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THE PSALM OF HABAKKUK.
THE
PSALM OF HABAKKUK
A KEYISED TRANSLATION, WITH EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL NOTES ON THE HEBREW AND GREEK TEXTS,
BY
EOBEET SINKEE, B.D.
LIBBAEIAN OF TEINITY COLLEGE, CAMBEIDGE.
aramtritiQe : DEIGHTON, BELL AND CO.
LONDON: GEORGE BELL AND SONS. 1890.
CAMBRIDGE
PRINTED BY JONATHAN PALMER
ALEXANDRA STREET
INTRODUCTION.
A certain amount of definiteness of view as to the date when Habakkuk uttered his prophecy is essential to the right understanding of his utterance. The means for coming to a conclusion are, it is true, scanty : external objective evidence is altogether wanting, but a reasonable clue is given by the prophet himself. It is necessary to refer, however briefly, to this evidence, inasmuch as the views to be taken of the pro- phet's standpoint, and especially in the poem to which the whole prophecy works up, will hinge largely on the question of the author's date.
The prophecy, taken as a whole, brings before us the threat of the Chaldsean invasion, the horrors that follow in its train, the overweening arrogance of the invader, his utter inability to see that he is in God's hands but the rod of His anger, and his impious glorifying of his own power, the "axe boasting itself against him that heweth with it." Through and beyond this thunder cloud, itself yet future, the prophet, with vision which the divine insight has rendered keen, looks on, patiently and undoubtingly, to the day when the Chaldsean host itself, its work done, falls beneath a mightier foe.
With these two feelings then filling his heart — with the knowledge that on His people God's wrath is to be poured out, that a race mighty and pitiless is to work His will upon them ; but with the fullest belief that beyond the storm of trouble, nay, amid it, God's purpose of mercy fully held, — the Prophet breaks out in this marvellous Psalm, in which the twofold thoughts of the preceding chapters are wrought together, two ideas running connected throughout, till, in the jubilant strain at the end, all is forgotten but the full out-pouring of God's love for His people.
2 Introduction.
Thus the whole prophecy becomes one connected utterance, the two thoughts of the suffering and the deliverance, dwelt on in the first two chapters, being the underlying fabric of the Psalm ; and the repressed force of those earlier chapters breaks out in the utterance, at once earnestly expectant and jubilant, of the conclusion.
The perfect cohesion of the whole book forces one to the belief that we must view it as a perfect artistic whole, pre- sumably given forth at one time.
It is doubtless impossible to fix that time with exactness, but we believe the choice to lie between the concluding years of Manasseh's reign and the opening years of that of Josiah. For this conclusion, two remarks of the prophet stand clearly out, and the whole prophecy accords perfectly.
The two remarks are both contained in the same verse (i. 5); the horrors of the invasion were to be within the actual experience of many of the generation which the prophet addressed, and he knows with what incredulity his words will be received. After the crushing defeat of the Egyptian army by the Chaldseans at Carchemish (605 B.C.) incredulity would have been impossible, and herein we find our posterior limit of time. From this we may go back as far as is consistent with the words, " I work a work in your days." It is folly to inquire within what limits of time this phrase is used in the Bible, and so in this servile way deduce our limits here. It is sufficient to note that from the death of Manasseh (640 B.C.) to the first taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldseans (597 B.C.) is 43 years, so that if the prophecy were delivered in the concluding years of this king's life, a con- siderable portion of those then living would be surviving when the terrible fulfilment actually came.
Further back than to the concluding years of Manasseh's reign it would be impossible to put the prophecy, not only because we should thus fail to satisfy the condition "in your days," but also because the general character of the reign of Manasseh, " who filled Jerusalem with blood from one end to another," is that of fierce persecution of the worship of Jehovah, and of idolatry dominant, while the standpoint of Habakkuk is
Introduction. 3
that of an age of careless indifference and of mere social wrongs. The prophet sees violence and oppression, but no hint is given that a religious cause underlies it. The law is slack and dead ; evidently the zeal and the love of the many has waxed cold. In like manner too, the short evil reign of Amon may be passed over as failing to yield the necessary historical characteristics.
Again, how is it possible to assign the utterance of Habakkuk to a date later than the early years of Josiah ? We can hardly conceive the words with which the book opens to have been put forth when once Josiah's reformation had been set on foot. Such words as " the law is slacked " could not have been said when that single-hearted king strove to restore the service of God.
That Habakkuk prophesied early in the reign of Jehoiakim, would be to make the incredulity of the prophet's hearers absurd. When the army of so mighty a kingdom as Egypt had been shattered at Carchemish by the mighty young Titan of Chaldsea, it could not be doubted that the conqueror would in due time move westwards; and before that fierce onset how should Israel stand ? Yet if the writing is to be placed, as some would have us place it, even as late as the time of the first appearance of Nebuchadnezzar's armies in Palestine (600 B.C.), the reference to the incredulity is either meaningless, or is put in by the prophet merely to antedate his utterance.
That a writer could indulge in an attempt of this kind and then close the didactic part of his utterance with the solemn words, " The LoKD is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him," would be a piece of profane audacity which seems incredible — incredible even if we have here but a poet paying a decent recognition to the current religious feeling of his time. Yet on any view of a deeper purpose, of an utterance beyond that of poet, of a thing which comes from no IS la eiriXvatf;, how impossible any such theory !
It must be remembered, however, that this is really not so much a question between inspiration and not-inspiration, as between honesty of purpose and conscious dishonesty. The theory of the late date of Habakkuk would make of his wondrous
4 Introduction.
prophecy but a cunninglj devised scheme, tricked out by poetic fancy. The prophet stands on his watch-tower, not for a re- velation sent from heaven, or even for the self-conjured ideas of his own fancy as to what the future may bring ; he is simply playing with what he knows.
We repeat then, the concluding years of the reign of Manasseh, or the opening years of that of Josiah, satisfy the two crucial conditions of i. 5, and give us a state of things fully in accordance with what seems to be the standpoint of the prophet.
Like Bunyan's pilgrims, who could see the streets of the Golden City before their feet had come to the edge of the Dark River, so Habakkuk realises the certainty and the glory of God's deliverance while the doom itself is still distant. His thoughts, which seem full of a suppressed force in the earlier part of the prophecy, break forth in free expression in the Psalm, an ex- pression of unwavering faith and trust that God will, as of old, bring His people through the storm. The prophet sees in faith " the end of the Lord " ; the deliverance shall certainly come in the appointed time.
With this certainty of the coming mercy, it is natural to blend the thought of the like mercies of the past ; "As were Thy dealings of old, so now wilt Thou deal with Thy people." It is in the light of this twofold truth, I am convinced, that much of this Psalm is to be understood. Otherwise, the constantly fluctuating tenses, combined with the most evident allusions to the earlier history, leave us in an unmeaning chaos. That, in vv. 3 — 15, the continual shifting to and fro of the tenses is to be treated as mere poetic caprice, is both to play fast and loose with all laws of language, and further, rob the poem of much of its significance. If, on the other hand, these tenses are to be dis- tinguished, then we believe that here, as in the most parallel instance of the Sixty-eighth Psalm, the inspired writer's mind dwells, now on his certain assurance of God's future mercy, now on past manifestations of it ; not indeed that the proof for the future does but rest on the evidence of the past, but that no
Introduction. 5
believer can lose sight of the past and its call for thanksgiving in his trust for the future.
In the rendering of the Psalm which is now subjoined, an attempt is made to represent this idea. It may be well to premise however, once for all, that with regard to the exact translation in English of vv. 8—15 a legitimate difference of view may well exist, "God will come," "May God come.''^ And yet the two are one. The faith which waits unflinchingly will tell of the coming deliverance for as certain a fact as the past. Yet even the faith which knows — knows as a certain truth- will say, " So grant it, Lord."
^ We might also, with much fitness, translate "cometh," remembering that " cometh " would not be a present but a future, or rather a future and something more, as e.g. epxo/xai in Joh. xiv. 18.
CHAPTER I.
The Psalm of Habakkuk.
I Lit. Thy re- port, i.e. the news of what Thou wilt do.
~ Or, Cometh.
3 Or, Whose praise filled the earth.
* Or.measured.
1 A Prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet, upon Shigionoth.
2 0 Lord, I have heard Thy message,^
I have trembled, 0 Lord, at Thy work ; In the midst of years revive it, In the midst of years make it known, In wrath may est Thou remember mercy.
3 God will come'^ from Teman,
And the Holy One from Mount Paran (Selah), He, Whose glory of old covered the heavens. And with Whose^ praise the earth was filled.
4 And His brightness shall be as the light, Rays come forth from His hand ;
And there is the covert of His might.
5 Pestilence will go before Him, And lightnings go forth at His feet,
6 Who of old stood and shook* the earth. Who beheld and drove asunder the nations, And the eternal mountains were scattered, The everlasting hills were bowed —
His ways are everlasting.
7 Under affliction did I behold the tents of Cushan, The curtains of the land of Midian were shaken.
8 Was it with rivers that the Lord was angry ? Was Thy wrath against the rivers ?
Was Thy fury against the sea.
That Thou dost ride upon Thy horses.
Thy chariots of salvation ?
The Psalm of Habakkuh. 7
9 Thy bow is^ made quite bare, 5 gee note. p. 5.
Sworn are the punishments of the^ solemn decree (Selah) : e or, of Thy With rivers wilt Thou cleave the earth. ^'''*^'
10 The mountains saw Thee, they trembled, A storm of waters passed by.
The deep gave forth his voice,
And lifted up his hands on high.'^ ^ or, The
11 Sun and moon stood still in their abode, up... At the light of Thy fast-falling arrows.
At the brightness of the gleam of Thy spear.
