Psalm 25

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Psalm 25 read in Hebrew (Ogg Vorbis audio file, length: 2 min 23 s, 42 kbps)
Gravestone with verses 17 and 18 from Psalm 25 in the old cemetery in Giessen
Psalm 25 verse 10 on a medallion (Psalm 24 in the count of the Vulgate )

The 25th Psalm is part of the Book of Psalms . In him a poor YHWH asks for rescue, forgiveness and direction. The psalmist is a learned and a teaching supplicant who gives his prayer the form of an acrostic psalm. Because of the wisdom motifs and the poor piety expressed in the prayer , Psalm 25 is considered post-exilic, i.e. after 500 BC. BC originated to classify.

translation

Letter verse (Translation of the Luther Bible 1984)
(ל Lamed) 1a "From David."
א Aleph 1b I long for you, Lord.
ב Beth 2 My god i hope in you; do not let me be put to shame that my enemies do not rejoice over me.
ג Gimel 3 For none will be ashamed who waits for you; but the frivolous despisers are put to shame.
ד Daleth 4th Lord, show me your ways and teach me your ways.
ה Hey 5a Guide me in your truth
(ו Waw ) 5bc and teach me! Because you are the God who helps me; I wait for you every day.
ז Zajin 6th Remember, Lord, your mercy and your kindness, which have been from eternity.
ח Chet 7th Remember not the sins of my youth and my transgressions, but remember me according to your mercy, O Lord, for your goodness sake.
ט Tet 8th The Lord is good and righteous; therefore he shows sinners the way.
י iodine 9 He guides the poor and teaches the poor his way.
כ Kaph 10 The ways of the Lord are goodness and faithfulness for all who keep his covenant and his commandments.
ל Lamed 11 For your name's sake, Lord, forgive me my iniquity, which is so great.
ם Mem 12 Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will show him the way he should choose.
נ Well 13 He will dwell in good and his family will own the land.
ס Samech 14th The LORD is a friend to those who fear him; and he lets them know his covenant.
ע Ajin 15th My eyes are always on the Lord; for he will pull my foot out of the net.
פ Pe 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me; 'Cause I'm lonely and miserable
צ Tzade 17th The fear of my heart is great; lead me out of my troubles!
(ק Qoph ) 18th See my misery and misery and forgive me all my sins!
ר Res 19th See how my enemies are so much and wrongly hate me.
ש Schin 20th Keep my soul and save me; don't let me be put to shame, because I trust you!
ת Taw 21st Innocence and honesty may guard me; because I wait for you
(פ Pe) 22nd God redeem Israel from all its trouble!

Further translation variants - also in other languages ​​- as well as the Hebrew text can be found under Ps 25 : 1-22  ELB (here preset to the revised Elberfeld translation).

Structure / structure

Charles Haddon Spurgeon divides the psalm into 5 sections: prayer (1–7), meditation (8–10), prayer (11), meditation (12–15), prayer (16–22). Prayer and meditation alternate.

Frank-Lothar Hossfeld divides Psalm 25 into the following parts:

  • Verse 1: heading
  • Verse 1f: trust and request
  • Verse 3: sentence
  • Verses 4-7: Requests
  • Verses 8-10: Doctrine of God
  • Verse 11: central request
  • Verses 12-14: Teaching about man
  • Verse 15: Confession of trust
  • Verses 16-21: Requests
  • Verse 22: Petition for Israel

Linguistic and content observations

acrostic

Psalm 25 belongs to the group of acrostic psalms, in which the first letters of the 22 verses of a text follow the series of 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Psalms 9, 10, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119 and 145) . It is noticeable that the Vss. 1a and 22 do not fit into this alphabetical scheme. Both are to be assessed as being inserted secondary. The alefbeth serves on the one hand as a memory aid when reciting, on the other hand the instructive character should be externally indicated to the reader.

