Epiphany: PSALMS (Class Edit) Week of 8 January 2008 (Revised and abridged. This may replace the previosu handout with the same date. It's the same handout, but shorter and simpler. (Last handout before FINAL EXAM on 15 January 2008)

Psalms

The best-loved book in the Bible. German reformer, Martin Luther, called it the Bible in miniature (brief). The book includes 150 psalms divided into five books, like the Torah. Though attributed to King David, "Israel's beloved singer" (2 Samuel 23:1), this is more traditional than factual. The psalms were written over many centuries, from the first Temple period (c. 1000) to at least the Babylonian Captivity in the sixth century (see Psalm 137). These psalms were intended to be sung. They were praise songs (hence their Hebrew name, Tehillim=Praise). As one psalm says, "Make a joyful noise"! For convenience, scholars follow German scholar, Herman Gunkel's division into types:

    1. Lament psalms: pleas to God for help.
    2. Communal Lament psalms: pleas for help for the nation.
    3. Confident (Trust) psalms: affirm faith in God.
    4. Thanksgiving psalms: thank God for past help.
    5. Communal Thanksgiving psalms: give thanks on behalf of the nation.
    6. Royal psalms: praise the king.
    7. Enthronement psalms: praise God as king.
    8. Praise psalms give general praise to God.
    9. Zion psalms praise Zion (Jerusalem), God's holy mountain.
    10. Messianic psalms seem to refer (for Christians) to Jesus (also called Prophetic Psalms) (Jesus quotes Psalms 22 and 31 on the cross).
    11. Wisdom psalms teach wisdom in the style of proverbs.
    12. Historical psalms refer to Jewish history (the Exodus, etc.).
    13. Nature psalms praise Nature as image of God's power and goodness.
    14. Imprecatory (curse) psalms curse enemies (more likely parts of lament psalms, like Psalm 137).
    15. The Seven Penitential Psalms are part of Christian tradition.
    Types may overlap; a quick judgment of type can be made based on verbal motifs, such as "king" (Royal psalm), God called king (Enthronement psalm), cursing (Imprecatory psalm), admitting guilt (Penitential psalm), praising God (Praise psalm), Zion (Song of Zion), proverbial wisdom (Wisdom psalm), Nature, History, and referring to God's help in past troubles (Thanksgiving psalm).
    The following is intended as a rough guide. Classification of the psalms is often a subjective process.
    1. Lament psalms are pleas to God for help: 1: Answer me when I call, O God of my right! Thou hast given me room when I was in distress. Be gracious to me, and hear my prayer (Psalm 4)
    2. Communal lament psalms are pleas for help for the nation: Rouse thyself! Why sleepest thou, O Lord? Awake! Do not cast us off for ever! (Psalm 44)
    3. Trust psalms affirm faith in God: In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for thou alone, O LORD, makest me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4)
    4. Thanksgiving psalms thank God for help: I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will tell of all thy wonderful deeds. (Psalm 9)
    5. Communal thanksgiving psalms give thanks on behalf of the nation: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever! (Psalm 107)
    6. Royal psalms praise the king: Give victory to the king, O LORD; answer us when we call. (Psalm 20)
    7. Enthronement psalms praise God as king: For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! (Psalm 47)
    8. Praise psalms give general praise to God: Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him all you peoples. (Psalm 117)
    9. Zion psalms (Songs of Zion) specifically praise Zion (Jerusalem), God's holy mountain: How lovely is thy dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! (Psalm 84)
    10. Messianic psalms seem (to Christians) to predict Jesus (hence these are also called Prophetic psalms), either in terms of Jesus' suffering, Davidic kingship, or as God himself. Verbal clues include lament, the Davidic king, God, or any detail that might seem to be fulfilled in the New Testament: O God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Psalm 22) (Jesus says this on the cross.)
    11. Wisdom psalms speak of wisdom in general, in the style of proverbs: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked. (Psalm 1)
    12. Historical psalms refer to Jewish history: He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel. (Psalm 78)
    13. Nature psalms refer to the power or beauty of Nature: The Heavens declare the glory of God. (Psalm 19).
    14. Imprecatory (Malediction) psalms curse enemies: The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked. (Psalm 58)
    15. The Penitential psalms are numbered as seven by Christian tradition, and include confession: I said, "I will confess my transgressions (sins) to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32)

