Psalm 9 and 10

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Psalm 9 verse 13 on the outer wall of the Thalkirche in Wiesbaden as a memorial for the period 1933–45

The 9th and 10th Psalm is a psalm of David and belongs to the series of thanksgiving songs and lamentations. The unity of the 9th and 10th Psalm can be found in the Septuagint and in various Masoretic manuscripts . Based on various observations, it can be assumed that the Psalms originally belonged together.

Wording of the Psalms

Because of the (contaminated) alphabetical order ( acrostic ) of the two psalms, the first letters of each verse are highlighted separately.

Psalm 9

Letter verse Biblia Hebraica Elberfeld Bible
(ל Lamed) 1 למנצח עלמות לבן מזמור לדוד׃ "A psalm of David, to be sung in the manner of" beautiful youth "."
א Aleph 2 אודה יהוה בכל־לבי אספרה כל־נפלאותיך׃ I thank the Lord with all my heart and tell all your miracles.
3 אשמחה ואעלצה בך אזמרה שמך עליון׃ I am happy and happy in you and praise your name, you Most High,
ב Beth 4th בשוב־אויבי אחור יכשלו ויאבדו מפניך׃ that my enemies had to retreat; they fell and perished before you.
5 כי־עשית משפטי ודיני ישבת לכסא שופט צדק׃ Because you conduct my justice and my cause, you sit on the throne, a right judge.
ג Gimel 6th גערת גוים אבדת רשע שמם מחית לעולם ועד׃ You scold the Gentiles and kill the wicked; you will destroy their names forever and ever.
7th האויב תמו חרבות לנצח וערים נתשת אבד זכרם המה׃ The enemy is destroyed, broken forever, you destroyed the cities; all memory of her is gone.
ד -strophe is missing .
ה Hey 8th ויהוה לעולם ישב כונן למשפט כסאו׃ But the Lord abides forever; he has prepared his throne for judgment,
9 והוא ישפט־תבל בצדק ידין לאמים במישרים׃ he will judge the world with righteousness and rule the peoples as it is right.
Waw ) 10 ויהי יהוה משגב לדך משגב לעתות בצרה׃ The Lord is the protection of the poor, protection in times of need.
11 ויבטחו בך יודעי שמך כי לא־עזבת דרשיך יהוה׃ Therefore hope in you who know your name; for you forsake not those who seek you, Lord.
ז Zajin 12 זמרו ליהוה ישב ציון הגידו בעמים עלילותיו׃ Praise the Lord who dwells in Zion; proclaim his deeds among the peoples!
13 כי־דרש דמים אותם זכר לא־שכח צעקת עניים׃ Because who asks about blood guilt, remembers the poor and does not forget their cries.
ח Chet 14th חננני יהוה ראה עניי משנאי מרוממי משערי מות׃ Lord, be gracious to me; / look at my misery among my enemies, who raise me up from the gates of death,
15th למען אספרה כל־תהלתיך בשערי בת־ציון אגילה בישועתך׃ that I tell you all your glory, in the gates of the daughter of Zion, rejoice over your help.
ט Tet 16 טבעו גוים בשחת עשו ברשת־זו טמנו נלכדה רגלם׃ The heathen are sunk in the pit they dug, their foot caught in the net they made.
17th נודע יהוה משפט עשה בפעל כפיו נוקש רשע הגיון סלה׃ The Lord has made himself known and has held judgment. The wicked is caught up in the work of his hands. "INTERMEDIATE". "SELA".
י iodine 18th ישובו רשעים לשאולה כל־גוים שכחי אלהים׃ Let the wicked go to the dead, all heathen who forget God!
19th כי לא לנצח ישכח אביון תקות ענוים תאבד לעד׃ Because he will not forget the poor forever; the hope of the poor will not be lost forever.
כ Kaph 20th קומה יהוה אל־יעז אנוש ישפטו גוים על־פניך׃ LORD, arise, lest men gain the upper hand; let all the Gentiles be judged before you!
21st שיתה יהוה מורה להם ידעו גוים אנוש המה סלה׃ Put a terror on them, Lord, that the Gentiles may know that they are men. "SELA".

