first, some conceptually related psalms 1 (67 words), 15 (55 words) and 24 (89 words) seem conceptually related - and here they are.
Psalm 15 shares only 4 words with psalm 1 - mostly No
Psalm 24 shares 13 words (~25% of psalm 15) with psalm 15 and uses them 27 times (~30%). We already sensed these were conceptually related.

Words in psalm 24 in the order of word usage in psalm 15

Word and gloss * first usage

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

3

Vs

Stem

לדוד of David

░

1

דוד

מזמור a psalm

░

1

זמר

מי who

░

3

מי

בהר to the hill of

░

3

הר

ומי and who

░

3

מי

קדשׁו his holy

░

3

קדשׁ

נקי those of innocent

░

4

נקי

לבב heart

░

4

לבב

לא not

░

4

לא

* נשׂא has lifted up

░

4

נשׂא

ולא and not

░

4

לא

נשׁבע sworn

░

4

שׁבע

* ישׂא such will take away

░

5

נשׂא

וצדקה and righteousness

░

5

צדק

* שׂאו lift up

░

7

נשׂא

* והנשׂאו and be lifted up

░

7

נשׂא

עולם everlasting

░

7

עלם

* הכבוד glory

░

7

כבד

מי who

░

8

מי

* הכבוד glory

░

8

כבד

* שׂאו lift up

░

9

נשׂא

* ושׂאו and lift up

░

9

נשׂא

עולם everlasting

░

9

עלם

* הכבוד glory

░

9

כבד

מי who

░

10

מי

* הכבוד glory

░

10

כבד

* הכבוד glory

░

10

כבד

Now here's a surprise - Psalm 21 (104 words) seems to me an answer to psalm 20 (70 words ) but the sharing is not striking - only 11 words. On the other hand, psalm 22 reuses 19 of the words in psalm 21 - 39 of 254 words. That's not too high - roughly 15%. But psalm 23 at 57 words shares 17 of them with psalm 22. In both these cases I think the volume of psalm 22 distorts the potential statistical linkages. Nonetheless, the recurrence of trust and all in psalm 22 after the answer to prayer of psalm 21 is conceptually significant, confirming our sense that psalm 22 is after all a positive psalm in spite of its difficult beginning section.

Words in psalm 22 in the order of word usage in psalm 21

Word and gloss * first usage

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Vs

Stem

למנצח For the leader

░

1

נצח

מזמור a psalm

░

1

זמר

לדוד of David

░

1

דוד

מישׁועתי from my salvation

░

2

ישׁע

בטחו trusted

░

5

בטח

בטחו they trusted

░

5

בטח

בטחו they trusted

░

6

בטח

תולעת am a worm

░

7

עת

אדם humanity

░

7

אדם

כל all

░

8

כל

בשׂפה their lips

░

8

שׂפה

ראשׁ their head

░

8

ראשׁ

מבטיחי giving me trust

░

10

בטח

כל all

░

15

כל

לבי my heart

░

15

לב

ידי my hands

░

17

יד

כל all

░

18

כל

מיד away from the paw

░

21

יד

הושׁיעני save me

░

22

ישׁע

כל all

░

24

כל

זרע the seed of

░

24

זרע

כבדוהו glorify him

░

24

כבד

כל all

░

24

כל

זרע the seed of

░

24

זרע

פניו his presence

░

25

פנה

יאכלו will eat

░

27

אכל

* יחי may live

░

27

חיה

לעד for ever

░

27

עד

כל all

░

28

כל

ארץ the earth

░

28

ארץ

לפניך in your presence

░

28

פנה

כל all

░

28

כל

אכלו they will eat

░

30

אכל

כל all

░

30

כל

ארץ the earth

░

30

ארץ

לפניו in his presence

░

30

פנה

כל all

░

30

כל

* חיה he could keep alive

░

30

חיה

זרע a seed

░

31

זרע

Psalms compared in sequence

I did some rather random work 5 years ago in the stretch to learn letters. How do psalms relate to each other. One possibly interesting question concerning the thesis that the psalms are a Book intended for sequential reading, would be to examine the shared vocabulary between consecutive psalms.

So for instance, (apart from the very common roots: על יהוה  אל סלה כי אלוה את)

Psalm 2 with 92 words uses 9 words from psalm 1.
Psalm 3 with 70 words uses 9 words from psalm 2.
Psalm 4 with 77 words uses 17 words from psalm 3.

Clearly psalms 3 and 4 are much more tightly tied to each other than psalms 3 and 2.

Psalm 5 and 4 are related in a clear pattern - curious.  These 3 are all psalms of David so I wonder if we might see expect some patterning.