    Types of psalms may overlap (some verses curse, others in the same Psalm speak of trust in God, etc.).
    (Psalm 118 is an example of how one psalm can overlap as a type of thanksgiving (v. 1), communal thanksgiving (vv. 2-4), trust (vv. 5-7), and wisdom (vv. 8-9) in just a few verses; yet it's called a Hallel (praise) psalm based on its outside verses (1 and 28-29). Other Hallel (praise) psalms are so-called on the basis of the phrase, "Praise the Lord" (Hallelujah).
    Opinions differ among scholars. But awareness of types and some skill at discrimination among them should be required of student

Lament Psalms

Note the superscription (numbered "0"), probably added later. Jewish and Christian texts differ on whether to number the superscript lines; if you don't find a reference, say, to 3:3, check out 3:4, etc.
0: A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
1: O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;

6: I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.

1: Help, LORD; for there is no longer any that is godly; the faithful have vanished from among the sons of men.

1: How long, O LORD? Wilt thou forget me for ever? How long wilt thou hide thy face from me?

Passion Psalm), because Jesus quotes it on the cross (one of the "Seven Last Words"). The final verses suggest Jesus' reign as King (v. 27: "All the families of the nations will bow down before him"). Note the final verse: "They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn--for he has done it."
1: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
18: they divide my garments among them, and for my raiment they cast lots.

A beautiful psalm on the passing of life, similar to the book of Ecclesiastes.
4: "LORD, let me know my end, and the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is!
6: Surely man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nought are they in turmoil; man heaps up, and knows not who will gather!
12: "Hear my prayer, For I am thy passing guest, a sojourner, like all my fathers."

The idea that God does not wish "sacrifice" becomes a theme in the prophets. Jesus reminded his followers of the scriptures.
1: I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2: He drew me up from the desolate pit, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
3: He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.

Some scholars think Verse 9 influenced the story of Judas in the New Testament gospels.
9: Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
10: But do thou, O LORD, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may requite them!

1: As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for thee, O God.
3: My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me continually, "Where is your God?"
5: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my help

51: The Bathsheba Psalm (Misere)

The most famous of 3 "Miserere" (Have Mercy) psalms. The psalm comes close to a doctrine (belief) of original sin, which the Roman Catholic church adopted (see v. 5). V. 7 figures in the Crucifixion. Then we get another attack on the sacrifice system (vv. 16-17), continued in the prophets (Amos, Micah, etc.).
0: A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1: Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
5: Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
7: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
17: The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

0: When Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, "David has come to the house of Ahimelech."
1: Why do you boast, O mighty man, of mischief done against the godly? All the day
2: you are plotting destruction. Your tongue is like a sharp razor, you worker of treachery.

2: Attend to me, and answer me; I am overcome by my trouble. I am distraught
6: And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest;

The "book" (v. 8) refers to the book of Life, referred to by Moses and later in Revelation.
0: When the Philistines seized David in Gath.
8: put my tears in thy bottle! Are they not in thy book?
11: In God I trust without a fear. What can man do to me?

3: The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies.
4: They have venom like a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5: so it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6: O God, tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7: Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8: Let them be like the snail which dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9: Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns, whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!
10: The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11: Men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth."

2: Lead me to the rock higher than I. . . .

0: A Psalm of David, when he was in the Wilderness of Judah.
1: O God, my flesh faints for thee, as in a dry and weary land where no water is.

This Lament psalm also has Messianic use, since it is quoted in regard to Jesus in one of the gospels: "Zeal for thy house has consumed me. . . ").
1: Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.
2: I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
9: For zeal for thy house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult thee have fallen on me.
21: They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.

Refers to the destruction of the Temple, hence is Exilic (written during the Babylonian Exile, as also Psalm 137).
1: O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2: Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.
3: Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

The idea of "revival" is a key word in Christian history. Hence, "Revivalism."
5: Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? Wilt thou prolong thy anger to all generations?
6: Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee?

130

De profundis ("out of the depths")

1: Out of the depths I cry to thee, O LORD!
5: I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
6: my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.

141

Another rejection of the sacrifice system, later known as a "sacrifice of praise."
1: I call upon thee, O LORD; make haste to me! Give ear to my voice, when I call to thee!
2: Let my prayer be counted as incense before thee, and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice!.

