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Psalm 118 |
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1.
Give thanks to Yahweh for he
is good, for his kindness is eternal. 2.
Let 3.
Let the house of Aaron say,
“His kindness is eternal!” 4.
Let those who fear Yahweh
say, “His kindness is eternal!” 5.
From Confinement I called
Yah, Yah answered me from the Broad Domain. 6.
Yahweh is for me, I fear not;
what can man do against me? 7.
Yahweh is for me, my Great
Warrior, so I shall gloat over my enemies. 8.
It is better to seek refuge
in Yahweh than to trust in man. 9.
It is better to seek refuge
in Yahweh than to trust in princes. 10.
All nations surrounded me,
but in Yahweh’s name indeed I cut off their foreskins.* 11.
They surrounded me,
surrounded me completely, but in Yahweh’s name indeed I cut off their
foreskins. 12.
They surrounded me like bees,
they crackled like a fire of thorns, but in Yahweh’s name indeed I cut
off their foreskins. 13.
You grimly thrust me to the
point of falling, but Yahweh helped me. 14.
My fortress and my sentinel
was Yah, who became the victory for me. 15.
The sound of rejoicing and
victory was in the tents of the triumphant. 16.
Yahweh’s right hand
achieved victory, Yahweh’s right hand was exalted, Yahweh’s right hand
achieved victory. 17.
I did not die but lived that
I might recount the works of Yah. 18.
Though Yah chastised me
sorely, he did not hand me to Death. 19.
Open for me the gates of
victory that I may enter them to thank Yah. 20.
This is the gate that belongs
to Yahweh, let the triumphant enter it! 21.
I thank you because you
granted me triumph, and became the victory for me. 22.
The stone the builders
rejected became the cornerstone. 23.
From Yahweh this has come to
pass, it is wondrous in our eyes. 24.
This is the day Yahweh acted,
let us exult and rejoice in him! 25.
We beg you, Yahweh, give
victory! we beg you, Yahweh
send prosperity! 26.
Blessed be he who enters in
the name of Yahweh, we bless you in the house of Yahweh. 27.
El Yahweh has truly shone
upon us! Deck the shrine with
leafy boughs, adorn the horns of the altar. 28.
You are my God and I thank
you, my God, I extol you. 29. Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, for his kindness is eternal. _______________ * ‘I cut off their foreskins. Many translators and commentators fight shy of the the obvious meaning of the MT ‘amilem, the hiphil of mul, “to circumcise,” but BDB, p. 558, correctly defines it “I will make them to be circumcised,” though it misunderstood the tense of the verb. The yqtl form expresses the past, since from vss. 5 and 13 it is clear that the the crisis was past and the victory won. Whether the hiphil should be taken with BDB as causative or as elative does not change the meaning substantially. ‘The poet doubtless alludes to the practice mentioned in 1 Sam xviii 25-27, “The king desires no marriage present except a hundred foreskins of the Philistines, that he may be avenged of the king’s foes. . . . David arose and went, along with his men, and killed two hundred of the Philistines; and David brought their foreskins, which were given in full number to the king, that he might become the king’s son-in-law.” The reference to the “nations” and the “foreskins” suggests further that the psalmist had the Philistines in mind; most of Israel’s neighbors practiced circumcision, but the Philistines did not.’ [Mitchell Dahood. Psalms III, 101-150 (Anchor Bible, Vol 17, 1970), pp. 157, 158.] |