Relationship to Psalm 34

The two Psalms 25 and 34 have similarities that suggest a relationship:

  • single line acrostic
  • missing waw verse (25.5; 34.6)
  • additional pe- verse as a request for salvation for Israel (25,22; 34,23)
  • Identical beginnings ( Mem -line 25.12; 34, 13 - Ajin -line 25.15; 34.16 - Pe -lines 25.16; 34.17)
  • central position of the lamed line (25.11; 34.12)

The Requests of the Psalm

No fewer than 21 requests addressed to YHWH are contained in the 22 verses of Psalm 25, of which 18 requests are expressed through the stylistic device of parallelism .

The central request of the Psalm is the non-parallel verse 11, which is framed by doctrinal verses (V 8-10, doctrine of God, and 12-14, doctrine about man).

Duration:

  • 2b - don't make me fail
  • 2c - don't let my enemies triumph (parallelism)
  • 4a - show me, Lord, your ways,
  • 4b - teach me your paths! (Parallelism)
  • 5a - guide me in your faithfulness
  • 5b - teach me (parallelism)
  • 6a - remember your mercy, Lord
  • 6b - (think) of the deeds of your grace (parallelism)
  • 7a - do not think of my youthful sins and my iniquities!
  • 7b - think of me in your grace (parallelism)
  • For the sake of your name, Lord, forgive me; because my guilt is great.
  • 16a - turn to me
  • 16b - and have mercy on me (parallelism)
  • 17a - free my heart from fear
  • 17b - lead me out of distress! (Parallelism)
  • 18a - see my distress and plague,
  • 18b - and forgive me all my sins! (Parallelism)
  • 20a - keep my life
  • 20b - and save me (parallelism)
  • 20c - don't make me fail!
  • 22 - O God, deliver Israel from all its troubles!

The psalm is framed by the request: “Do not let me fail” (2b; 20c).

The requests for guidance from YHWH on the right path of life (vv. 4. 5a. 8b. 9b. 10a. 12b) as well as for rescue from need and distress (v. 17b; 18a; see 9. 15b. 19. 20a) form important Psalm motifs . Of central importance for the psalm is the repeated request for forgiveness from guilt (7a.11.18b).

The final request for the redemption of Israel is to be assessed as secondary.

genus

The psalm cannot be clearly assigned to any genre. In the psalm elements of the lament predominate: lament, petition, expression of confidence. Motifs of the hymn can be found in vv. 8-10. The author is probably one of those who were often persecuted during the post-exilic period who sought support and instruction for themselves and others in the study of the Holy Scriptures. He put his experiences in a poem written in the antholic style, in the style of the post-exilic school of wisdom.

interpretation

See FL Hossfeld

a) Heading V 25.1a

The heading "By David" consists only of the (secondary) author's information, which assigns the psalm to the group of Psalms 25-28.

b) Trust and request V 25,1b-2

The expression “ raise the soul to YHWH ” (1b) is psalm language and can also be found in Ps. 86: 4 and Ps. 143: 8. The prayer confesses to "his" God in his prayer / song. There is a close relationship of trust between God and the person praying (mentioning the name of God; "my God"). The prayer trusts (2a) that God is at his side. Verses 1b and 2a are assigned to one another and lead over to 2b and c, where the declaration of confidence is combined with a double request: "Do not let me fail / be put to shame" (also Ps 25.20; cf. Ps 31.2.18; Ps 71.1) and "do not let my enemies triumph". The prayer’s unspecified enemies are not to triumph, so he asks YHWH to publicly justify his trust.

c) Theorem V 25.3

Loosely referring to the preceding verses, the prayer antithetically contrasts the person (poor) hoping for YHWH with the faithless in a wisdom doctrine. Whoever becomes faithless and breaks the covenant with YHWH (cf. Hos 6,7; Jer 3,20; 31,31–34) will fail or be ashamed. All who put their hope in YHWH and trust him will live.