COMMUNAL LAMENTS

This reflects the period of Exile:

8: In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to thy name for ever.
9: Yet thou hast cast us off and abased us, and hast not gone out with our armies.
14: Thou hast made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
22: Nay, for thy sake we are slain all the day long, and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
26: Deliver us for the sake of thy steadfast love!

1: O God, why dost thou cast us off for ever? Why does thy anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?
2: Remember thy congregation, which thou hast gotten of old, which thou hast redeemed to be the tribe of thy heritage! Remember Mount Zion, where thou hast dwelt.
3: Direct thy steps to the perpetual ruins; the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
9: We do not see our signs; there is no longer any prophet, and there is none among us who knows how long.
20: Have regard for thy covenant. . . .

1: O God, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
2: They have given the bodies of thy servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of thy saints to the beasts of the earth.
5: How long, O LORD?
6: Pour out thy anger on the nations that do not know thee, and on the kingdoms that do not call on thy name!
10: Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of thy servants be known among the nations before our eyes!

8: Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt; thou didst drive out the nations and plant it.
12: Why then hast thou broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
19: Restore us, O LORD.

TRUST

3: The LORD has set apart the godly for himself; the LORD hears when I call to him.
8: In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for thou alone, O LORD, makest me dwell in safety.

1: In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to me, "Flee like a bird to the mountains;

5: The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; thou holdest my lot.
11: Thou dost show me the path of life; in thy presence there is fulness of joy.

Famous phrases: "green pastures" (name of book and movie); "still waters."
1: The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want;
2: he makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters;
3: he restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
6: Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

1: The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
13: I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!
14: Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yea, wait for the LORD!

2: He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly moved.

121

1: I lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence does my help come?
2: My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
3: He will not let your foot be moved, he who keeps you will not slumber.
4: Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

131

1: O LORD, my heart is not lifted up, my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me.
2: But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a child quieted at its mother's breast; like a child that is quieted is my soul.

THANKSGIVING

This psalm could fit as a Thanksgiving, Lament, Praise, or Enthronement psalm.
20: Put them in fear, O LORD! Let the nations know that they are but men!

0: A Psalm of David, who addressed the words on the day the LORD delivered him from Saul. He said:
1: I love thee, O LORD, my strength.
2: The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

0: A Psalm of David. A Song at the dedication of the Temple.
2: O LORD my God, I cried to thee for help, and thou hast healed me.
5: For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.

The same idea is stated 4 times in the first two verses, then once more, as progressive parallelism, in the 3rd verse.
1: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2: Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3: When I declared not my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.
9: Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you.
11: Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

This may have been a basis (besides the Passover Lamb in the Jewish festival of Passover) for the gospel story that none of Jesus' bones were broken. Jesus is the Passover Lamb.
0: A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.
3: O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
10: The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
19: Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
20: He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

Note: "joyful noise." Hebrew worship was nosiy, with percussive instruments.
1: Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
8: Bless our God, O peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard,
9: who has kept us among the living, and has not let our feet slip.

100

1: Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the lands!
2: Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
3: Know the LORD is God! It is he that made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
4: Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him, bless his name!

116

6: The LORD preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.
10: I kept my faith, even when I said, "I am greatly afflicted";
11: I said in my consternation, "Men are all a vain hope."

118

St. Paul says, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Verse 22 becomes a key verse in the Gospels: Jesus is the stone the builders rejected.
6: With the LORD on my side I do not fear. What can man do to me?
8: It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
22: The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.
29: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!

COMMUNAL THANKSGIVING

107

Another psalm that influenced the Gospels (the story of Jesus calming the sea).
23: Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters;
24: they saw the deeds of the LORD, his wondrous works in the deep.
25: For he commanded, and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea.
26: They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths; their courage melted away in their evil plight;
27: they reeled and staggered like drunken men, and were at their wits' end.
28: Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress;
29: he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.

PRAISE PSALMS

Job parodies the text beginning in verse 4. So we know that Job was written after this psalm; and the psalms are generally dated to the Second Temple period (515 BCE) in their later redaction. But we don't know how many centuries this psalm (or others) circulated in oral form. So dating is uncertain in Bible criticism.
3: When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established;
4: what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?
5: Yet thou hast made him little less than God, and dost crown him with glory and honor.
6: Thou hast given him dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet,
7: all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,
8: the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea.

