Psalm 34
The 34th psalm (according to Greek counting the 33rd) is a psalm of David in the Bible . It belongs to the series of thanksgiving songs. His verses are written in alphabetical order, an acrostic . It is the first psalm to describe angels as guardians of the godly .
The text of Psalm 34
Letter | verse | Biblia Hebraica | Elberfeld Bible |
---|---|---|---|
(ל Lamed) | 1a | לדוד בשנותו את־טעמו לפני אבימלך ויגרשהו וילך׃ | From David. When he went crazy in front of Abimelech and he drove him away and he went away. |
א Aleph | 2 | אברכה את־יהוה בכל־עת תמיד תהלתו בפי׃ | I will praise the LORD always; his praise shall be in my mouth continually. |
ב Beth | 3 | ביהוה תתהלל נפשי ישמעו ענוים וישמחו׃ | My soul shall boast in the Lord; the meek will hear and be happy.
about me. |
ג Gimel | 4th | גדלו ליהוה אתי ונרוממה שמו יחדו׃ | Lift up the Lord with me, let us exalt his name together. |
ד Daleth | 5 | דרשתי את־יהוה וענני ומכל־מגורותי הצילני׃ | I sought the Lord, and he answered me; and from all my fears he saved me. |
ה Hey | 6th | הביטו אליו ונהרו ופניהם אל־יחפרו׃ | They looked at him and beamed, and their faces are not ashamed. |
ו Waw stanza is missing . (Or verse 6 includes the ו in the middle of the verse) | |||
ז Zajin | 7th | זה עני קרא ויהוה שמע ומכל־צרותיו הושיעו׃ | This wretched man cried, and the Lord heard, and from all his afflictions he saved him. |
ח Chet | 8th | חנה מלאך־יהוה סביב ליראיו ויחלצם׃ | The angel of the Lord camps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. |
ט Tet | 9 | טעמו וראו כי־טוב יהוה אשרי הגבר יחסה־בו׃ | Taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy the man who hides with him! |
י iodine | 10 | יראו את־יהוה קדשיו כי־אין מחסור ליראיו׃ | Fear the Lord, you his saints! For those who fear him have no shortage. |
כ Kaph | 11 | כפירים רשו ורעבו ודרשי יהוה לא־יחסרו כל־טוב׃ | Young lions are starving and starving, but those who seek the Lord lack no good. |
ל Lamed | 12 | לכו־בנים שמעו־לי יראת יהוה אלמדכם׃ | Come, you sons, listen to me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord. |
ם Mem | 13 | מי־האיש החפץ חיים אהב ימים לראות טוב׃ | Who would like to live well and see nice days? |
נ Well | 14th | נצר לשונך מרע ושפתיך מדבר מרמה׃ | Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from deceitful speech; |
ס Samech | 15th | סור מרע ועשה־טוב בקש שלום ורדפהו׃ | Let go of evil and do good, seek peace and pursue it! |
ע Ajin | 16 | עיני יהוה אל־צדיקים ואזניו אל־שועתם׃ | The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are on their cry. |
פ Pe | 17th | פני יהוה בעשי רע להכרית מארץ זכרם׃ | The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to remove their mention from the earth. |
צ Tzade | 18th | צעקו ויהוה שמע ומכל־צרותם הצילם׃ | They cry out, and the Lord hears that he will save them from all their afflictions. |
ק Qoph | 19th | קרוב יהוה לנשברי־לב ואת־דכאי־רוח יושיע׃ | The LORD is near to them that are broken in heart, and he saves the broken spirit. |
ר Res | 20th | רבות רעות צדיק ומכלם יצילנו יהוה׃ | The misfortune of the righteous is manifold, but the LORD saves him out of all of them. |
ש Schin | 21st | שמר כל־עצמותיו אחת מהנה לא נשברה׃ | He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. |
ת Taw | 22nd | תמותת רשע רעה ושנאי צדיק יאשמו׃ | Wickedness will kill the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will pay for it. |
23 | פודה יהוה נפש עבדיו ולא יאשמו כל־החסים בו׃ | The LORD redeems the souls of his servants; and all who hide with him do not have to atone. |
structure
It could be structured in the following way:
- Verses 2-4: Hymnal introduction
- Verse 5: reason for praise, proclamation of the psalmist's destiny, invocation and salvation
- Verses 6-11: Teaching that flows from his destiny
- Verses 12-22: didactic poem
- Verse 12: Psalmist is now "teacher"
- Verses 13–15: Question - Answer: Who desires death instead of life
- Verses 16–22: Collection of wise proverbs
Specified authorship
The psalm heading derives the psalm from David - from the time when he went mad with the Philistines ( 1 Sam 21,11ff EU ). Probably confuses the psalm heading Achisch von Gath with Abimelech von Gerar (this actually occurs in the book of Genesis : Gen 20,1ff EU ).
rating
The Old Testament scholar Hermann Gunkel criticizes the fact that the alphabetical order of the psalm prevents clear thoughts. This is what it says in his commentary on the Psalms:
"In view of the great formal difficulties that an alphabetical psalm has to overcome, one cannot ask for an overly strict order of thought"
reception
The psalm became the basis of the chant I will, as long as I live (1602, EG 276) by Cornelius Becker .
Web links
- Psalm 34 in the standard translation , the Luther Bible and other translations from bibleserver.com
- Psalm 34 in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) on bibelwissenschaft.de
- Sheet music in the public domain for settings of Psalm 34 in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)