12 In indignation wilt Thou march through the earth. In anger wilt Thou tread down the nations,
13 As when Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people,
For the salvation^ of Thine anointed, 8 or, salvation
And didst dash the head from the house of the wicked, ^^^'"
Laying bare the foundation even to the neck (Selah),
14 When Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his
chieftains,^ 9 or, hordes.
Who come as a whirlwind to scatter me.
Whose exulting is as though to devour the poor in their lair,
15 When Thou didst tread on the sea with Thy horses. The foaming mass of mighty waters.
16 I heard, and my belly trembled. At the voice my lips quivered.
Rottenness cometh into my bones and I tremble where I stand, I, who will wait peacefully for the day of trouble. For the coming up against the people of him who shall assail it.
17 For though the fig tree shall not blossom, Nor shall there be fruit in the vines.
Though the labour of the olive shall have failed. And the fields shall have yielded no food, Though the flock shall have been cut off from the fold, And there be no cattle in the stalls,
18 Yet will I exult in the Lord,
I will be glad in the God of my salvation.
8 The Psalm of Habakkuk
19 Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength,
And He hath made my feet like hinds' feet.
And on my high places will He make me to walk.
To the Chief Musician, on my stringed instruments.
The Psalm may be roughly analysed as follows :
V. 1. The heading with the title of the poem, " a Prayer," and the manner of its music.
V. 2 is the prelude to the main body of the poem, vv. 3 — 15, the reverent supplication of the Prophet, awestruck even amid the faith which looks on to the end.
vv. 3—7. The« looked for manifestation of God's presence and glory as of old.
vv. 8 — 12, detailed illustrations of the effect of God's pre- sence on nature, rivers, sea, mountains, sun, and moon.
Yet [vv. 18 — 15) the terrors of this appearing are not for God's people, but for the enemy.
vv. 16 — 19 form a conclusion, as though the reflections of the Psalmist to himself, at the consideration of such unspeakable marvels; awe, yet the awe of exceeding joy. Amid the desolation of nature he looks on to the final deliverance, and sees in the Lord his strength.
Lastly, a musical direction is subjoined.
V. 1. n v'pri. The Psalm is not indeed precatory in /o7;m, for v.'2 is the only part which can directly and formally be called a prayer. Still the underlying thought is distinctly precatory throughout. Whether it be the dwelling on God's wonders in the past, the anticipations of like mercies in the future, the
The PsUlm of Habakhuk. 9
awful circumstances attending the manifestations of His Power — in all alike one thought is present, the prayer that in due time God will grant the deliverance of His people.^
The same remark, mutatis mutandis, may in greater or less degree be applied to the case of those Psalms (xvii., Ixxxvi., xc, cii.) which are styled "Prayer" in the heading; and with these may be compared the remark at the end of the Second Book of Psalms, "The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended." It must be noticed, too, that it is not simply "a Prayer of Habakkuk," but of " Habakkuk the Prophet " ; the Prayer is more than the earnest struggling of a soul after the Divine Light, it is definitely the prayer as shaped for him by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
— niii^'^tp hV' This expression has been understood by some to refer to sins ignorantly committed. Thus the verse is rendered in the Targum, "The prayer which Habakkuk the Prophet prayed when it was revealed to him concerning the length of time which He has given to the wicked, that if they will turn to the law with a perfect heart it shall be forgiven them, and all their trespasses which they have committed in His sight shall be like a sin unwittingly committed." Or again, it has been explained {e.g. Jerome, in loc. ; Rashi, in loc.) of the sins of which the prophet was unwittingly guilty in his addresses to God (as in i. 2 — 4, 13, 14).
Still, in spite of such authorities, such a view seems un- tenable when it is considered that the Psalm contains no refer- ence to sins of ignorance. Considering, too, the frequent use of the preposition 7J^ in the headings of the Psalms,^ and the fact that in that to Psalm vii. the word p^'^tl^ itself occurs, where such a rendering is altogether impossible, we can hardly doubt
^ The assertion that vhm here is simply, in a general sense, a hymn (Ges.) requires proof. To attempt to justify it by the use of the verb in 1 Sam. ii. 1 is to ignore the fact that, praise though it is, prayer is the underlying basisL of both Hannah's song and its close counterpart, the Magnificat.
2 It is true that h^ most often introduces the name of the standard melody, but sometimes it indicates simply the musical mode generally, e.g. on Alamoth.
10 The Psalm of Hahakkuk.
that the phrase has reference to the nature of the musical accompaniment to the poem.
From the meaning of the root we might render the phrase " a wild, wandering strain," the reference being to the constant varying of the melody, as it adapted itself to the thoughts of the terrors of God's judgements wrought upon His enemies, of the marvels done in the past, of the deliverances to be wrought for His people.^
The ancient versions seem all to have taken the earlier view, except the LXX., which renders the phrase hj /Jbera wSt)?. This is loose enough, but would seem to be decisive as to their opinion ; unless indeed we believe that the LXX. confused the word with p^^il, which is rendered mB'i] in Pss. ix. 17 ; xcii. 4.^
V. 2. In every sense this verse is a prelude to the Psalm which follows. Not again till v. 16, after the close of the wondrous Theophany, is the personality of the writer brought before us. He has heard the Divine Message, he trembles at the thought of what God is about to work, even though that work will ultimately result in the deliverance of God's people. Yet there is a momentary pause, as when Moses stands barefoot and in silence before the Burning Bush on Horeb. In the hush we seem to hear the pulsations of the prophet's heart, in which trembling awe at the reception of God's message and passionate earnestness of appeal are blended. Then suddenly he bursts forth into the glorious utterance, at once prophecy and prayer, which bridges over the chasm of trouble and sees the deliverance effected.
— '^^^p'^' "Thy message." The word ^}2'\^ is literally "a hearing," whether the faculty of hearing or the thing heard. Thus it will be tidings or news about a person or thing, and so here, the tidings of God's work which He has given to the prophet. We may compare Isa. Ixvi. 19, " the far-off isles which
^ It may be noticed that the main thought of Psalm vii. is also that of God's judgements on the wicked and the deliverance of the righteous.
' Their rendering of Shiggaion in the heading of Ps. vii. is vfivo^.
The Psalm of Hahakkuk. 11
had not heard my fame (or, the news of me)." Thus the meaning is much the same as "message."^ Cf. Hos. vii. 12.
The message in question is clearly the whole of the pre- ceding part of the prophet's utterance, not merely i. 5 — 10. To say that the message of ch. ii. would arouse no fear in the mind of the prophet is surely to take a very false view of the position of the God-fearing soul in the direct presence, nay, behind the veil as it were, of the Divine working. The most steadfast servant of Jehovah must have felt his heart stand still, in the very fulness of his joy and thankfulness, when he saw the waters of the Ked Sea " return to their strength " and the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. Keble takes a truer view of the situation when he says, " It was a fearful joy to trace the Heathen's toil." What though there was but chastening for Israel, and though God's destroying wrath was for the enemy, yet to be admitted to see the working of God in anger, must surely be awful for all.
— ... '^^l^^']^*^• I am aware that the translation given of this clause is not that ordinarily taken, and I fully allow that it is not that grouping of the words sanctioned by the Masoretic accents. Still, I venture to think that the present translation is defensible.
For (1), if we accept the rendering, " I trembled, 0 Lord, at Thy work," we make the whole of vv. 2 — 6 reducible to ternary stichi, as may be seen from the annexed table : u 2. 3 3 3 3 3. 3.
|
v.S. |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
V. 4. |
3 |
3 |
3. |
|
u5. |
3 |
3. |
|
|
V. 6. |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 3.
In V. 7 the rhythm changes, but that of the bulk of the rest of the Psalm is also in ternary stichi. In the ordinary translation the above regularity is of course not attained.
^ It is true that S'QVp is rather news about a, person than a message sent bi/ a person, but the conditions of the case in Hab. iii. 2 make these two things
12 The Psalm of Hahahhuh.
Again (2), if we inquire concerning the grammatical usage of the verb ^^1*^ in the Bible, we find that there are 111 cases in which it is used absolutely, as against 155 cases where it has an objective, whether introduced by Hb^, ]?p, or the like. At any rate, therefore, there is no violence done to the grammar in construing as I have done.
It must first be asked, however, what is the hv^ of God here ? Clearly not that of i. 5, for that is simply the chastise- ment of Israel, which the prophet could not conceivably pray for.^ We cannot doubt that it is the exact correlative to the ^?2UJ of the preceding clause. The prophet has heard the message ; he trembles at the work that message foreshadows.
That work we have already defined as chastisement wrought upon Israel for its sins at the hands of an enemy whose own doom is utter destruction. But clearly if this be so, the essence of the matter is the former part of the thought. To the Israelite, knowing that he had deserved God's discipline, that discipline, stern but loving, just yet overflowing with mercy, was the main thought. That the rod of God's anger, its purpose done, should be snapped in twain, mattered not.^
— ... 1*;))25* This phrase, it must be allowed, is somewhat obscure. The meaning must, however, hinge mainly on the verb. Gesenius {Thes. p. 468 a) gives for the Piel of rT^H three meanings (1) vivere jussit, vivificavit ; (2) vivum servavit ; (3) in vitam revocavit. We might reduce these three to two, viz. (a) to call into existence a thing not previously existent, or, if once existent, dead; and (h) to maintain in life a thing already living. I must say that I do not think this former
^ To suppose that the b^b is Israel itself, because (Isa. Ix. 21) Israel is called the " work " (nwn) of God's hands is out of the question ; for not only should we require some qualifying word instead of this bare absolute use, but also because while the verb ^tc"!}! might thus have a reasonable meaning, »nin (the same object being of course presupposed) would not. It should be noted, however, that this view is that taken by Aben Ezra and Kimchi.
