Psalm 131

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Sculpture by Fritz Nuss in front of the Ev. Town church Schorndorf ; in the background: panel with the text of Psalm 131: 2.

The short Psalm 131 is after the counting of the Septuagint and the Vulgate Psalm 130. In medieval Latin tradition it is also named after its initial words: Domine, non est exaltatum cor meum . He belongs to the group of pilgrimage psalms (Psalm 120 to Psalm 134).

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Masoretic text

In recent research, Psalm 131 is often regarded as a woman's text, that is, as a wisdom-meditative text in the mouth of a woman praying. After contrasting two life plans “pride” (verse 1) and “rest in YHWH” (verse 2), the prayer decided on the second option and in verse 3 also wishes Israel as a whole such rest in God.

A woman's prayer?

This interpretation results from a very literal translation of the masoretic text of verse 2b: כגמל עלי אמו כגמל עלי נפשי׃ " Like a little child on / with its mother , like the little child on / with me - such is my soul (add: with you, YHWH ). "

Some exegetes see in this verse the realistic representation of a woman walking to Jerusalem with her child on her back (or on her shoulders): the verse "is the self-portrait of the psalmist on the pilgrimage."

Different interpretations of the child (גמל) in 2b

  • Uniform translation 1980 Like a small child with its mother, my soul is still in me .
  • Zurich Bible Like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child, my soul is calm within me .
  • Uniform translation 2016 Like a breastfed child with its mother, like a breastfed child, so is my soul in me .
  • Luther Bible 2017 Like a small child with its mother, like a small child, so is my soul in me .

Mostly one understands by גמל a weaned child; To understand this picture, however, it must be remembered that breastfeeding took place for a long time: “ Our rabbis taught: A child must be breastfed for 24 months. ... Rabbi Joshua said: Even four or five years. “According to 2 Maccabees 7:27 , children in Hellenistic times were breastfed for three years.

Septuagint and Vulgate

The Septuagint takes verse 2 a different meaning: μὴ ἐταπεινοφρόνουν ἀλλὰ ὕψωσα τὴν Εἰ ψυχήν μου ὡς τὸ ἀπογεγαλακτισμένον ἐπὶ τὴν μητέρα αὐτοῦ ὡς ἀνταπόδοσις ἐπὶ τὴν ψυχήν μου. “ If I didn't think little, but lift up my soul, (then I would be) like the weaned child against its mother, (then your punishment would be) like retribution against my soul. "

The Vulgate also understands the text: Si non humiliter sentiebam, sed exaltavi animam meam; sicut ablactatus est super matre sua, ita retributio in anima mea .

reception

Liturgy of the Hours

According to the Benedictine Antiphonals , Psalm 131 is prayed in the noon shore on Thursday, and also at noon in the Commune Office for holy women.

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literature

  • Erich Zenger / Frank-Lothar Hossfeld : Psalms 101–150 (Herder's Theological Commentary on the Old Testament). Freiburg - Basel - Vienna 2008, pp. 595–610.
  • Klaus Seybold : The Psalms (Handbook for the Old Testament) JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1996

Web links

Commons : Psalm 131  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Erich Zenger: Stuttgart Psalter . S. 357 .
  2. ↑ Klaus Seybold: The Psalms . S. 495 .
  3. ↑ Talmud Ketubot. P. 60 a , accessed on December 30, 2017 (English).
  4. ↑ Wolfgang Kraus, Martin Karrer (Ed.): Septuagint German: The Greek Old Testament in German translation . Stuttgart 2009, p. 884 .
  5. ↑ Münsterschwarzach Abbey (ed.): Benedictine Antiphonale . 3. Edition. tape 2 . Münsterschwarzach 2007, p. 111-112 .
  6. ↑ Benedictine Antiphonals . tape 2 , p. 165 .