Psalm 10

Letter verse Biblia Hebraica Elberfeld Bible
ל Lamed 1 למה יהוה תעמד ברחוק תעלים לעתות בצרה׃ Why, Lord, do you stand aloof, hide yourself in times of distress?
2 בגאות רשע ידלק עני יתפשו במזמות זו חשבו׃ The wicked pursues the poor with arrogance. You will be gripped by the attacks that they devised.
ם Mem 3 כי־הלל רשע על־תאות נפשו ובצע ברך נאץ יהוה׃ For the wicked boast because of the desire of his soul; and the greedy blasphemers; he despises the Lord.
נ Well 4th רשע כגבה אפו בל־ידרש אין אלהים כל־מזמותיו׃ The wicked thinks arrogantly: "He will not inquire." "It is not a god!" Are all his thoughts.
5a יחילו דרכו בכל־עת מרום His ways are always successful.
ס Samech 5b משפטיך מנגדו כל־צורריו יפיח בהם׃ Your judgments are high above, far from him; all his adversaries - he blows on them.
6th אמר בלבו בל־אמוט לדר ודר אשר לא־ברע׃ He speaks in his heart: I will not waver, from generation to generation in no misfortune.
פ Pe 7th אלה פיהו מלא ומרמות ותך תחת לשונו עמל ואון׃ His mouth is full of curse, full of cunning and oppression; under his tongue is hardship and calamity.
8ab ישב במארב חצרים במסתרים יהרג נקי עיניו לחלכה יצפנו׃ He sits in the ambush of the courtyards, in hiding he kills the innocent;
ע Ajin 8c ... his eyes peer after the poor man.
9 יארב במסתר כאריה בסכה יארב לחטוף עני יחטף עני במשכו ברשתו׃ He lurks in hiding like a lion in his thicket; he lurks to catch the wretched; he catches the wretched by pulling him into his net.
צ Tzade 10 ודכה ישח ונפל בעצומיו חלכאים׃ He smashes, crouches down; and the poor fall by his mighty powers.
11 אמר בלבו שכח אל הסתיר פניו בל־ראה לנצח׃ He says in his heart: God has forgotten, has hidden his face, he never sees!
ק Qoph 12 קומה יהוה אל נשא ידך אל־תשכח עניים׃ Stand up, Lord! God raise your hand! Do not forget the wretched!
13 על־מה נאץ רשע אלהים אמר בלבו לא תדרש׃ Why is the wicked allowed to despise God, speak in his heart: "You will not inquire?"
ר Res 14th ראתה כי־אתה עמל וכעס תביט לתת בידך עליך יעזב חלכה יתום אתה היית עוזר׃ You saw it, for you, you look to hardship and grief to take it into your hand. The poor, the fatherless leaves it to you; you are a helper.
ש Schin 15th שבר זרוע רשע ורע תדרוש־רשעו בל־תמצא׃ Break the arm of the wicked and the wicked! Sensing his wickedness that you can no longer find it!
16 יהוה מלך עולם ועד אבדו גוים מארצו׃ The Lord is King forever and ever; the nations have vanished from his land.
ת Taw 17th תאות ענוים שמעת יהוה תכין לבם תקשיב אזנך׃ You have heard the wish of the meek, O Lord; you strengthen her heart, let your ear pay attention,
18th לשפט יתום ודך בל־יוסיף עוד לערץ אנוש מן־הארץ׃ to create justice for the orphan and the oppressed, so that in future no one on earth will shrink together any more.

Relationship between Psalm 9 and 10

There are various reasons why the two psalms belong together:

  1. The lack of a heading from Psalm 10
  2. The “ SELA ” at the end of Psalm 9. Actually, these סֶּלָה characters are more in the middle of a psalm
  3. Similarities in linguistic usage, e.g. B. the expression "לְעִתֹּות בַּצָּרָה" ("times of need") in Ps 9,10  OT and in Ps 10,1  OT .
  4. Psalm 10 reveals a continuation of the alphabetical order of Psalm 9, albeit very strongly distorted. Hermann Gunkel explains this with the insignificance of the topic on the one hand and the later “corruption” of the topic on the other. It should be noted that an acrostic is to be considered as such even if individual letters are not fully taken into account.

