#Psalmtweet, #Psalter Thinking about enemies

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

In our consideration of the Psalms, think about how the enemy is portrayed and where vengeance lies.

I am told to love my enemy. It is a consequence of learning to love my neighbor.

Love is an act of will toward the good of another. What is it that is good for my enemy?

It would be good for my enemy if they knew the damage that they do 

• to their people.
• to their religious framework.
• to themselves.
• to me and my people and my country.

It would not be good for my enemy or the people

• if I submitted to their evil. 
• if I justified their lies.

Therefore, I must find means of resistance to things that are not good for them, and means of communication for things that are good for them.

There is an apt section in Proverbs with a warning ...

בִּנְפֹ֣ל אֽ֭וֹיִבְךָ אַל־תִּשְׂמָ֑ח וּ֝בִכָּשְׁל֗וֹ אַל־יָגֵ֥ל לִבֶּֽךָ		17 When your enemy falls, do not be glad, and when he stumbles, let not your heart rejoice.
iz bnpol aoibç al-twmk ubicwlo al-igl libç	8 10	b/npl avib\c al t/wmk vb/cwl\v al i/gl lb\c
פֶּן־יִרְאֶ֣ה יְ֭הוָה וְרַ֣ע בְּעֵינָ֑יו וְהֵשִׁ֖יב מֵעָלָ֣יו אַפּֽוֹ		18 Lest Yahweh see and it is evil in his eyes, then he turn from him his anger.
ik pn-irah ihvh vry byiniv vhwib myliv apo	10 8	pn i/rah ihvh v/ry b/yin\iv vh/wb m/yl\iv ap\v
אַל־תִּתְחַ֥ר בַּמְּרֵעִ֑ים אַל־תְּ֝קַנֵּ֗א בָּרְשָׁעִֽים		19 Do not burn about evildoers, do not be jealous about the wicked.
i't al-ttkr bmryim al-tqna brwyim	6 7	al tt/kr bm/ry\im al t/qna b/rwy\im
כִּ֤י ׀ לֹֽא־תִהְיֶ֣ה אַחֲרִ֣ית לָרָ֑ע נֵ֖ר רְשָׁעִ֣ים יִדְעָֽךְ		20 ♪C For there will not be a latter end for evil. The lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.
c ci la-thih akrit lry nr rwyim idyç	9 6	ci la t/hih akr\it l/ry nr rwy\im i/dyc

Sing it

Loving your enemy. Note the allusion above to Psalm 37 - that critical pillar in the Psalter.

#Psalmtweet, #SimHebrew Pronunciation

 I was looking at the prior post, on Psalm 66:20, the psalm tweet for the 66th day of the current sequence of 150 psalms, and it struck me how many lessons in pronunciation there are in the text and music. So I have dashed off this extra post.

First, I appreciate the assurance that God has not put aside my prayer or his mercy as these words are 'glossed in translation' here. I take my wife's phrase that she made up over supper last night, a nice touch.

But looking at the phrase - how does one read the left to right SimHebrew, given the automated parsing next to it and the 'official' vowels above it in right to left order? And could this become automatic -- without reading the vowels -- as it is for Hebrew speakers reading a newspaper?

בָּר֥וּךְ אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־הֵסִ֘יר תְּפִלָּתִ֥י וְ֝חַסְדּ֗וֹ מֵאִתִּֽי		20 Blessed be God, who has not put aside my prayer and his mercy from me.
c bruç alohim awr la-hsir tpilti vksdo maiti	5 14	brvc alh\im awr la h/sr t/pl\ti v/ksd\v m/at\i

• bruç - bet - resh - vav - caf -- to spell out the first. 
• br is two consecutive consonants. The vowel between them is an 'ah', but one doesn't really emphasize it - so it is more of a schwa than an 'ah'. When there are two consecutive consonants, that is a possible sound. 
• rv is also two consecutive consonants, but vav is special and may sound like u o or v depending on its context. Here it is 'u'. 
• The caf is a hard c. It is often transcribed as 'k' but in SimHebrew k is the hard 'h' (chet). (Full mapping here.)
• alohim - Lets take this as read - Elohim is the typical spelling in 'English'. The 'o' is not in the square text, but is carried by the lamed ('l').
• awr - asher, 
• The aleph carries a short 'a' sound with a glottal, 
• w is typically sh, 
• the shin (w) carries a short 'e'.
• la-hsir - 
• here one needs to recognize the negative 'la' always pronounced 'lo'. The aleph carries the 'o' in this case without a glottal. 
• The lamed carries a schwa - not pronounced. It needs the aleph to complete the syllable.
• The he carries a short 'e', 
• The samekh carries an 'i' - pronounced 'ee'.
• tpilti - haha - here the schwa carried by the taf is pronounced because it is needed for the first open syllable. 
• pi is pronounced with a short 'i' as expected, 
• and there is a full 'ah' between the peh and the lamed. It gets full value as a long 'a' even though it is not the stressed syllable. (You can tell the stress by the accent - and by the music also.) 
• The final yod is the first person singular pronoun suffix.
• vksdo - 
• Here the v at the beginning is pronounced v, 
• k, as part of ks the consonants ket-samekh, carries a short 'a', 
• and the vav at the end is pronounced 'o', the third person singular pronoun suffix. 
• maiti - Note that this 5 letter transcription has only 4 corresponding letters in the 'defective' square text, but five in a modern Hebrew full text. 
• The root is 'at', the direct object marker that is most of the time lost and not 'glossed' in translation. See the aleph-taf in the text of the fourth quadrant. 
• The vowels fit into this word a little unexpectedly: The vowel pattern from the concordance for this word shows: _eiֽ_i_i֔_. 
• The mem is a preposition, 
• Again, ma is a pair of consecutive consonants, so there is a little glottal stop between them (since a and y are glottal sometimes). 
• There is a tsere .. an 'ei' vowel below the m and the aleph carries an 'i'. 
• The taf carries an 'i' also and there is a final yod indicating the first person singular pronoun suffix.