2 A very parallel passage, which has some striking coincidences with the present, is Ps. Ixxvii. 13, where the ^h of God is clearly the whole course of God's dealings with His people.
The Psalm of Habahhuh. 13
meaning at all established. It must be remembered that the Piel of rOr\ is common in the Bible, occurring as it does no less than 57 times, and in the bulk of these the meaning is obvious enough. No better illustration could be taken than Abraham's remark to Sarah (Gen. xii. 12), "They will kill me, but the}^ will save thee alive (^^ )!*))•"
It is worth while taking in order Gesenius's instances of the first of his three meanings : (1) Job xxxiii. 4. Here Ges. renders the second clause, "Spiritus Omnipotentis vitam mihi dedit." But this is surely utterly to disregard the change of tense from past to future: "The Spirit of God made me" (the actual creation), " and the breath of the Almighty keepeth me in life." One is reminded of the change from iKriadr] to eKTiarai in Col. i. 15. The next instance (Gen. xix. 33, 34) is perhaps more doubtful, yet even here it would be quite possible to explain the phrase as meaning " to keep alive the family line." Hos. xiv. 8 is also doubtful, but it seems hard to believe that \T\ ^'Tl*' can mean " they shall grow crops of corn." Such a passage, how- ever, as Eccl. vii. 12 ought to be clear enough, " Wisdom pre- serveth alive" (not "calleth to life") "those that possess it." So, too, Job xxxvi. 6, "[God] preserveth not in life" (not "calleth to life ") " a wicked man."
We need not go through the passages given under Gesenius's third head, but they are as a rule utterly beside the mark. Thus it is a begging of the question to make 1 Sam. ii. 6 mean a " recalling to life " ; surely the clause is tantamount to the statement that God gives (as and when He will) life and death likewise. The call into life therefore is only part of the gift ; we have to thank God for "our creation and preservation." See also Deut. xxxii. 39, or again Ps. xxx. 4, " Thou hast kept me alive, so that I go not down into the pit" {Kri, but the Cthiv is to all intents and purposes much the same). We need not multiply instances, and the fact remains that in the great majority of 57 instances there can be no possible doubt as to the meaning ; and even of the remainder it may reasonably be questioned whether any single one is an undoubted exception.
If, then, this view be accepted, Habakkuk's prayer is that
14 The Psalm of Hahakkuk
God will keep alive His work ; that work, I have argued, is His discipline of Israel. Discipline is not punishment, though it may involve it. Coming from God to His people, there under- lies the punishment the tenderest love.
The remainder of the clause is less obvious. God is asked to keep alive and to make known His work of loving discipline Q^'iti) ^"i^P?^? ^ phrase not occurring elsewhere. It has indeed by some been understood of the coming of Christ " in the midst of years," with the ages of the two dispensations before it and after it. The view in this form, however, is clearly untenable. The Psalm is indeed Messianic in its deeper sense, but not in its direct and primary one. Moreover, l"^p could by no means be used of the middle point of a thing; it is, if I may so speak, TO ecrco rather than to /neaov.
As regards the meaning of the phrase, Gesenius may be right in his rendering "intra (aliquos, paucos) annos," there being, as I have said, no parallel instance ; but I do not think he is. The general sense resulting from his view would be " help us speedily." But the '* work " of God in this passage is not directly help, but severe though loving chastening. The chastening is but for a time, and then God's wrath is to be poured on the Chaldseans. Thus, on the view of Gesenius, the prayer would come to mean. Let us get our punishment over quickly and have done with it. But further, if I have been successful in showing that ^n^^Pf does not mean " bring to life," but " keep alive," the meaning of speedily must obviously fall to the ground.
If it then be asked what translation of D*>it2J l^p5 is possible in conjunction with the meaning " keep alive," it seems to me that, having regard to the difference between 3."^j2 and Ijiri, we might render " in the course of years," " as years roll on." In other words. Be the time of Thy working long or short, yet amid the on-rolling years ever keep alive Thy mercy (mercy, be it remembered, was the essence of the chastening), amid the wrath which we have deserved, mayest Thou evermore remember mercy.
The Psalm of Hahahhuh 15
Rashi, who understands by God's " work " here His ancient work when He took vengeance for Israel on their enemies, explains the phrase now before us by " in the midst of the years of calamity in which we are now abiding." Kimchi, while understanding the " work " as meaning the righteous, explains the phrase as meaning " in the midst of these long years through which they shall be in captivity."
V. 3. The question of the tenses (^^il*^, JlDp) first calls for remark. If it be asked whether we are to translate the former " [God] will come/' or " May [God] come," we can but repeat that we believe both thoughts are wrought up together; we have at once the prayer of the faith which knows, and the declaration of the knowledge which God grants in vision. To narrow the meaning to one of these conjoined thoughts would be, I am convinced, to sacrifice an important element of the truth. 1
In t^il*' the prophet looks onward, has regard to God's future mercies, as in 7^^'^ he looks back to the days when God wrought wonderfully for His people. The ideas are very ellip- tically expressed, and various turns in English will be equally true for filling up the gap. We may say, " God will come .... Whose glory of old covered . . . .," or " God will come .... as of old when His glory covered . . . .," or in other ways.
The Selah of this verse may claim a passing remark. It being assumed that the word carries with it the idea of an
^ Prof. Driver cites vv. 3, 7, of this chapter as furnishing cases of the imperfect [future] " to represent an event while nascent {<^/i<yv6jui6Pov), and so, by seizing upon it while in movement rather than while at rest, to picture it with peculiar vividness to the mental eye," this holding good specially " in the language of poetry or prophecy " {Sehrew Tenses, § 26, 27 a; cf. also § 35). J will refer to the case of v. 7 subsequently. As regards v. 3, I cannot but say that the above seems to me (while of course true for many passages) to be a totally untenable view as regards the tenses in this verse. It treats siT and rroa (and of course we must add the like cases in vv. 5, 6, and elsewhere) as in essence the same, only differing in the way in which the action is viewed. Thus throughout the whole passage, vv. 3 — 15, whether the tense be past or future [" imperfect "], we are on this theory to view them alike as simply descriptive.
16 The Psalm of Hahakkuk.
interlude, and so of a brief pause as regards the singing, there will often naturally be implied the presence of a certain transi- tion of thought, and thus there might reasonably be a change of melody. In the present passage the transition of thought enters abruptly, and, so to speak, in the very heart of the rhythm. With the line of thought so absolutely shifted round, we can well understand that the music in the two clauses would be totally different. We may find somewhat parallel cases below, V. 10, and in Ps. Iv. 20.
With regard to the reference to Teman and Paran, of which I have spoken further in the next chapter, it is clear that we must view them in connection with the parallel passages, Deut. xxxiii. 2, Judges v. 4, 5, Ps. Ixviii. 8, 9. In the first of these, we find Sinai, Seir, and Mount Paran mentioned together, the last- named being either equivalent to the great desert of Paran, or, with greater likelihood, an individual mountain in the Sinaitic peninsula. In the Song of Deborah we have Seir, Edom, and Sinai named; and in a passage of the Sixty-eighth Psalm, evidently built on a reminiscence of the preceding, Sinai alone is named.
Now, it is clear that in poetry of this kind it would be quite possible to aim at a too excessive geographical exactness. Sinai and Seir are by no means near together, nor are Teman and Mount Paran. Moreover, the thread of association in all four passages is so unmistakeable that in any interpretation we are bound to take cognizance of all.
The line of thought seems to be of this sort. The prophet calls to mind the long desert march in the days of old, when God, like a mighty conqueror, moved at the head of His people, displaying wondrous manifestations of His power. His thoughts turn to the wild and mysterious south land with which the associations of the past were so completely bound up, the deliverances amidst the perils of the wilderness, and the solemn giving forth of the Law on Sinai. Then comes the prayer, the hope, the belief, that He, once Victor over all foes for His people, will again be their Champion amid greater dangers and against mightier foes.
The Psalm of Hahakkuk. 17
The translation of I^^T^ by " south " (as by the Vulgate " ab Austro ") is rather a dilution of this than a contradiction. The survey of the paths trodden by the Israelites of old, following where the Divine Leader pointed the way, guided the prophet's thoughts.
V. 4. Here the prophet dwells on the Manifestations of God's presence ; gleaming brightness attends Him, rays flash from His hand, and amid this splendour, this (^w? airpoanovy the Deity " shrouded in eternal brilliance," dwells alone.
The dual D^'^'lp is to be accounted for by the original idea of the metaphor. From the primary meaning of " horn " readily springs that of a " ray of light " (whence the denominative verb piP in Exod. xxxiv. 29, 30). Thus the idea of duality naturally passes from the primary to the derived meaning ; and so too is clearly obtained the notion of the sun as the " hind of the morning."
The change from Dll? to Dtl?, as made by the LXX. and Peshito, seems quite uncalled for. Not only is the existing Hebrew supported by two independent versions, the Targum and Vulgate, but DtT seems a tame and prosaic alteration, arising from the failure to perceive the force, poetic rather than gram- matical, of Dtlj, '* amid the splendour."