Today it can be assumed that the two psalms are related. Together they form at least one liturgical unit. According to this view, Psalm 9 serves as a song of thanksgiving in support of the petitions from the Lamentation of Psalm 10.

Outline and structure

There are quite a few different approaches to structuring Psalm 9/10.

A possibility …

The Old Testament scholar Hermann Gunkel divides Psalm 9 as follows ...

  1. Verse 2f: Hymn-like introduction to the thanksgiving song
  2. Verse 4f: main part of the thanksgiving song
  3. Verses 6-17: transition to an eschatological hymn

... and Psalm 10:

  1. Verses 1–11: Lamentation of the wicked among the people
  2. Verses 12–15: Ask: Not to forget the poor (verses 12 and 14) and overthrow the wicked
  3. Verses 16-18: Return to the political subject of the Gentiles

... and another

The French theologian Pierre Auffret finds the following chiasmic structure between Psalm 9 and 10:

  1. Psalm 9.2–9 corresponds to Psalm 10.6–15:
    1. in relation to the heart (compare Ps 9,2a  EU with Ps 10,6a  EU , 11a and 13b)
    2. in relation to the face (compare Ps 9,4b  EU with Ps 10,11b  EU )
    3. in relation to the throne (compare Ps 9,5b  EU and 8a with Ps 10,8a  EU )
    4. in relation to the wicked (compare Ps 9,6a  EU with Ps 10,13a  EU and 15)
    5. in relation to eternity (compare Ps 9,7a  EU with Ps 10,11b  EU )
  2. Psalm 9: 10-15 corresponds to Psalm 10: 1-5:
    1. in relation to time and misfortune (compare Ps 9,10b  EU with Ps 10,1a  EU and 5)
    2. in relation to the search (compare Ps 9.11b  EU with Ps 10.4b  EU )
    3. in relation to misery (compare Ps 9,13b  EU and 14a with Ps 10,2a  EU )
    4. in relation to praise or joy (compare Ps 9,15a  EU with Ps 10,4a  EU )

Dating

The psalm is to be assigned to a later period of psalm poetry, in which the genres were already developed. Bernhard Duhm and Emil Kautzsch date it to the Maccabean period. Hermann Gunkel, however, assumes the Persian era.

rating

Hermann Gunkel rates the psalm as an "artificial" product due to the alphabetical order. In his psalm commentary, it says:

“You shouldn't make too strict demands on the inner coherence of such an artificial product. The writer would be glad to find a suitable word for each letter; His poetic power was not enough to shape his poem into a completely uniform work of art. "

On the other hand, the acrostic form is rated differently by Ulrich Berges , among others . This holds the form for the elegant correspondence of the perfect form.

Impact history

Among other things, these songs go back to Psalms 9 and 10 or parts of them:

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Hermann Gunkel : Die Psalmen 6 1986, 32.
  2. ^ Hermann Spieckermann, Hymnen , 146f.
  3. Nicolaas Herman Ridderbos : The Psalms. Stylistic procedures and structure with special consideration of Ps 1-41. 1972, ISBN 3-11-001834-9 , 140f.
  4. Hermann Gunkel: The Psalms. 6 1986, 33ff.
  5. Pierre Auffret: Que seulement de tes yeux tu regardes ... (2003), 31.
  6. ^ Hermann Gunkel: Die Psalmen 6 1986, 37.
  7. ^ Ulrich Berges: Lamentations. 2002, 76.

literature

  • Dirk Sager : Polyphony of Misery: Psalm 9/10 in the conceptual discourse and literary context. Tübingen 2006 ( research on the Old Testament , 2nd series, volume 21).

Web links

Commons : Psalm 9  - Collection of Images