Psalm 5

Plaque above the entrance to an Orthodox church.

The 5th psalm is a psalm of David and belongs to the series of lamenting psalms.

structure

The Old Testament scholar Hermann Gunkel structured the psalm as follows:

• Verses 2-4: Invocation of God
• Verses 5-8: The place of prayer
• Verses 9-13: The actual requests (for oneself, against his opponents, YHWH's protection for all pious)

interpretation

The correct translation of the word Hebrew word הַנְּחִילֹ֗ותis unclear; the standard translation and the Luther Bible give it back as “for playing the flute”. But the Septuagint and Vulgate as well as Arabic translations derive it fromנחלfrom what “to inherit” means (correspondingly in the Vulgate “pro ea quae haereditatem consequitur” and κληρονομος in the Septuagint). Accordingly, it would translate as: "for the benefit of those who receive the inheritance".

Therefore, when based on these translations, the Church was often declared in the history of interpretation as that heir of God, as for example in the interpretations of the Psalms by Augustine , Cassiodorus and others.

A thoroughly christological interpretation can be found in Martin Luther . For example, the latter names as central to the third verse that the incarnation of man occurs through the incarnation of Jesus Christ .

Gerhard Ebeling wants the psalm to emphasize the primal humanity of complaining and accusation (verse 10 f.) But at the same time cheering and shouting (verse 12 f.).

use

According to the Rule of Benedict , the psalm is to be sung on Monday's lauds.

reception

Caspar Querhamer († 1546) created the chorale in 1537 on the basis of the psalm A geystlich bit song drawn from the psalms / Verba mea auribus etc .: Mein wort o Herr zu oren nym .

Web links

Commons : Psalm 5  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Psalm 5 in the standard translation , the Luther Bible and other translations from bibleserver.com
• Psalm 5 in the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS) on bibelwissenschaft.de
• Sheet music in the public domain of settings for Psalm 5 in the Choral Public Domain Library - ChoralWiki (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hermann Gunkel: The Psalms, 6th edition 1986, 18.
2. ↑ Augustine: Enarrationes in Psalmos ( complete English translation ), Cassiodorus: Expositio in Psalterium .
3. ↑ Weimar Edition 5,128f.
4. ↑ Gerhard Ebeling: Psalms Meditation , 1968, 65.
5. ↑ Johann Leisentrit : Spiritual songs and psalms, the old apostolic law and Christian churches who believe in war ... Budissin [1567]. P. 226.