16 of 111 words in psalm 5 in the order of word usage in psalm 4

Word and gloss * first usage

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

Vs

Stem

למנצח For the leader

░

1

נצח

מזמור a psalm

░

1

זמר

לדוד of David

░

1

דוד

אמרי my promise

░

2

אמר

אתפלל I pray

░

3

פלל

תשׁמע you will hear

░

4

שׁמע

* אתה you are

░

5

אתה

כזב a lie

░

7

כזב

אישׁ a person of

░

7

אישׁ

דמים blood

░

7

דמם

ברב in the greatness of

░

8

רב

חסדך your loving kindness

░

8

חסד

בצדקתך in your righteousness

░

9

צדק

לפני in my face be

░

9

פנה

ברב in many

░

11

רב

וישׂמחו and they will be glad

░

12

שׂמח

אהבי loving

░

12

אהב

* אתה you yourself

░

13

אתה

Psalm 6 we know is different, being penitential, and the pattern also changes though 16 of 84 of its words occur in psalm 5.

In psalm 7 (15/142) we are back down from the 20% range to the 10% range.

On comparing two psalms

This morning, I applied the keyword pattern I have developed to compare word usage between two psalms.  For example below is the comparison between psalms 2 and 149.  One can see that psalm 149 verse 2 uses words from psalm 2 and that the last 3 verses use five of the words in psalm 2 in the same sequence without interruption.  Compared with other psalms (I tried psalms 3, 4, 5, 6, 16) this is a more concentrated usage.  This perhaps confirms Cole's thesis. I need to do a bit more fishing.  This sort of analysis might uncover previously unsuspected inter-textual references.

Words in psalm 149 in the order of word usage in psalm 2 (Note - if I reverse the order, the coherence is lost. This means that psalm 149 is copying psalm 2 and not vice versa).

Word and gloss	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Vs	Stem
בני the children of					░					2	בן
ציון Zion				░						2	ציון
יגילו rejoice								░		2	גיל
במלכם in their king			░							2	מלך
בגוים on the many nations	░									7	גוי
בלאמים for the tribes		░								7	לאם
ברזל durable						░				8	ברזל
משׁפט the judgment							░			9	שׁפט
לכל to all									░	9	כל

Let me know whether you would like me to compare two psalms for fun. Here is a comparison of paslms 14 and 53 (45 matching words but I don't have that many columns.)  I am also leaving out some ultra- common words.

Word and gloss * first usage

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

20

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

30

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

40

Vs

Stem

למנצח For the leader

░

1

נצח

לדוד of David

░

1

דוד

אמר said

░

1

אמר

נבל senseless

░

1

נבל

בלבו in his heart

░

1

לב

* אין nothing

░

1

אין

השׁחיתו they destroy

░

1

שׁחת

התעיבו they do abomination

░

1

תעב

* אין there is none

░

1

אין

עשׂה doing

░

1

עשׂה

* טוב good

░

1

טוב

משׁמים leaned over from the heavens

░

2

שׁמים

השׁקיף to have a look

░

2

שׁקף

בני the children of

░

2

בן

אדם dust

░

2

אדם

לראות to see

░

2

ראה

הישׁ anyone with

░

2

ישׁ

משׂכיל insight

░

2

שׂכל

דרשׁ seeking

░

2

דרשׁ

יחדו altogether

░

3

יחד

נאלחו corrupt

░

3

אלח

* אין there is none

░

3

אין

עשׂה doing

░

3

עשׂה

* טוב good

░

3

טוב

* אין not

░

3

אין

גם even

░

3

גם

אחד a single one

░

3

אחד

הלא did they not

░

4

הלא

ידעו know

░

4

ידע

כל all

░

4

כל

פעלי these working

░

4

פעל

און mischief

░

4

און

* אכלי eating

░

4

אכל

עמי my people

░

4

עם

* אכלו as they eat

░

4

אכל

לחם bread

░

4

לחם

לא not

░

4

לא

קראו they do call

░

4

קרא

שׁם there

░

5

שׁם

* פחדו they dread

░

5

פחד

* פחד dread

░

5

פחד

תבישׁו they shame

░

6

בושׁ

מי when

░

7

מי

יתן will gift

░

7

נתן

מציון from Zion

░

7

ציון

ישׁועת the salvation of

░

7

ישׁע

* ישׂראל Israel

░

7

ישׂראל

בשׁוב when turns

7

שׁוב

שׁבות the captivity of

7

שׁבה

עמו his people

░

7

עם

יגל will rejoice

7

גיל

יעקב Jacob

7

עקב

ישׂמח will be glad

7

שׂמח

* ישׂראל Israel

░

7

ישׂראל

New blog on search for Kabbalah

Kitty Hoffman from whom I purchased several books for learning and teaching Hebrew is on the trail of Isaac the Blind at her new blog here.