V, 5. The tenses in this verse make it clear that the prophet looks onward. It is the future manifestation of God's glory that attracts his thoughts ; but here again the future is pictured according to the experience of the known past, v. 6 serving as a historic basis on which the prophetic expectation of the pre- ceding verse rests. The two verses bear to each other the same relation as do the two hemistichs of v. 8. " Pestilence will go before Him, and the lightnings go forth at His feet " to work God's wrath on the enemy. How impossible in such a context to avoid recurring in thought to the manifestations of Divine wrath on God's enemies of old; the dread vengeance yet to come finds sufficient parallels in the past.
Of the "pestilence" one example had been given not so long before the prophet's own times, in the destruction of the
2
18 The Psalm of Habakkuk
host of SeDiiacherib; or we might take such a case as the dread punishment inflicted in older times on the men of Beth-Shemesh. It forms a natural parallel to f]tIJ*1, the lightning ; unless indeed, though this seems hardly necessary, we translate the latter by " burning disease." ^
V. 6. llb^l. That this word should probably be translated " shook " rather than " measured," see a note in the following chapter.
— *^^?1- ^^ seems at any rate most probable, though it may not be certain, that we have to deal with two distinct roots "iDi in the Bible, starting respectively from the primary notions of (1) leaping, (2) dropping, or flowing off.
Thus of (1) we have the Kal in Job xxxvii. 1, of the heart palpitating; the Piel in Lev. xi. 21, of locusts, etc. Thus, if our present passage is to be connected with this root, we get for the Hiphil " to make to leap," i.e. to make to tremble.
On the other hand, we have in Chaldee the root "^H^ in Pehal with the meaning to drop off. (Cf. the following in Targ. Jon., Isa. xl. 8, of a flower; Isa. Ixiv. 6, of a leaf; Joel i. 10, of olive-trees; Nah. i. 4, of cedars; Jer. xlviii. 87, of hair). Thus in Aphel we have the meaning of cause to drop off, shake off, as in Dan. iv. 11 (14 E. V.).
In connection with this latter root we may place those instances of the Hiphil in the Bible where the sense is that of loosening or breaking loose ; as of actual bonds, as in Isa. Iviii. 6, or, by an easy transition, of those bound, Pss. cv. 20, cxlvi. 27 (and metaph. Job vi. 9).
If, then, the word now before us is to be referred to this latter sense, we must understand it of shaking, and so scattering hither and thither; and hence we get the drove asunder of the E. V.2
^ This is Kimchi's view : nmpn 'V)n
- For some remarks as to the possible identity of the two roots, see Dr. Chance in his Ajypendix to his edition of Dr. Bernard's Job (vi. 9). He compares the German springen and sprengen.
The Psalm of Hahakkuk 19
V. 6. iS D^i^ r»'i^''^n. The line of thought here seems to be this. Even the mountains, which, as generation after genera- tion of men came and passed away, seemed to remain un- changingly, as though themselves eternal, even these mighty masses are scattered and brought low before the presence of God. But, while applying such words as 1^ and D7ii^ to created things, the prophet can but think of One who was eternal in another sense than they — " His goings are everlasting."
Ewald takes the words differently, and implies a repetition of ^ntp again in the last clause, " The ancient hills bowed, the ancient paths before him," i.e. the paths across the hills used for so many generations of men. He gives, however, no grounds why this should be preferred, and we cannot but feel that it is much less probable than the preceding.
It may be worth while to examine the last clause somewhat, and first we may consider the versions. The LXX. has fiovvol alcovioi TTopeia^ al(ovla<i aurov, that is to say, the eternal hills are themselves the eternal pathway of God. This view has found supporters in modern times,^ but it surely suffices to condemn it that it makes the eternity of God and of the hills co-ordinate. The Peshito has " His goings are from eternity." The Targum, it is true, paraphrases DID^^TTl, by " might," putting n*!"!!^ rr^ T'^'l t^07^, but otherwise agrees with the current view. Finally the Vulgate (" ab itineribus seternitatis ejus "), though not absolutely agreeing, does not materially differ from the preceding.
To recur now to Ewald's view, it may further be objected that TlH^iy in Kal never occurs in the Bible with ^ following,^ and that as applied to paths, r^TDD' is a very curious verb to have at all. Lastly, it may well be doubted whether the word ]l'^!D'^7n so certainly means the via trita which this view requires. It only occurs in five places in the Bible beside the present. Of these, Ps. Ixviii. 25 (bis) refers in a very special sense to God, Job vi. 19 is used of travelling companies,
^ So e.g. Hitzig, " uralte Pfade Gottes.' 2 Once indeed with 'jpb.
20 The Psalm of Hahahkuk.
Prov. xxxi. 27 has regard to the management of a household, and Nah. ii. 6 to the act of going (" as they go "). Considering the close resemblance in many ways between the two poems, Ps. Ixviii. 25 is clearly a very parallel instance to the present, and here it may be presumed that the "ways" are God's eternal ways of working. See also Ps. Ixxvii. 14.
V. 7. Here, in the '^r\''b^*1, the prophet puts himself back amid the scenes of the past, and so, speaking from the stand- point of the past, he dwells on the disasters which befell Israel's foes of old.
The meaning of the Hebrew itself calls for no special remark : " I saw the tents of Cushan beneath affliction," i.e. bowed down under calamity; under the outpouring of God's wrath Cushan had been overwhelmed, p^^ is used here in much the same sense as 7^V> with which it is parallel in Hab. i. 3, Isa. lix. 4. See also Ps. Iv. 4.
The versions vary considerably. The Peshito, while repre- senting the passage verbally, appears to have viewed p^^ as a proper name. The Targum, though amplifying the passage, has evidently caught the sense, " When the house of Israel wor- shipped idols, I delivered them into the hand of the wicked Cushan ; but when they returned to observe the Law, 1 wrought for them miracles and mighty deeds, and delivered them from the hand of the Midianites by the hand of Gideon, the son of Joash." That is to say, the reference is understood of the catastrophe befalling the ancient foes of the nation.
The LXX. has taken shelter in literalness [clvtI kottcov elSov), but it seems very doubtful what view, if any, these words con- veyed to the translators. The ideas which the authors of the versions of the LXX. have tried to convey will be spoken of in the following chapter. The Vulgate, following on the lines of
the LXX., has " Pro iniquitate vidi " What Jerome
himself understood by this may be gathered from his com- mentary {in loc), and clearly cannot be taken seriously.^
^ " ^thiopes tetri .... dsemones intelliguntur, quorum fit tabernaculum quicunque in hoc sseculo propter honores et divitias laborarit; quod signifi- canter sub uno verbo iniquitatis ostenditur . . . ."
The Psalm of Hahahhuh. 21
The reference to the name Cushan is by no means clear. The Targum, as is clearly shown by the added epithet, identifies it with Cushan Rishathaim, and this is the view of the great Rabbinic commentators, Rashi/ Aben Ezra, and Kimchi.
Of the other versions, the Peshito reproduces the Hebrew verbally, and the LXX. and Vulgate treat W^'2 as equivalent to tr^^i:), or Ethiopia.
The objection urged against the traditional Palestinian view is the lack of chronological arrangement in thus putting the deliverances wrought by Othniel and Gideon before such earlier incidents as the passage of the Red Sea and of the Jordan {y. 8). Also, it is said, this view involves a greater amount of detail than could be looked for in such a context. The second objec- tion looks too much like a begging of the question, but the first may be allowed to have some weight. Still, when it is remem- bered how great an impression the miraculous deliverance wrought against Midian through Gideon made on the Israelite mind (see Isa. ix. 4, x. 26, Ps. Ixxxiii. 10), it seems hard, in spite of the chronology, not to accept this as the meaning of the second clause. But in that case the objection to Cushan Rishathaim falls to the ground; and it obviously is quite possible that the deliverance from this oppressor may have been attended with mightier signs of intervention than we might be led to infer from the shortness of the account in the Book of Judges.
Yet, on the other hand, the identification of Cushan with Cush has difficulties of its own. The former word occurs nowhere else but here, so that the actual evidence is narrowed to that of the LXX. and Vulgate, which need not count for much. Such an argument as Hitzig's, that Cushan may well be the same as Cush, on the analogy of Lotan (one of the " dukes " of Edom, in Gen. xxxvi. 36) for Lot, is to confound illustration and demonstration; and those who hold this view appear to forget that while the etymology of Lot and Lotan is doubtless
^ Rashi does not expressly name Cushan Rishathaim, but accepts the explanation given in the Targum.
22 The Psalm of Hahakkuk.
the same, it by no means follows thence that the names are interchangeable.^
It might further be urged, that by accepting this view we not only give a good deal of vagueness to the passage, but also a certain bathos if, after reading of the awful manifestations of V. 6, we get in v. 7 merely a statement that two nations were much alarmed thereby; whereas on the other view there is reference in v. 7 to directly miraculous intervention.
Ewald, who quite rejects the Cush theory, suggests that WID is probably the same as It^p*' (Gen. xxv. 2, 3), viewed as a tribe or a nation cognate with Midian. This is, however, the merest guess; and one does not see by what legitimate modification of spelling the two forms can be treated as equivalent.^
A remark may perhaps be added as to the tenses in this verse. I can have no doubt that the future pt5"^*| is to be seen as under the influence of the past '^il'^^^'^, as below in v. 10 (Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 27, 7). In the present passage, how- ever, as I have mentioned above under v. 3, Prof Driver explains the tense as "representing the event while nascent" (§ 26, 27, a). I cannot see why he should not have included it in his list of examples where an "imperfect" [future] follows immediately after a perfect, indicating " the rapid or instantaneous manner in which the second action is conceived as following the first " (ib. § 27, 7), amid which he includes Hab. iii. 10.
