PSALM 7

I take refuge in you,
O Lord my God,
save me from all those
who persecute me,
liberate me,
lest they seize me
as would a lion,
tearing me apart,
with no one
to rescue me.

O Lord my God,
if I did this,
if there is injustice
on my hands,
if I repaid my friend
with evil, then may I
be ineffective against
my foes, and may they
overtake me, trample
my life to the ground,
and lay my honor
in the dust.

Rise up in your wrath,
O Lord, stand against
the fury of my oppressors.
Stand up for me in the
judgment you've decreed,
let the assembly of nations
surround you, and you sit
on high above them.
The Lord is the judge
of the peoples.
Judge me, O Lord,
according to my justice,
according to the innocence
that is in me.

Let the evil of sinners end,
and confirm the righteous,
you who inspect
hearts and minds,
O righteous God.

My shield is God
who saves the upright
in heart.
God is a just judge
who rages every day.
If one does not turn back,
he will sharpen his sword,
bend his bow,
and aim it.
He will prepare
missiles of death,
his arrows fiery shafts.

Behold, the wicked one
conceives injustice,
is pregnant with evil,
and brings forth deceit.
He has dug a pit, but
he has fallen into it.
His malice falls back
on his own head,
his violence returns
there too.

But I will praise the Lord
on account of his justice,
and will make music
to the name
of the most high Lord.

Translation © 2015 by Donald C. Traxler

PSALM 6

Do not rebuke me,
O Lord,
in your anger,
or sweep me away
in your fury.
Have mercy on me,
O Lord,
for I am weak.
Heal me, O Lord,
for my bones are troubled
and my soul is sorely
distressed.
But you, O Lord--
how long?

Turn to me, O Lord,
snatch up my soul,
save me in your mercy,
for who remembers you
in death,
or praises you
in Sheol?

Nightly I water
my bed with my weeping,
I drench the bedclothes
with my tears.
My eyes are dark
from bitterness,
aged by my enemies.

Away from me
all who work injustice,
for the Lord has heard
the sound of my weeping.
The Lord has heard
my petition,
The Lord has accepted
my prayer.
May my enemies blush
and be much disturbed,
quickly retreating
in their shame.

Translation © 2015 by Donald C. Traxler

PSALM 5

Hear my words, O Lord,
give heed to my cry,
hear the sound of my prayer,
my King and my God,
for it is to you
that I pray.

In the morning you hear
my voice, O Lord,
at daybreak I plead
my case, and wait.

For you are not a God
who is pleased by iniquity,
nor can evildoers
dwell with you,
nor the impious
stand in your sight.
You have hated all
who practice injustice,
you doom those who lie.
The Lord abhors
the bloodthirsty and
the deceitful.

But I, by your great grace,
will enter your house,
I will prostrate myself
toward your holy temple,
in awe of you, O Lord.
Lead me in your righteousness
because of my enemies,
and make straight your way
before me.

For in the mouth of these
there is no sincerity,
their heart is full of malice,
their throat is an open grave,
with their tongue they practice deceit.

Punish them O God,
let them fall by their own counsels.
Drive them out for their many crimes,
for against you
they have rebelled.

But let all those rejoice
who take refuge in you,
may they be forever joyful.
Protect and give joy
to those who love
your name.
For you bless the just, O Lord,
you surround them
with your favor
like a shield.

Translation © 2015 by Donald C. Traxler

PSALM 4

Hear me when I call upon you,
O God of my vindication,
who supported me
in my anguish.
Have mercy on me
and hear my prayer.

People, how long
will you be foolish?
Why do you love vanity
and follow lies?

But know that the Lord
distinguishes his
devout ones.
The Lord will hear me
when I call upon him.

Tremble, and do not sin,
ponder it in your hearts,
in your beds,
and be silent.
Make offerings
of righteousness,
and trust
in the Lord.

There are many who say,
"Who will show us good things?"
Raise over us the light
of your face, O Lord!
You have given more joy
to my heart
than abundance
of grain and wine.

In peace I will lie down
and sleep,
for you, O Lord,
have made me safe.

Translation © 2015 by Donald C. Traxler

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PSALM 3

O Lord, how many they are
who oppress me!
Many rise up
against me.

Many say of me,
"there is no salvation
for him in God."
But you, O Lord,
are my shield,
my glory,
he who lifts
my head high.

My voice cried out
to the Lord,
and he answered me
from his holy mountain.
I lay down, and slept.
I rose again,
for the Lord supports me.
I shall not fear
the myriads of people
arrayed against me.

Rise up, O Lord!
Save me, my God!
For you have struck
the cheek of every
adversary, and broken
the teeth of sinners.