Using my glossary and learning the Psalms and Hebrew

No one should ever assume that my glosses are 'right'.  They are a public sorting out of how I happen to learn a language entirely foreign to me at an advanced and slightly forgetful age. It is kind of you to ignore me. It might also be kind to help challenge my challenged state. Whether in an age in the above should be glossed as בשׂיבה or זקנה or with עולם I leave you to figure out.  I mean it could just be me that is losing my ability to recall but still not forgetful, or the whole shooting match of the world, תבל, that needs to remember its calling out of darkness. See David's post here on the need for memory.

As noted on the right side of this blog: Every word in the Psalter kata Bob with its chosen gloss is here. It is fun to browse in. See if you can find the idiosyncrasies and errors before I do. I am checking word by word as I work through each psalm.

I am currently working on Psalms 90-91. Now I am thinking I have thousands of potential footnotes that I did not make on the translations I have done verse by verse. Psalm 89 forced me back to a review from the beginning. That in itself will take some time. My process for review is multifold:

• read the psalm in Hebrew with no helps - OK for psalms I know from memory - need to memorize more now. Then come back to the database for musing.
• read the psalm in a stereoscopic mode (suggested by Kurk in his Proverbs series, e.g. here). For Hebrew-English, one can do this on the Mechon-Mamre site, or using my phrase by phrase prosodic divisions at the links to my translations above. (I get very frustrated doing this on paper or away from my workbench where I have no opportunity to capture my criticism of my data in a memorable real-time form.) Mechon-Mamre has the advantage that you can listen too, though I do not find the reading as fully chromatic as I would like. 
• check out the glosses as you read and see if I have failed the many-to-one test. That's what I want to avoid: glossing different Hebrew words with the same English word without an overriding reason. My reasons? Structure trumps gloss (or see the notes or the structural table for clarification of the image). Acrostic need trumps everything, even English. Theology is a conversation between the poet and the reader. Power politics is a conversation in the present about the sins of the past without reference to our own hidden agendas. I hope such abuse power is not in my vocabulary. There is a risk that in my one-to-many glosses I am avoiding my own hidden agenda. I invoke Psalm 19:12 in my defense.

Father's day ending

My eldest son, Jeremy, prepared the meal today. Then we took a short walk among the wild flowers around Gonzales weather station

Language, Love, and Meaning

There's a lot of talk on my small corner of the web about words surrounding the idea of language in relationship to translation. So Better Bibles Blog quoting John Hobbins here [with an important bunch of comments] and related links from Targuman Chris Brady here, and notably the delightfully titled 'Your English is showing' here first noted by Awilum's Charles Halton.

The search for clarity and meaning through language is strange and difficult. We seem trapped in our cultural inertia. The brief exercise this past week attempting translation of a few proverbs (via the series at Aristotle's Feminist Subject of which the latest is here) has me thinking that content cannot compel the capture of meaning by words. Then reading Chris Brady's translation of Targum Ruth here, I am struck by the mention of both Memra and Shekina in the text as if Word and Spirit do convey that which cannot be compelled.

The shock is - what are you doing here in this text in this form? And the resulting answer - my words are spirit and they are life seem to say that words can convey meaning. Why then do they not do so? I think it must be the very natural and clear answer to the presence. I have nothing to do with you. Or perhaps the more innocent I have another agenda.

Who wins in this tug of war?

More to the point - why of all things do I spend my time looking in detail at words that are so arcane, so abused, so not obvious yet taken as obvious, so unclear yet those who know 'better', the trained translators, think they can make them clear, accurate, and natural?

Oh how I hate thee, adjective. And thee too, comparative!

Professional - you cannot do it in that name. I don't care how good you are, how well trained, how many degrees in linguistics, you cannot do it the name of clear, accurate, and natural and no amount of hand-waving will change that basic datum.  Neither can I do it in that name.

What made me try then?  You must know the answer. He who is forgiven much, loves much. 
- Wow! you must have been quite a sinner!
- Maybe - in the background is a tenor singing - I sure missed my calling.

But I was called back from the plains of Moab. I am no proselyte, but some child has been born in me whose saturating presence I will not ignore, for it is the majestic adornment of the beauty of the Holy (Psalm 29 with thanks to James Pate), and I must proclaim the Gospel, or else. I am no longer empty. And who would not do it under the conditions I find myself in?

But the clear, the obvious, the natural, and accurate all take second place to the possible, that the Most High might writhe the impossible me and all those he has allowed to meet him at his feet at the threshing floor of the harvest.

John Hobbins' distinction between the vernacular and the lingua-franca is a tricky and complex well-informed and foot-noted scholarly achievement. Love it or leave it, explanation cannot hold my life, or my birth, or my soul.

The fire that moves from black and white shapes spit from tongue to screen is not mine to compel.

Be still, my friends, and be holy, and be loved in this difficult place. Do we know of what Spirit we are?