It is true that ptj*!*] does not follow immediately upon the foregoing past tense, as in the instance of v. 10, but this remark holds equally for several of Prof Driver's own examples (Exod. XV. 12, 14; Pss. xlvi. 6, Ixix. 33, Ixxiv. 14, Ixxvii. 17).
V. 8. With this verse a fresh strophe of the poem begins, and with examples drawn from the period of the Exodus and of
^ Maurer's suggestion that Cush is altered into Cushan, so as to give a termination harmonising with that of Midian, has perhaps some plausibility, but lacks evidence.
2 Ewald remarks that the conclusion of strophe 2 {vv. 6, 7) " has not been preserved in its full extent." This is indeed to play the part of " I am Sir Oracle " ; there is not one vestige of evidence for this reckless statement.
The Psalm of Habakkuk. 23
the occupation of Canaan, God is pictured as a warrior once more about to take the field against His foes. The change of tense in the verse has clearly to be borne in mind, as intro- ducing a transition of thought like those we have previously considered.
On the view we have already advocated, the general sense of the verse would be, " When God's wonders were shown on the Red Sea and the Jordan, was the Sea or the River the subject of God's wrath ? Surely that power manifested on Sea and on River was the outcome of God's wrath on Egyptian and on Canaanite. So, too, again is it now. Is it against Sea or River that Thou art wroth, that Thou ridest as a warrior to the fight and for deliverance of Thy people ? No, for the Chaldsean is the foe."
I cannot but believe, in spite of some objections, that in the first clause of the verse H^'H^ is the nominative to H^Jl, the change from the third person of the first clause to the second person in the second clause being very characteristic of Hebrew. We thus get the translation, " Was it with rivers that the Lord was angry ? or against the rivers Thy wrath ? or against the sea Thy fury ? "
On the other view, the niJl"' is a vocative, the nominative to Tl'ytl being the ^Db^ of the following clause. It is sometimes said that the ancient versions, save the Peshito, do treat T^^T^'^ as a vocative. But it must be remembered that we have only got three other independent versions; that the Targum is, as might have been expected, too paraphrastic to give any clue; and that the LXX., though reading a vocative, is in no sense a supporter of the second rendering, inasmuch as it treats each of the two ternary stichi at the beginning of the verse as a com- plete sentence, and thus agrees virtually, though not formally, with the former of the two renderings. Lastly, the Vulgate is but the echo of the LXX.
A more serious matter is the fact that there is no parallel instance to the construction of niH used in direct agreement with a person. Still there seems a much greater improbability in having two consecutive clauses, of which the first contains the
24 The Psalm of Hahakkvk.
verb and the second its nominative, a construction for which it would be well if some exact parallel instances were brought forward.
V. 9. The metaphor of the Divine Warrior marching against His foes is continued in this verse (see also vv. 11 h, 12, etc.). The bow is bared, drawn forth from its case, so as to be ready for action ; the noun H^'^^?. giving the same kind of emphasis that the presence of an infinitive absolute would have done. It is made quite bare, it is no mere sign or threat of judgement which may yet be averted, the day of vengeance is indeed come.
The clause which follows is one of exceeding difficulty, and the views put forth concerning it differ very widely. I propose simply to refer to various views, only so far as may be necessary to explain or defend the view which seems to me the most probable.
The first word nl^^ltp has been variously taken as (1) the plural of njj^n?? an oath; (2) the plural of J^^ltT; or (3) the 2nd participle Kal (fem. pi.) of ^ItT.
Again nltS^ may have the meaning of (1) a staff or rod, or (2) a tribe. Lastly, "ipb^ is a purely poetical word, which as a rule carries with it the idea of a solemn promise, or utterance of solemn import.-^
As regards Jli^^ltp, I cannot but think that the third meaning is to be preferred for several reasons. For (1) in this way alone is the second stichus of the verse a co-ordinate clause with the preceding, and so is more in harmony with the general style of the poem. Again, if with the E. V. and the Jewish authorities generally we take the meaning of " oaths," the word "Ipb^ is left awkwardly stranded, in a way which seems very improbable. It is true that the second view avoids this, but
^ Thus we find it used for the solemn promise of God (Pss. Ixviii. 12, Ixxvii. 9), and for the " wondrous tale " which day tells to day and night to night of the Creator's power (Ps. xix. 3, 4). In the one remaining place where we find it in the Old Testament, Job xxii. 28, it is used more generally, like 13^.
The Psalm of Hahakkuk 25
only to introduce fresh difficulties of its own. This is the view adopted by Ewald, " Siebenfache Geschosse des Krieges."
Against this, however, a rather serious objection may be urged; it is obtained, as we have seen, by treating the word under consideration as the plural of y^ltlj, so that the literal
translation would thus be "Heptads of darts " But
although this last named word occurs twenty times in the Bible, it is always used to indicate a week, a heptad of days, except when (Daniel ix. 24 sqq.) it is used for a heptad of years. It therefore entirely begs the question to assume that it may be used here for bundles of seven darts.
As regards r\itD?2, the Jewish interpreters (e.g. Targum, Rashi, Kimchi) have as a rule taken it as meaning the tribes of Israel. Aben Ezra, as will be mentioned below, takes it differently. The LXX., which goes very far afield, will be dis- cussed in the following chapter; the Vulgate has "juramenta tribubus," but the Peshito has treated HlV^^lt^ as though from Vlto, though making nitO^ to be '' darts."
This meaning of " rod " or " staff" or " dart " is very common in the Bible, and in various aspects, whether of support or of attack. Thus in Isa. x. 5, xxx. 32, Mic. vi. 10, the rod is that of correction and punishment. Considering the special nature of the imagery here, the metaphor of the warrior with his bow, and also the use of the word below in v. 14, 1 should be disposed to think it possible that the metaphor may be strictly pressed, and that the 7l'^72 is not so much a rod to strike, as a javelin or dart to hurl.
It will have been seen that it is not easy to settle what to do with *^p^^ if iliV^ltp be taken in any way except the last named. I would therefore explain the clause, "Promised by oath are the punishments which Thy foes are now to undergo, and which are pledged in Thy word to Thy people," *)ph^ thus taking the notion of " promise " if seen from the standpoint of Israel, and of " solemn decree " if from that of the foe. I would point out that, to say nothing of objections urged above to the other views, the verse seems on this view to cohere in a way resembling that of other parts of the Psalm, as though it said,
26 The Psalm of Hahakkuk.
" Thy bow is utterly bared, and Thou wilt indeed execute Thy vengeance, for now as of old Thy threats of punishment upon Thy foes have been put on solemn record." ^
As regards the Grammatical connection of the word "l^t^ with those before it, I should prefer not to call it, as some do, an "adverbial accusative," or to supply a preposition before it, but to assume that nitS?? is in construction with it. "The rod of the decree" is no more awkward than the "rod of doom" (or, destiny) in Isa. xxx. 32, where the grammar is free from ambiguity, or than the " rod (iDlt;?) of his mouth " in Isa. xi. 4.^
The Selah, as before [v. 3), breaks the strain, not as on the former occasion with a kind of antithesis, but as leading to the outcome of what had gone before, the catastrophe as it were. I render the clause, " With rivers Thou wilt rend the earth," i.e. the manifestations of God's power and wrath, the quaking mountains, the beating storm, the tossing waves of the sea, are accompanied by the rending and tearing of the earth, in which torrents burst forth from the chasms. Thus in vv. 8, 9a, we have, as it were, the storm of wrath in anticipation ; from the Selali onwards we have the tokens of its outburst.
The clause has been rendered in several different ways, but I venture to think that the above is much to be preferred. I would argue that the verb is in the second person rather than
^ The present view is substantially that of Aben Ezra, though, with what seems absurdity, he understands the "bow" of the rain-bow. He then remarks " The meaning of '0'® has regard to the arrows, .... as though the darts were sworn to establish Thy word."
2 A commentator, whose remarks are as a rule characterised both by great good sense and sound scholarship, Maurer, has deserted this view which he formerly held (1) as being too artificial, (2) because we should expect a clause conforming to the warlike metaphor of the preceding, and (3) because it would be more reasonable to treat rxvo as in v. 14. The first point is a purely sub- jective remark ; but as regards the other two, the view I have taken of sup- posing the general meaning of rod here to assume the more special meaning of dart seems to meet the case. This " too artificial " view Maurer gives up for " satiatse sanguine sunt hastse, epinicium," i.e. rhv^iti is to be changed into ni5?ito on the authority of the Peshito, and ipVi to be little more than a sort of interjection.
The Psalm of Hahakkuk. 27
the third, because, besides the grammatical reason, to be men- tioned presently, we seem to need some direct mention of the Deity, whether as subject or object, when beginning the turn of thought which the Selah introduces.
Again, as regards the verb, the Piel of ^pl occurs twelve times in the Bible, and in every case but one is followed by the thing actually torn or rent as a direct object, e.g. wood chopped up (1 Sam. vi. 14), eggs hatched (Isa. lix. 4), wild beasts rend- ing (2 Kings ii. 24), of God's rending of rocks in the desert (Ps. Ixxviii. 15). The one exception is Job xxviii. 10, where we have "he cutteth out rivers in the rocks," a curious difference from the preceding passage ; there the accusative is D*^*^^!^, here it is n'>-)^^'l, with ni*im following.