This is one of the psalms of the Exodus. Egyptians are linked to Ham, the cursed son of Noah. The psalm says God rejected Joseph (Ephraim, or northern Israel)! This psalm is pro-Judah (vv. 67-68).
67: He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of E'phraim;
70: He chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
71: from tending the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, of Israel his inheritance.
72: With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skilful hand.

100

This psalm can be called a thanksgiving or praise psalm; praise seems to be its main focus:
1: Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the lands!
4: Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!

103

2: Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
6: The LORD works justice for all who are oppressed.
15: As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16: for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

104

1: Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, thou art very great! Thou art clothed with honor and majesty,
2: who coverest thyself with light as with a garment, who hast stretched out the heavens like a tent,
24: O LORD, how manifold are thy works! In wisdom hast thou made them all; the earth is full of thy creatures.
35: Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more! Bless the LORD, O my soul! Praise the LORD!

114

In Hebrew religion, Nature is not a God but is bound to God's will or whim.
5: What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
6: O mountains, that you skip like rams? O hills, like lambs?
7: Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8: who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of water.

SONGS OF ZION

(The focus of praise is on Jerusalem [Zion].)

1: How lovely is thy dwelling place, O LORD of hosts!
2: My soul longs, yea, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.
3: Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at thy altars, O LORD of hosts, my King and my God.

An important psalm for Rastafarians, since it places Ethiopia with the Covenant (v. 4):
4: Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon; behold, Philistia and Tyre, with Ethiopia -- "This one was born there," they say.
5: And of Zion it shall be said, "This one and that one were born in her"; for the Most High himself will establish her.

122

1: I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD!"

126

Post-Exile.
1: When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
5: May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!
6: He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

ENTHRONEMENT PRAISE PSALMS

1: Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!
7: For God is the king of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm!

1: O come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
10: For forty years I loathed that generation and said, "They are a people who err in heart, and they do not regard my ways."
11: Therefore I swore in my anger that they should not enter my rest.

WISDOM PSALMS

Like the parables of Jesus, the Psalms are based on everyday images of people who lived in an agircultural society.
1: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
3: He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
4: The wicked are like chaff which the wind drives away.

Jesus quotes v. 11 in the Beatitudes (Blessings).
1: Fret not yourself because of the wicked, be not envious of wrongdoers!
2: For they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb.
8: Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
10: Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look well at his place, he will not be there.
11: But the meek shall possess the land, and delight themselves in abundant prosperity.
35: I have seen a wicked man overbearing, and towering like a cedar of Lebanon.
36: Again I passed by, and, lo, he was no more.

12: Man cannot abide in his pomp, he is like the beasts that perish.
13: This is the fate of those who have foolish confidence, the end of those who are pleased with their portion.
15: But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me.

12: Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
13: All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
17: But I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.
18: Truly thou dost set them in slippery places; thou dost make them fall to ruin.
19: How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!
20: They are like a dream when one awakes, on awaking you despise their phantoms.

90
This is where we get our traditional lifespan as "threescore years and ten," or 70 years (score=20). This is the only psalm attributed to Moses.

5: Thou dost sweep men away; they are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning:
6: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.
9: For all our days pass away under thy wrath, our years come to an end like a sigh.
10: The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.
12: So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

119

This is the longest psalm in the book of Psalms and is also remarkable for find a variant word for "law" in every verse:
1: Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD!
2: Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart,
3: who also do no wrong, but walk in his ways!

127

1: Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.

133

1: Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
2: It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!

ROYAL PSALMS

A Messianic psalm (v. 7b). But "son" refers to the earthly king.
1: Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?
2: The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and his anointed, saying,
3: "Let us burst their bonds asunder, and cast their cords from us."
4: He who sits in the heavens laughs;
7: I will tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my son, today I have begotten you."

7: Some boast of chariots, and some of horses; but we boast of the name of the LORD our God.
8: They will collapse and fall; but we shall rise and stand upright.
9: Give victory to the king, O LORD; answer us when we call.

Possibly about Ahab and Jezebel.
1: I address my verses to the king.
2: You are the fairest of the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore God has blessed you for ever.
3: Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, in your glory and majesty!
4: In your majesty ride forth victoriously for the cause of truth and to defend the right; let your right hand teach you dread deeds!
10: Hear, O daughter, consider, and incline your ear; forget your people and your father's house;
11: and the king will desire your beauty. Since he is your lord, bow to him;
17: I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.