Now read it again: bruç alohim // awr la-hsir tpilti vksdo maiti

And sing it.

Blessed be God,
who has not put aside my prayer and his mercy from me.

#Psalmtweet #Psalter 66:20

 

Even after a test

בָּר֥וּךְ אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר לֹֽא־הֵסִ֘יר תְּפִלָּתִ֥י וְ֝חַסְדּ֗וֹ מֵאִתִּֽי		20 Blessed be God, who has not put aside my prayer and his mercy from me.
c bruç alohim awr la-hsir tpilti vksdo maiti	5 14	brvc alh\im awr la h/sr t/pl\ti v/ksd\v m/at\i

See also the next post.

#Psalmtweet #Psalter 65:5

 

אַשְׁרֵ֤י ׀ תִּֽבְחַ֣ר וּתְקָרֵב֮ יִשְׁכֹּ֪ן חֲצֵ֫רֶ֥יךָ נִ֭שְׂבְּעָה בְּט֣וּב בֵּיתֶ֑ךָ קְ֝דֹ֗שׁ הֵיכָלֶֽךָ		5 Happy the one you have chosen and brought near, who will dwell in your courts. We will be satisfied in the good of your house, the holy of your temple.
h awri tbkr utqrb iwcon kxriç nwbyh b'tub bitç qdow hiclç	13 8 6	awr\i t/bkr vt/qrb i/wcn kxr\ic n/wby\h b/'tvb bit\c qdw hicl\c

#Psalmtweet #Psalter 64:8

 

Karma

וַיֹּרֵ֗ם אֱלֹ֫הִ֥ים חֵ֥ץ פִּתְא֑וֹם הָ֝י֗וּ מַכּוֹתָֽם		8 But God is shooting at them an arrow suddenly, they become their defeat.
k viorm alohim kx ptaom hiu mcotm	9 5	v/ir\m alh\im kx pt\avm h/i\v mc\vtm

I wonder what it would have been like to live in the temple precincts when this ancient music was taught. I don't think I would have used this particular mode as often as Haïk-Vantoura suggests. Here is a journey in the imagination.

There are many today who doubt that this deciphering key is likely. I think they too should learn probability theory. I cannot imagine being able to decode a set of symbols so consistently if they had not been defined that way to begin with. For examples outside the psalms, see this introduction.

#Psalmtweet #Psalter 63:2

 David's poetry expresses desire from the wilderness of Judah. He is not disappointed. The middle verses express his full satisfaction. The final verse heralds the cessation of falsehood.

Another poetic tricolon

אֱלֹהִ֤ים ׀ אֵלִ֥י אַתָּ֗ה אֲ‍ֽשַׁחֲ֫רֶ֥ךָּ צָמְאָ֬ה לְךָ֨ ׀ נַפְשִׁ֗י כָּמַ֣הּ לְךָ֣ בְשָׂרִ֑י בְּאֶֽרֶץ־צִיָּ֖ה וְעָיֵ֣ף בְּלִי־מָֽיִם		2 God my God are you, I will seek you early. My being thirsts for you. My flesh pines for you, in an arid and exhausted earth, failing in waters.
b alohim ali ath awkrç xmah lç npwi cmh lç bwri barx-xiih vyiif bli-mim	11 13 11	alh\im al\i ath a/wkr\c xma\h l\c npw\i cmh l\c bwr\i b/arx xih v/yip bl\i mim

#Psalmtweet #Psalter 62:10

 

Surely - the psalter is not in favour of oligarchy - sung here

אַ֤ךְ ׀ הֶ֥בֶל בְּנֵֽי־אָדָם֮ כָּזָ֪ב בְּנֵ֫י־אִ֥ישׁ בְּמֹאזְנַ֥יִם לַעֲל֑וֹת הֵ֝֗מָּה מֵהֶ֥בֶל יָֽחַד		10 ♪C Surely the children of humanity are futility, a lie, the children - each. To ascend in the balance, they are altogether weightless.
i aç hbl bni-adm czb bni-aiw bmazniim lylot hmh mhbl ikd	11 6 7	ac hbl bn\i adm czb bn\i aiw bm/azn\im l/yl\vt hm\h m/hbl ikd