Such a rendering as (1) " The earth is rent (or, rends itself) into torrents," does obvious violence to the grammar; more especially as we have the Hithpael of this very verb found in this last meaning in a very apposite passage (Mic. i. 6). Much the same as this is Maurer's " flumina prorumpere jubet terra." As we have seen, there is no reall}^ parallel instance in the Piel. Maurer might have quoted Isa. xxxv, 6, where the Niphal is found of waters breaking forth, and Ps. Ixxiv. 15, where the Kal is used in a corresponding active sense, but these do not affect the case of Piel. Again (2) we have Ewald's explanation, by which we get the idea, " Thou dost divide rivers so that there is now land where before was water." He compares Ps. cxiv. 5, 6, and Isa. xi. 15. Of course, so far as merely grammatical con- siderations go, this stands on exactly the same footing as the translation I argue for : " Thou dividest the land into rivers," and "Thou dividest the rivers so as to be land," being exact correlatives. Still, I must confess that for "dry land" as opposed to water, I should have expected HtTS.^ rather than
V. 10. In this verse the outcome of the Divine Presence is further described. The mountains, mightiest and most gigantic of the things of earth, see Him and tremble (lit., writhe) in awe, floods of rain pour down from the skies ; the ocean, as though a
28 The Psalm of HahakJcuk
being endued with life, utters his voice aloud, and tosses his hands on high.
It will be seen that the tense is now past, after shifting to the future at the Ethnakh of v. 8, of which change I have endeavoured to bring out the meaning as it presents itself to my mind. Here again is a change, the wonders of God's deal- ings in the past are a thought ever underlying the hopes for the future; and ii v. 11 does indeed refer to the miracle in the Valley of Ajalon (and it is a view for which, as I believe, there is much to be said), then the general view is confirmed by the individual instance.^
By the word Q*)5 ^^J ^® understood violent rain, and "^ly is clearly meant to emphasize its excessive and deluge-like character (c/. Isa. viii. 8, Nah. i. 8), as though "a deluge of waters poured overwhelmingly." The word is exclusively poetical, and save for the present passage and Job xxiv. 8 is found only in Isaiah.^ We find it coupled with ^1^72 (iv. 6), we have a Q*)t of hail (xxviii. 2), and accompanied by hail (xxx. 30). It is the violent downpour in the mountains upon the un- sheltered outcasts (Job I. c).
Ewald explains the clause differently, understanding it of the overflow of the waters of the Red Sea, after they had been parted for the passage of Israel, but now returning to their strength to engulf Israel's foes. Striking as is this idea, I do not see how it can fairly be reconciled with the meaning of D*)t. Nor can it be maintained that the versions give any colour to this view. The LXX. is beside the mark, for it has utterly misunderstood the passage. The Targum (b^"ltD?^ '^'^^V)> and the Peshito ("|A.2i_»5l) are decided enough; and though the Vulgate (turbo) is not quite the same as this, it cannot be said to be materially different.^
^ The tense of ibw is clearly influenced by the tense of ?pNn, as we have said above in the case oi v. 7.
^ iv. 6, XXV. 4 bis, xxviii. 2 his, xxx. 30, xxxii. 2.
^ We find turbo as the rendering of nnj in the Vulgate always, except in laa. xxviii. 2, where it is impetus ; in xxxii. 2, where it is tempestas ; and in Job {I. c), where it is imbres.
The Psalm of Hahakkuk 29
The noun Dl*1 in the final clause is ordinarily taken as standing for an adverb, and this on the whole is perhaps the safest. If it be taken as the nominative to t^f^, "the height lifted up its hands/' it does not seem quite obvioVs what we are to understand by the "height." It has indeed been explained of the mountains, but the idea of the metaphor in this case seems far less natural and obvious than that of the tossing crests of the waves.
It must be allowed, however, that Jewish authorities have very generally taken Q^^ as the nominative. Thus the Targum understands it of the " powers of the height " who stand still in amaze (^D); "^Tir^I^). Rashi sees in Dinri and Di^ the contrast between earth and heaven, " the inhabitants of the earth praised Him ... the hosts of the heaven lauded Him." Kimchi curiously explains it of the volume of the waters of the Jordan checked in their passage to the Dead Sea and forming a mighty heap (mi:i nr\t^ 1:3). Aben Ezra also takes D^ll as a nominative, the antithesis of DIJlA
-y. ll...tl)Dty. "Sun [and] moon stood still in^ [their] abode." The ancient Jewish interpreters ordinarily understood this clause of the miracle wrought for Joshua at Gibeon. Thus the Targum has " when Thou didst work miracles for Joshua in the Valley of Gibeon, the sun and moon stood still in their habitations." So too it is explained by Rashi and Kimchi.^ The latter says, " In the war of Joshua with the kings, when the sun stood still for them and the moon likewise, till the people should have avenged itself upon its enemies."
It may be noted further that in Joshua x. 13 we have this same verb twice used, "And the sun stood still (D^^l) and the
moon stayed (ip;^) And the sun stood still (Ibi??^) in the
midst of heaven."
1 For this modified use of the locative n, see Bottcher, Ausfuhrliches Lehrhuch, i. 629.
2 Aben Ezra takes it differently. His view is that the sun and moon remained in their abode, because there was no need of the sun by day, nor of the moon by night, for " by the light of Thy arrows the sons of men are able to go about."
so The Psalm of Hahakkuk
The fashion now prevails in Commentaries of giving a totally different interpretation : The sun and moon, so to speak, stayed at home ; that is, either (1) they do not come forth from their dwelling (Ps. xix. 6, 6), i.e. do not rise ; or (2) while in the sky they grow pale before the brightness of the Divine splen- dour (Ewald) ; or (3) the sun and moon are obscured by clouds " tonante et fulgurante coelo " (Maurer).
If it be asked on what grounds the old traditional interpre- tation has been forsaken, it can but be said that a good many commentators contemptuously ignore it altogether. Or again, when reasons are given, they do not seem of a very cogent character, e.g. that Jl T'lT "TDV cannot possibly mean " stand still in the heavens," on which I can only remark that probably Rashi and Kimchi were quite as good judges of what Hebrew words could mean as e.g. Dr. Keil. Or again, that the " differ- ences which exist between Josh. x. and Hab. iii. are too great for us to be able to allow that there is a reminiscence of Joshua in Habakkuk," which is simply to beg the whole question. When others again tell us that on this view it is impossible to find any connection between the two hemistichs of v. 11, it is sufficient to answer that the second hemistich brings before us the imagery of a terrible storm, in connection (as the succeeding context shows) with the idea of God as a warrior, avenging the cause of His people. Surely the words of Josh. x. 11, "the Lord cast down great stones from heaven," are suggestive of much not directly told, and might well shape the poetic imagery of the prophet.
It is of course entirely outside our province to discuss here the nature of the stupendous miracle at Gibeon ; the question is merely as to the reference of Habakkuk. I venture to think that the old interpretation has by no means been disproved. In dwelling on the most striking wonders of the early history of Israel, in which such miracles as the passage of the Red Sea and the Jordan are confessedly referred to, in which again individual incidents such as the discomfiture of Midian and Cushan (whatever this latter may be) are brought in, why is it in any sense unnatural that the miracle of Gibeon should be thus
The Psalm of Hahakkuk 31
referred to ? — and the rather that the victory in connection with which it was wrought was directly the turning-point in the conquest of the Holy Land.
The verb too, used by Habakkuk, is the same as one of the two used in Joshua, and is there applied both to sun and moon. Nor can it be said that such an idea, e.g. as either that of the sun obscured by thick clouds, or with its brightness paled by the presence of a greater splendour, can be very naturally expressed by a word meaning "stood still."
-y. 11 . . . "Ilb^?. The relative is of course to be understood before ^^^Jl*!, the reference being to the arrows of God which fly abroad. The force of ^ will be "at" in the sense of " because of," if the view be taken of the dimming of the light of the sun and moon before the manifestation of God's glory. If, however, the reference to the victory in Gibeon be accepted, the ^ has more a local force " at," as though " amid " or " in the presence of." ^ The reference to "arrows" and "spear" gains additional point, if Josh. x. 11 (already referred to) be taken count of
We may perhaps attempt to represent the force of the Piel by translating " by the light of thy fast-falling arrows." ^ The Piel of the verb ipTl, which occurs in all 24 times in the Bible, is, save for one exception (1 Kings xxi. 27), found exclusively in the poetical books. The general aspect of the Piel in these cases, as indicating something more than the Kal, is that of permanence or continuance, the constant habit (see e.g. Pss. Ixxxi. 14, Ixxxvi. 11, Ixxxix. 16). Except in Job xxiv. 10, this sense of continuousness in some sort seems to run more or less through all the passages (see further Eccl. iv. 15, viii. 10). Thus even in Lam. v. 18, it suggests the unresting running to and fro of the foxes amid the ruins of Zion. I do not think there- fore that, having regard to this usage, we can treat the Piel now before us as suggestive of the swiftness of the lightning ;
• So it is rendered i33 in a recent Rabbinic commentary.
2 So the writer referred to in the preceding note remarks, n^^bnon n^5?n
32 The Psalm of Hahahhuh.
or that any similar idea enters into Ps. civ. 3. That verse seems to find its parallel in Nah. i. 3, and simply to mean that the mightiest powers of nature are God's servants. Thus in the present verse of Habakkuk we may understand the phrase of the ceaseless flashing of the lightning amid the discomfiture of Israel's foes.