Salvation is the Lord's.
May your blessing
be upon
your people.

Translation © 2015 by Donald C. Traxler

PSALM 2

Why do nations conspire,
and peoples occupy
themselves with vain things?
The kings of the earth
ally themselves
and the princes conspire
against the Lord and
his anointed one.

Let us break their chains,
and cast off from us
their nooses.

The One who lives
in Heaven laughs,
the Lord mocks them.
Then He speaks to
them in his anger,
and in his fury
He terrifies them.

But I was established
King by Him,
on Zion His holy
mountain.

I will declare the decree
of the Lord:

The Lord said to me,
"You are my son,
I have fathered you
this day.
Ask it of me,
and I will give you
the nations
as your heritage,
and the ends of the earth
as your possession."
You shall shepherd them
with an iron staff,
and shatter them
like a potter's jar."

Understand then,
O kings,
be instructed,
O judges
of the earth.
Serve the Lord
in fear, and trembling
rejoice in Him.
Seize upon instruction,
lest He become angered
and you perish from the
way of the just,
in the flash of his wrath.

Happy are all
who take refuge
in Him.

Translation © 2015 by Donald C. Traxler

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WHERE IS MERCY?

Donald Traxler · Sunday, October 18, 2015

This morning I had occasion to use a biblical quote. I chose Proverbs 3.3. In the King James Version it goes like this:
“Let not mercy and truth forsake thee . . . “
But I picked up my JPS Tanakh, since it also has the Hebrew original, and read this:
“Let fidelity and steadfastness not leave you . . . “
So I checked the Hebrew:
חסד ואמת אל־יעזבך
It clearly says, “chesed v’emet,” which means “mercy and truth.” I’ve known these Hebrew words for more than fifty years. Why are they now being changed to “fidelity and steadfastness?” When I studied Kabbalah, some fifty years ago, I learned that “Chesed,” the fourth of the ten sephiroth, means “Mercy.” I started to do a little digging.

I found that this change doesn’t only affect Proverbs, but also the Psalms, and in fact the whole Tanakh (what is called the “Old Testament” in Christianity). I’ve previously written about this problem in the Psalms: see my Facebook Note “The Book of Psalms and its Various Translations,” published July 6 2011. Psalm 136 uses the word “chesed” twenty-six times. In every case, it was translated as “ELEOS,” “mercy” in the Septuagint (LXX), made by Jewish scholars in Alexandria in about 200 BCE; in the Vulgate (St. Jerome, ca. 400 CE) as “misericordia,” “mercy;” and in the King James Version (1608 CE) as “mercy.” But now my JPS Tanakh gives it as “steadfastness” and has also changed “truth” to “fidelity.” The Revised Standard Version gives us “loyalty and faithfulness.” What’s wrong with “mercy and truth?”

So I dug a little further, this time in my dictionaries. My dictionary of classical Greek (we don’t have the Hebrew text on which the Septuagint was based) defines “ELEOS” as “pity, mercy.” My dictionary of New Testament Greek defines it as “compassion, mercy.” My Hebrew dictionary (which largely reflects modern usage) gives “grace, favor: righteousness; charity.” In modern Hebrew it is frequently used to mean “charity.” All of this is also consonant with “mercy.” So, if the cream of Jewish scholarship in Alexandria, ca. 200 BCE, took “chesed” to mean “mercy” rather than “steadfastness” and “emet” to mean “truth,” rather than “fidelity,” who are we to change these translations? Is it required by any findings of modern scholarship? I don’t think so.

Here is just one more example, another quote I had occasion to use the other day, Isaiah 59.8:
“. . . they have made their roads crooked, no one who goes in them knows peace.” (Vulgate, KJV, et al are similar.) But my JPS Tanakh says, “They make their courses crooked, no one who walks in them cares for integrity.” I submit that the latter is willful, tendentious mistranslation. the Hebrew clearly says “will not know peace.” I don’t see how it could be any clearer. I know what “shalom” means, and so do you. The Hebrew word for “integrity” is not “shalom,” it’s “shlemut.” They are related words, to be sure, and “shalem” does mean “whole.” But the pointing has been available since about 600 CE and the word was already understood correctly in 200 BCE and 400 CE. Why should we make a ridiculous stretch and try to change it now?

I submit that these are cases of willful, tendentious mistranslation. I believe that this is a trend in modern biblical translations. I believe that this scriptural spinning is done to assuage modern consciences and to avoid offending those in power. If you’d like to see more evidence of this, please refer to my earlier Note, referenced above. God help us if we are in a world where mercy, truth, and peace are out of favor.

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