d) Requests V 25.4-7

e) Doctrine of God V 25.8-10

f) Central Request V 25.11

g) Teaching about man V 25: 12-14

h) Confession of trust V 25.15

i) Requests V 25: 16-21

j) Petition for Israel V 25,22

Psalm 25 in the liturgy

The psalm, which is contained in the Evangelical Hymn book under No. 712, is used in the Christian liturgy mainly during Lent , but also liturgical on special days of remembrance. In the old church, the introitus for the two Sundays Oculi (Ps 25.15) and Reminiscere (Ps 25.6) was taken from the Psalm. On Sunday Reminiscere ( "Remember, Lord, your mercy"), the second Sunday of Lent during Lent is, according to the lectionary prayed Ps 25.1 to 11. The theme of the 3rd Sunday of Lent Oculi (Oculi mei semper ad Dominum, “My eyes are always on the Lord”) is Ps 25:15.

literature

Comments

  • Frank-Lothar Hossfeld, Erich Zenger: The Psalms I. Psalm 1–50 (= NEB.AT 29) Würzburg 1993.
  • Erhard S. Gerstenberger : Psalms. Part I (Ps 1-60) (= The Forms of the Old Testament Literature. 14). Grand Rapids 1991, ISBN 0-8028-0255-9 .
  • Norbert Lohfink : The new covenant and the nations (= Church and Israel. 6), Neukirchen 1991, pp. 115-133.
  • Heinrich Groß , Heinz Reinelt : The Book of Psalms. Part I (Ps 1–72) (= spiritual reading. Volume 18/1), Leipzig (St. Benno-Verlag), 1979.
  • Lothar Ruppert : Psalm 25 and the limit of cult-oriented psalm exegesis. In: Journal for Old Testament Science. 84, 1972, pp. 576-582.
  • Alfons Deissler : The Psalms. Patmos-Verlag, Düsseldorf (1963.1964.1965, 7th edition 1993), ISBN 3-491-69062-5 .
  • Artur Weiser : The Psalms (= series Das Alte Testament Deutsch. Volume 14/15). Göttingen 1935 (7th edition 1966).
  • Franz Delitzsch : Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, 4th edition, Leipzig 1883 ( bennozuiddam.com PDF).

Introductory literature

  • Joachim Becker: Ways of the psalm exegesis (= SBS 78), Stuttgart 1975, pp. 73-84.

Monographs

  • Pierre Auffret : La sagesse a bati sa Maison. Etudes de structures littéraires dans l'Ancien Testament et spécialement dans les Psaumes (= OBO 49), Göttingen 1982, pp. 207–227.
  • Nicolaas Herman Ridderbos: The Psalms. Stylistic process and structure. With special consideration of Ps 1–41 (=  supplements to the journal for Old Testament science . No. 117 ). de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1972, ISBN 3-11-001834-9 , pp. 200-206 .

Transfers

  • Paul Gerhardt : poems and writings. Munich 1957, pp. 155–157. Adaptation of Psalm 25 by Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676).

Web links

Commons : Psalm 25  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Interpretation of Psalm 25 by Charles Haddon Spurgeon, s. u. Web links
  2. ↑ Alfons Deissler: The Psalms. Patmos-Verlag, Düsseldorf (1963.1964.1965, 7th edition 1993), ISBN 3-491-69062-5 , p. 105.
  3. ↑ Frank-Lothar Hossfeld, Erich Zenger: The Psalms I. Psalm 1-50 . (= NEB.AT 29) Würzburg 1993, p. 161.
  4. ↑ Alfons Deissler: The Psalms. Patmos-Verlag, Düsseldorf (1963.1964.1965, 7th edition 1993), ISBN 3-491-69062-5 , p. 104 f.
  5. ↑ Frank-Lothar Hossfeld, Erich Zenger: The Psalms I. Psalm 1-50 . (= NEB.AT 29) Würzburg 1993, p. 164 ff.