1: Give the king thy justice, O God, and thy righteousness to the royal son!
2: May he judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with justice!

110

Though a Royal psalm to the Jews, one of the key Messianic psalms to Christians, quoted by Jesus (Matthew 22:43f.) to prove he is not the son of David, though Matthew's genealogy goes out of the way to show his descent from David..
1: The LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies your footstool."
4: The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchiz'edek."
5: The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
6: He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.

MESSIANIC PSALMS

Messianic psalms are psalms interpreted by Christians in view of Jesus' life or ministry. Many are Royal or Enthronement psalms, but some are penitential or lament psalms: 2, 8, 16, 18, 22, 23, 24, 31, 34, 40, 41, 44, 45, 68, 69, 72, 89, 97, 102, 110, 118, 132.

IMPRECATORY (Cursing) PSALMS

1: Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me; fight against those who fight against me!
5: Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them on!

Terrible images. If these psalms were sung communally (together), they might frighten neighbors into doing good.
3: The wicked go astray from the womb, they err from their birth, speaking lies.
4: They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5: so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.
6: O God, break the teeth in their mouths; tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7: Let them vanish like water that runs away; like grass let them be trodden down and wither.
8: Let them be like the snail which dissolves into slime, like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.

22: Let their table before them become a snare; their sacrificial feasts a trap.
28: Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

Compare v. 12: Jesus advises to forgive one's enemies "7 times 70"
12: Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted thee, O Lord!

13: O my God, make them like whirling dust, like chaff before the wind.
14: As fire consumes the forest, as the flame sets the mountains ablaze,
15: so pursue them with thy tempest and terrify them with thy hurricane!
16: Fill their faces with shame, that they may seek thy name, O LORD.

3: O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?
6: They slay the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;
23: He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness.

109

The psalmist asks the sinner be punished by his sins, not for his sins:
4: In return for my love they accuse me, even as I make prayer for them.
9: May his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow!
12: Let there be none to extend kindness to him, nor any to pity his fatherless children!
18: He clothed himself with cursing as his coat, may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones!
19: May it be like a garment which he wraps round him, like a belt with which he daily girds himself!

137

The most famous imprecatory psalm:
1: By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion.
2: On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
3: For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
4: How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land?
5: If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand wither!
6: Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
7: Remember, O LORD, against the E'domites the day of Jerusalem, how they said, "Rase it, rase it!"
8: O daughter of Babylon! Happy shall he be who requites you with what you have done to us!
9: Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

139

Note that the curse is in the cause of God, not the victim:
21: Do I not hate them that hate thee, O LORD? And do I not loathe them that rise up against thee?
22: I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.

140

9: Those who surround me lift up their head, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
10: Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into pits, no more to rise!

PENITENTIAL PSALMS
(By Christian tradition)

6: I am weary with my moaning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.

1: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
2: Blessed is the man to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

6: I am utterly bowed down and prostrate; all the day I go about mourning.
18: I confess my iniquity, I am sorry for my sin.

0: When Nathan the prophet came to David, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1: Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
10: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.

102

1: Hear my prayer, O LORD; let my cry come to thee!

130

1: Out of the depths I cry to thee, O LORD!
2: Lord, hear my voice! Let thy ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications!

143

10: Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God! Let thy good spirit lead me on a level path!
11: O LORD, preserve my life! In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!

HALLEL PSALMS

(Egyptian Hallel=113-118)

(Great Hallel = 136, or 120-136)

103

1: Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!

104

105

1: O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples!

106

1: Praise the LORD! O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures for ever!
3: Blessed are they who observe justice, who do righteousness at all times!

113

1: Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!
9: He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!

114

1: When Israel went forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2: Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

117

1: Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!
2: For great is his steadfast love toward us; and the faithfulness of the LORD endures for ever. Praise the LORD!

118

1: O give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever!
2: Let Israel say, "His steadfast love endures for ever."

147

1: Praise the LORD!
20: He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!

149

3: Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with timbrel and lyre!

150

6: Let everything that breathes praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!

Historical Psalms: 78, 81, 105, 106, 114
Nature Psalms: 8, 19, 29, 104, 148

Epiphany

Monday, January 7, 2008

PSALMS (Class Edit) Week of 8 January 2008 (Revised and abridged. This may replace the previosu handout with the same date. It's the same handout, but shorter and simpler. (Last handout before FINAL EXAM on 15 January 2008)

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