Psalm 121 – Translation

Psalm 121 is remembered for its first verse.  It’s overall theme is the assurance we can have in the face of adversity because the Lord is our guardian.  There are a couple of interesting translation points.

Psalm 121:1-8 ESV
    A Song of Ascents.

    I lift up my eyes to the hills.
        From where 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.
    [5] The Lord is your keeper;
        the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
    [6] The sun shall not strike you by day,
        nor the moon by night.
    [7] The Lord will keep you from all evil;
        he will keep your life.
    [8] The Lord will keep
        your going out and your coming in
        from this time forth and forevermore.

The ESV retains the 6 fold repetition in English of the Hebrew verb shamar.  The first three uses are as participles, forming a kind of title “he who keeps” and the second three uses are verbs in the imperfect, indicating actions.  The ESV retains KEEP, KEEPS or KEEPER helping the English reader see the repetition.  The NIV for contrast uses WATCHES for the first three, and KEEP and WATCH for the second three uses.

Some translations try to retain the verbal repetion, which is not natural in English (JB,NEB). Others vary the repetition, which makes it harder to notice the central theme of the psalm (NIV, TEV).

We prefer the continuity of the ESV, but this illustrates the value of having more than one translation.

Goldilocks among the Commentaries

“Oh this one is too boring.  This one is too dry.  But this little commentary is just right.” 

Regarding Proverbs 7:

So I have a very big commentary and an almost very big commentary that had the unfortunate habit of putting me to sleep.  Well, I struggled on anyway.  However, my very small commentary was a hit on this text.  So if you use tools, such as commentaries, get a bucket load so that you have a shot at getting one that hits.  I found a great deal in Derek Kidner’s Proverbs commentary in the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Series.  These are smallish books, but well worth the price most of the time.  Anything by Kidner is interesting.  I found this quote to be quite satisfactory:

“…the best advice is useless against strong temptation unless it is thoroughly taken to heart and translated into habits.”  p. 75.

Proverbs 7 pits the clueless young man against the relentless woman seeking a sexual partner.  Her speech is shockingly compelling which makes the point quite well that the illicit can sound wonderful, but the reality falls short.

I wonder if “tying the instruction to your fingers”  (v. 3) was the origin of the idea of tying a string to your finger to remember something. 

Well Fresh Read is back from vacation and the family wedding and plans to be posting regularly.  Thanks to the readers for pushing us to the exalted heights of almost 8,000 blog lifetime readers.

Second Language

For Lent, FR decided to keep a diary of the book of James in Spanish.  Having been working on Spanish for a few years, it seemed like a good idea.  What I have noticed is that reading a familiar text in another language forces you to notice what you might otherwise skim over.

If you know another language, consider reading the text in that language.

Que Dios te bendiga.