V. 12. Here once again, for the last time in the Theophany, the prophet looks forward, and as before rests his certain belief of what is to come on the known deliverances of the past. Here, however, for the first time, the prophet dwells on the purpose of the Divine manifestation ;^ it was not merely for the destruction of the foe, for " Thou wentest forth for the salvation of Thy people."
The past tenses of vv. 13 — 15 might conceivably be instances of the prophetic perfect, but there is no need so to take them, and the general scope of our view of the Theophany which ends with v. 15 is thus consistently maintained. Let it be noted too that the Theophany is thus made to end with a definite reference to that deliverance of old which was the closest parallel to that from the Chaldseans, namely that from Egypt. The reference in V. 15 to the passage of the Red Sea certainly seems unmistake- able, and it is so understood by Ewald, who sees a reference to Pharaoh and Egypt all through the paragraph vv. 13 — 15.
V. 13. "^n^tpp'JniS^. We are faced here with a twofold diffi- culty, on which it is well to speak with caution, the meaning of the particle and the reference to the "Anointed." If the particle means with, then the reference is clearly to our Lord, as the worker out of God's purposes of salvation. This view is taken by the Vulgate, and by other ancient versions to be subsequently referred to, and is strongly advocated by Dr. Pusey (comm. in loc). He points out with justice that if the r\^ be objective, then, in face of the foregoing clause, it is a superfluity, and there was no reason for changing the construction. On the other hand we are bound to admit that the translation " with Thy
^ That is, by explicit statement ; for we have already had the implied hint in n^'iMJ), V. 8.
The Psalvi of Habakkuk 33
Anointed " introduces a fresh thought in the poem, where God is directly brought before us as the deliverer and avenger.
If, on the other hand, the particle be objective, it then becomes a question as to the reference in " Thy Anointed." It may perhaps be the nation, that is, in the higher sense, not " Israel after the flesh," but the " Israel of God " ; or it may be understood in varying senses as the Anointed King of Israel.
On turning to the ancient versions, we find that great diversity of view prevails. The Targum and Peshito, while clearly taking the particle as objective, have left the further point indeterminate. The LXX. again, while taking the objec- tive, has readings tov yjpLo-Tov and tou? ^ptcTov?, the latter taking the Hebrew word in a collective sense, and presumably referring to the people of Israel. Jerome {comm. in loc.) com- ments on the renderings of the other Greek versions. We learn that Aquila rendered the clause "for salvation (i.e. to Thy people) with Thy Christ " (sing.). The same is also the render- ing of the Quinta. Theodotion (" quasi pauper Ebionita ") and Symmachus (" ejusdem dogmatis"), both **pauperem sensum secuti," render " to save thy Christ " (sing.). Jerome, who, as I have already said, takes the il^^ as meaning with, as Aquila does, expresses his surprise, " Isti semichristiani Judaice trans- tulerunt, et Judseus Aquila interpretatus est ut Christianus." Lastly, the Sexta gives a distinctly Christian interpretation, i^\66<; TOV (TOiaai tov Xaov crov Bta ^Irjaovu tov XpccrTOV aov.
Of Rabbinic commentaries, Rashi explains the " Anointed " of Saul and David, Aben Ezra of the King of Judah, and Kimchi of Messiah the Son of David.
If the view be taken that the particle is objective, it is by no means easy to decide between the people of Israel, defined as above, and the King of Israel ; but I am not convinced that the arguments urged against the former view are conclusive. Specially is it pointed out that we never find the people of Israel called by this name "Anointed" in scripture; and cer- tainly the passages adduced are by no means free from doubt. Still, to assert that they all (Pss. xxviii. 8, Ixxxiv. 10, Ixxxix. 39) must refer to the anointed king, and Ps. cv. 15 to the Patriarchs,
3
34 The Psalm of Habakkuk
comes very near to begging the point at issue. I confess that, as regards the first three passages, I should have thought that the question was a very open one, where either view might very fairly be maintained. Now, in the passage of Habakkuk, if " the Anointed " be a king, we may ask, what king ? In answer, we are told, " Not this or that historical king, Josiah, Jehoiakim, nor yet Jehoiachin, but the Davidic king absolutely, including the Messiah," the last and most glorious of the line. But to this it may fairly be answered that (1) it assumes as absolutely certain that the past tense JHi^!^'' is a prophetic perfect, which anyhow may be considered as open to doubt ; (2) as regards the former part of the above view, this notion of the Davidic king is simply a piece of vague idealising, which, we venture to think, could have no place in a prophecy, for God did not save any one king of the line of David from the Chaldseans; and (3) the inclusion of Him who is the Messiah seems to introduce a very questionable piece of theology. The ^tL^i2 of Zech. ix. 9, which is quoted in support of this view, may most simply be translated victorious or fortunate.
If, however, as we believe, the past tenses of this verse are really past tenses, then the deliverances may easily find examples drawn from the past history ; nor does it matter very much whether we understand the " Anointed " of the kinof or the
o
nation, for the former is but the representative of the latter. Further, we cannot afford too lightly to reject the other view of the clause, which does not view Di^ as the objective prefix. It is indeed even conceivable that the seeming ambiguity was intentional.
In the second half of the Verse we turn from considering those whom God defends to those on whom He works vengeance. The "wicked one," primarily of course the hostile king, as representative of his people, is doubtless to be understood of every successive embodiment of evil. The metaphor of the verse is that of a stronghold, where the Divine Power strikes at once at the summit and the foundation. The pinnacle is dashed off and the foundation laid bare (c/. Ps. cxxxvii. 7).
I must confess to feeling not content with the ordinary ways
The Psalm of Hahakkuk 85
of explaining the last clause. Thus Gesenius (Thesmirus, p. 1162) renders the clause, " sedificia ad hominis altitudinena diruuntur." But this is not altogether fair treatment of the Hebrew. To " lay bare the foundations " is of course tantamount to the destruction of the building, but then " to the neck " should surely be understood in a way directly harmonising with the original phrase. Ewald explains the phrase as of the building decapitated, so to speak, by the dashing off of the head, so that the neck is laid bare. Then from this now highest point, the neck, to the very foundation, is the building shattered. This is the view taken in the Peshito. Still, vivid as this idea is, it may be objected that thus to treat the word llD"^. as to all intents and purposes "from the very foundations" is rather questionable grammar.
Now, a comparison of Isa. viii. 8, xxx. 28, shows that the phrase 1^^^!^ "7^ is used by a metaphor taken from the human body, to imply an overwhelming flood in which life is in deadly peril ; the body is well nigh entirely submerged. Here, how- ever, we are not dealing with rising waters, but with digging down to the foundations of a building. Might we then not argue, by parity of reason, that the foundation is laid bare to the lowest stone thereof
V. 14. Here and in v. 15, with which the Theophany closes, the thought is continued of the mighty works done in the time of the fathers, culminating in the passage of the Red Sea.
In the first clause of v. 14 we meet with a word occurring nowhere else in Scripture, whose meaning, though most probably that of "chieftains" or "leaders," cannot be considered altogether free from doubt. The root-meaning underlying this word y\^B (Vt*lQ Kri) is not so completely established as to settle the matter satisfactorily. Parallel instances, as we have said, there are none ; and while we may probably associate the word with lit'^D (Judg. V. 7, 11), it is impossible to allow that this word will settle the matter, in face of the existence of •'tHQ and nt"^Q in a totally different sense.
It must be allowed that a suitable meaning is obtained from
36 The Psalm of Habakkuk.
either translation, " Thou didst pierce with his^ spears the head of his chieftains/' or "the head of his hordes (swarms of in- vaders)"; but I cannot but think that there is insufficient evidence for this latter view, where the meaninor is deduced from a word which simply means an inhabitant of an unwalled town (pagauus). Nor can it be said that anything conclusive for this view can be obtained from the versions. The LXX. has Swdarai, and the Peshito adopts the same view. The Vulgate has hellatores, and the Targum, which sees in ihis verse a refer- ence to the discomfiture of Pharaoh, has n^'l'll^D "^11!^^^ "^^^^X These last two, however, seem almost too vague to prove very much.
Rashi, who understands the verse of the invading army of Sennacherib and the destruction which befell it, does indeed connect the word with the second-named meaning, " the chiefs @f his cities and his towns." Kimchi also, who takes the past tenses as instances of the prophetic perfect, sees a reference to the future wars of Gog, and explains the Vt^Q as his hosts (Vm7*^*'n), which dwelt in the villages round about Jerusalem.
Delitzsch refers the word to an absolute singular form t*lD or t^lD, and, dealing as we are with an dira^ XeyofjuevoVj it is clearly impossible to dogmatise between these and nQ, the form generally taken. He explains the word " der Dorf- und Bauerschaft," and appeals to the Targum, Rashi, and Kimchi in support of his view. The two latter certainly held this view ; the Targum seems to me open to doubt.
It must be allowed that the word ^l^D'' is a very natural expression for the fierce rush of invading hordes, but the evidence before us seems perhaps hardly sufficient to allow us to accept without question this rendering. For the present it may be well to follow the advice of the Talmud, and. '' teach our tongues to say, we do not know."
^ The pronoun "his" clearly refers to the !?^ of the foregoing verse. Ewald would prefer to read -j^Tcn, thinking "his" awkward here; but, if retained, as meaning "spears destined for the wicked." I should have thought it might equally well have been explained of the foe's own spears, turned against himself. Cf. 2 Chron. xx. 23 sqq.
