Psalm 122

“I rejoiced
when they said unto me,
‘We are going to the House of the Lord.’

Our feet stood inside your gates, O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem built up, a city knit together,
to which the tribes would make pilgrimage,
the tribes of the Lord,
-- as was enjoined upon Israel –
to praise the name of the Lord.

There the thrones of judgment stood,
thrones of the house of David.

Pray for the well-being of Jerusalem;
‘May those who love you be at peace.
May there be well-being within your ramparts,
peace in your citadels.’

For the sake of my kin and friends,
I pray for your well-being;
for the sake of the house of the Lord our God,
I seek your good.”

- Psalm 122

(photo from wikitravel.org)

Study in triplicate

Everyone has their own way of immersing themselves in scripture. Whatever works for you, go for it!

I like to copy out the passage that I am contemplating into a notebook, then write my thoughts. If it's the Bible I am reading, I look up the Greek/Hebrew as the case may be.

Last night, I went a step further. I may try this again if it continues to be enjoyable. I wrote out the KJV passage, from Psalms 119:78, speaking of the proud ones (zedom) who persecute a righteous man/woman.

Then I blew the dust off my Hungarian translation of the Bible (from missionary days), and wrote the passage again, this time in Hungarian. Hungarian being a beautiful, rhythmic language, it read like poetry, which was a pleasure. After that, I got out my Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and carefully wrote out the Hebrew original.

Writing the passage three times, in three different languages, caused me to think carefully about each word in the verse -- and it still remains in my head these many hours later.

As a last step in the learning process, I looked up the verse in Malachi in Tanakh, which I remembered speaks of the proud being burned as stubble. I was quickly able to confirm that "zedom" underlies that text as well.

Lehi's Dream and Psalmic connections?

"Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to thy word." -- Psalms 119:9.

That is the King James Version. But reading the Jewish Publication Society translation of this passage of the Tanakh opens up a rich field of contemplation for me.

"With what shall a young man keep his way pure? By holding to thy word."

Holding to the word (bmr in Hebrew) immediately brought to mind the vision of Lehi in 1 Nephi 8, in the Book of Mormon. Then the similarities seemed to leap out at me. I hardly think I can be accused of paralellomania but judge for yourself:

The writer of the psalm has sought the Lord with his whole heart and pleads "O let me not wander from thy commandments." He prays that his eyes may be opened, as one might when wandering in a mist of darkness. He is a stranger in the earth, just as the visionary was in a broad field as it were a world.

He says the Lord has rebuked the proud who are cursed, which do err from the commandments, who held him in reproach and contempt as one who kept the commandments ... even princes sat and spoke against him.

The way of God's testimonies brought him joy.

I really believe Lehi, as a pious Jew, could have had this psalm in mind the night he beheld his great vision -- especially if his mind was harrowed up with concerns for his sons, his young men, as he specifically stated that it was.

Psalms 118:8

"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man."

"Trust" is a fine word. But the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh translation prefers the literal meaning of the Hebrew word thusly translated by the KJV: "take refuge in." (chasa)

I like that better as well. "Trust" can be two people at the same level making an exchange, two businessmen shaking hands. "Take refuge in" implies a certain level of need and humility.

The Psalms and the Book of Mormon

I have been reading through the Psalms for some time now, and it is fascinating, and entirely reasonable, that a careful reading of them turns up many similarities to the early chapters of the Book of Mormon. They are of the same milieu, after all.

Last night, I noticed something in Psalms 118.

Some translations (including, very disappointingly, the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh [aka the Hebrew Bible]) obscure the idiom that the King James Version preserves.

Namely, the psalmist writes:

"I called on the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me and set me in a large place."

The original word is rechab, which translates as broad or large.

Out of the confines of difficulty, the Lord brings the penitent into the open spaces of freedom. One familiar with the desert thinks easily of its narrow and dangerous canyons, difficult in many cases to escape.

And the Book of Mormon prophet Lehi reports in his vision a strikingly similar scene (1 Nephi 8:8-9):

"And after I had traveled for the space of many hours in darkness, I began to pray unto the Lord that he would have mercy on me ... And it came to pass that after I had prayed unto the Lord, I beheld a large and spacious field ..."

Chains and cords

I noticed a few weeks ago the similarities, in words and tone, between Psalms 116, in the Bible, and Alma 36, in the Book of Mormon.

It is quite possibly that the author of Alma 36, being of Hebrew derivation, knew and loved this psalm, though it is not as familiar as others to our modern ears.

Psalms 116: 3-4, 16:

"The sorrows of death compassed me,
and the pains of hell gat hold upon me:
I found trouble and sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of the Lord;
O Lord, I beseech thee,
deliver my soul

...Oh Lord, thou hast loosed my bonds."

Alma 36: 18:

"... I cried within my heart:
O Jesus, thou Son of God
have mercy on me,
who am in the gall of bitterness
and am encircled about
by the everlasting chains of death ...

In my study of the Hebrew Tanakh today, I learned that the word, (chbl) translated "sorrows" in this Psalm can also be translated as "bonds" or "cords." The authors of the King James Version preferred to stick with "sorrows" but the authors of the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh use "bonds," which runs a clearer thread of continuity through the psalm. The bonds (chbl) mentioned at the beginning are released at the end.

The latter translation also more closely matches Alma's psalm, he who had found himself encircled about by the everlasting chains of death. True, "chains" (ziyqah) is a different word from cords or bonds, yet easily a synonym.

A question of perspective

Psalms 116: 15: is translated in some cases: "Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints/holy ones;" elsewhere, as in the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh, "Grievous in the eyes of the Lord ..."

The word in question is yakar, dear or expensive. Is the word in this context better understood as a great loss, therefore grievous, or as something valuable, therefore precious, as in these holy ones die in God and are taken to Him?