Psalm 80
Posted on: October 26, 2007
- In: hebrew | psalms
- 4 Comments
I’m writing a paper on the metaphor of people as plants in the psalter at the moment. The paper has to include detailed exegetical work on one psalm, for which I’ve chosen Psalm 80. I’ve just attempted a translation which I’ll be working with and I include it here in case it’s useful to anyone else.
Any comments or suggestions more than welcome.
Psalm 80
For the director. To ‘The Lilies’. A testimony. For Asaph, a psalm.
Hear, Israel’s shepherd, lead Joseph as [your] sheep.
Seated among the cherubim, shine forth!
In the presence of Ephraim,
Benjamin and Manasseh,
summon up your strength
and come for our salvation.
O God, restore us. Let your face shine out and let us be saved.
Lord God of hosts, how long will you fume
at the prayer of your people?
You have fed them on the bread of weeping,
given them to drink from the bowl of tears.
You have made us a bone of contention for our friends;
our enemies mock [us] among themselves.
O God of hosts, restore us. Let your face shine out and let us be saved.
You took a vine out of Egypt,
you drove out nations, you planted her,
you cleared her way and she
put down roots and filled the land,
Over the hills crept her shadow,
her branches grew into great cedars.
She sent out branches as far as the sea,
her shoots reached to the river.
Why have you broken her walls so that
all who pass along the path pluck from her?
The forest boar tears at her;
the field beasts feast on her.
O God of hosts, please return.
Look from heaven and see, and visit this vine
and the stock planted by your right hand,
and the son you strengthened for yourself.
She has been burned with fire, cut away.
By the rebuke of your face, they will perish.
Let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
on the son of man you strengthened for yourself.
No turning back from you, you will revive us
and on your name, we will call.
O Lord God of hosts, restore us. Let your face shine out and let us be saved.
4 Responses to "Psalm 80"
October 29, 2007 at 12:40 am
Ros, can you give a comment about your decisions for the translation in the superscription? Particularly the part about the lilies. I’ve been looking at this psalm in Alter’s translation and the JPS.
October 29, 2007 at 9:06 pm
Always nice to hear from you, Angharad. Something I may or may not get to in the paper is the importance of metaphor as a way of making links with other OT genres like prophecy.
A comment about my translation decisions in the superscription? Of course. I took approximately 30 seconds, gave the standard translations a cursory glance, then moved on. What does Alter do? And JPS? And what have I missed (other than Doug’s lecture on superscriptions last week)?
November 14, 2007 at 7:04 am
I am glad to see another psalms translator at work. I like the lilies – reminds me of the Song.
Comments are closed.
Stumble It!
October 28, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Reading Ezekiel at the moment – this reminded me of the picture of Israel as a vine (ch 19) but made me thankful again that God will restore because he “will deal with you for my name’s sake and not according to your evil ways,” (Ch20).