The Psalm of Hahakkuk 37
Be the meaning of the word what it may, the imagery brings before us the whirlwind like rush of the foes of Israel, the future T)^p^^ presumably indicating the way in which mass after mass of invaders pour on, "velut unda supervenit undam." These invaders in the wild exultation of their onset are like bandits, whose joy is to pillage, and as it were devour, the wretched traveller whom they have drawn into their secret haunts.^
The spears of the enemy are turned against themselves, and tJhe onward rush is stayed by the might of Israel's protector.
V. 15. With this verse the Theophany comes to an end, and that, as we believe, with a reference to the miracle of the passage of the Red Sea.
A most striking parallel to this verse is found in Ps. Ixxvii. 20, where the thought underlying the whole context is very rele- vant to much in the present poem, " Thy way is in the sea and thy paths in mighty waters, and thy footsteps are not known." So in Habakkuk we read, "Thou didst march across the sea with^ thy horses, the foaming mass of mighty waters." With this reminiscence of the great deliverance, when the then mightiest empire of earth was discomfited and forced to surrender its captives, the prophet ends. It is an end recalling the beginning. The God who of old led his people through the desert like a flock, and wrought mightily for them, was the God of Israel still; He would again in anger tread the earth, and in fury trample down the nations, even He who once subdued the pride of the sea, and marched as a conqueror over the foaming mass^ of mighty waters.
^ We may note the affix in ^3i?>pnV, where the prophet identifies himself with the victims «# the invasion.
^ The Tj^p^D is simply taken as depending on an implied i, and there is clearly no need to imply ^d-it after it.
^ This word -ipn does not occur again in the Bible in exactly this sense, though we find it used (as in Exod. viii. 10, Job xxvii. 16) for a "heap" in other senses. Still, the use of the verb -inn in Ps. xlvi. 4 fully justifies the translation " a foaming mass of waters." The Vulgate gives lutum, a mean- ing which, while fairly representing the word, e.g. in Gen. xi. 3, is entirely out of place here.
38 The Psalm of Hahakhuk.
V. 16. Here, the Theophany ended, the prophet reappears more distinctly in his own personality, as in v. 2. The news he has to declare excites in his own heart mingled feelings of awe and thankfulness, or, rather should we say, the feeling of alarm and dread, called forth by the thought of the impending ruin of the nation, pales before the knowledge that beneath and beyond all this is the unchanging love of God for His people. The word on which the change of thought hinges is clearly H^^^^, in which we seem to turn from the mere terror^ of the first clause of the verse, to the fixed hope and exultation, in spite of all circumstances of gloom and distress, which animate the following verses.
The second hemistich of the verse is not free from gram- matical difficulty ; some doubt exists as to the way in which we should translate the word "^tpSl. Noldius (Cone. Part. Heb. p. 102 a) renders it by yet (tamen) ; for this he gives no parallel instance in Scripture, and I do not think that this meaning can be at all substantiated. Subsequently (not. 550), he enumerates several other views, none of which can be considered satis- factory.^ Thus we have (1) qiiamvis,^ for which (p. 100) the references Num. xii. 11, Eccl. viii. 12,* 2 Sam. iv. 10, are given. But in the first of these the "^tlJb^ is clearly the relative, used as a cognate accusative ; in the second, the meaning of because may very reasonably be taken ; and in the third, lU^Sl is certainly a relative, referring to the messenger.
^ So enthralling is the prophet's terror, that it is as though the body itself must dissolve before thoughts so terrible : " Rottenness begins to enter into my bones," the future being used, as often, as a true imperfect.
^ His remark, " absque Tsp^? LXX. avaTravaofiai" is incorrect, because in some way or other, the nw has ?) e^i<s fiov underlying it.
^ Gesenius remarks {Thes. p. 165 i) "raro est concedeutis; etsi" and gives as his sole example Eccl. viii. 10.
* The general sense of v. 11 is clearly that sinners, because they sin with impunity, think God's long suffering is simply indifference (2 Pet. iii. 9); the "ittjx at the beginning of the verse meaning because. But if, with Mendelssohn, we take {v. 12) the Tin^jn of God, with an ellipsis of iEst, the same will hold good here, " Because a sinner sins a hundred times, yet God still has long sufferinj' towards him."
The Psalm of Habakkuk. 39
Again (2) the meaning certe is proposed, though I do not think that this would give a very convenient sense to the passage in Habakkuk. The examples given by Noldius are the following, some of which at any rate are more than question- able: (a) Eccl. i. 10, (6) 1 Sam. xv. 20, (c) Zech. viii. 23, (cQ Job ix. 15, (e) Isa. v. 28, (/) Isa. viii. 20. In (a), however, ItpiSl is undoubtedly a relative, whose antecedent is D*^p7'^V, the nominative with a false concord to r\^Tl ; in (6) we have merely a sign which introduces an oratio recta, like on ; in (c) and (/) the particle simply indicates the apodosis of the sen- tence; in (e) certainly, and in (d) most probably, ^'^^ is a relative. However, whether this last-named meaning be estab- lished or not, and this may be doubted, it does not, as we have said, seem to fit well into our present passage.
Yet again (3) some would take it as utinam\ so Luther (0 dass ich ruhen mochte), on which and on others Noldius justly remarks, " Egregie, si significationes illse sunt usitatse."
Another view, which is perfectly compatible with grammar and which is frequently taken here, is to take the lt!?b^ as "in that," " because." The objection to this seems to me to lie in the meaning of Jl^^b^, which is not simply " to wait." If it were, the sense would be plain, " I tremble where I stand, because I must await, there being no escape, the day of calamity that approaches." Still, the root Hl^ hardly means this, or rather it means much more ; it is not the trembling waiting for an irrevo- cable doom, but the calm, patient acceptance of that doom, the courage which accepts the inevitable, but regards it with peaceful unruffled composure. It is the heroic calm of Gordon waiting for the end at Khartoum, or the peaceful composure of Bishop Ridley, which could enable him to sleep tranquilly on the night before his fiery martyrdom.
Thus I believe that "Itp^Jl may best be taken as the simple relative, " I who will patiently and silently wait for the day of trouble."! This H^!^ Di'' is then further defined; it is the
T T
^ The general thought of the expression reminds one of the 'cjp: n;nn (Ps. Ixii. 2) ; and the '-> after m3S! of the similar construction Isa. xli. 1.
40 The Psalm of Hahakkuk
invasion of the Chaldsean foe, " even for the coming up against [the]^ people of him who shall invade him in troops (or assail him)." The ^ of PiwVh is parallel to and exegetical of that of Qi^^S, and DV, in spite of the absence of the article, is clearly equivalent to D^H or "^7^^. If this be assumed, then the sub- ject of ^^l^^"), before which we may supply an *)t)pb^, will be the Chaldgeans pouring in with their hosts.
w. 17 — 19. We have said that the word Vi^^^ gives the clue to the transition of thought. Amid all the calamities that will^ attend the invasion, amid devastation and havoc, with utter desolation where once was a very garden of Eden, the prophet will rest He will rest, because, in spite of all, he is able to rejoice in God his Saviour, and knows that He is his strength and protection.
^ The absence of the article here, where it would seem logically necessary, may be paralleled by bip"? in the same verse.
2 The future tense rrjon clearly influences the whole verse; the disasters are yet to come, though in the later verbs the undoubted event is viewed as really come, and the prophet, like an apocalyptic seer, gazes upon the actual desolation.
CHAPTER 11.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
It is much to be regretted that the amount of help to be got from the Septuagint for either the criticism or exegesis of this Psalm is almost nil. The difficulties of the poem were evidently far beyond the powers of the translator to cope with them ; the general scope and drift of the poem were certainly very faintly perceived by him, and the subtle delicacies of thought, in which, in spite of the exceeding differences between the two languages, much might have been achieved by a competent translator, are as a whole impartially slurred over.
When to this we must add the existence of a large crop of absolute and palpable blunders, and also a perceptible element of corruption of text, it is evident that a translation with such a record is one which can only be used with the utmost caution as an exponent of the difficulties of the Psalm.
The Masoretic text may not indeed be absolutely faultless ; but, thanks to the reverent care which has been lavished on it, we believe that we have in all essentials (nay probably with but the slightest imperfections) the true text of this wonderful poem; while this, its most ancient translation, is but a poor travesty, like a blundering schoolboy's exercise.
Thus work on the Greek text of the Psalm must turn largely on an examination of the curious mistranslations of which it is full, and of the corruptions of the text. Even blunders, how- ever, more than two thousand years old, become venerable ; and all the more when it is remembered how almost entirely Old Testament exegesis in the early Christian Church rested upon the Septuagint, till Jerome brought a higher learning to bear. The exposition of this Psalm in the de Civitate Dei^ of Augustine
' xviii.32.
42 The Septuagint Version of the Psahn.
furnishes an instance of eloquent spiritual teaching, where the premises are often absolutely untenable.^
[All the readings cited from the three great uncials have been verified, — in the case of A from the autotype, and in those of ^^B from the editions of Tischendorf and of Vercellone and Cozza respectively. The Complutensian and Aldine texts have been cited, so far as it seemed necessary. The evidence of the cursives, when given, is taken from Holmes and Parsons.
Four of these may be specially referred to (Codd. 23, 62, 86, 147) as giving us a totally different translation, which keeps on the whole fairly close to the Hebrew.'^ One of these (Cod. 86), a Barberini MS., was known to Montfaucon, who says of it {Hexapl. ii. 377) : " Esse vero Septimam Editionem vix est quod dubitemus," and cites it throughout the chapter as d\\o<;.
Two versions of the LXX. have been steadily kept in view throughout, the Old Latin and the Syro-Hexaplaric. In cases of citation from the latter, the text, as given by Middeldorpf, has been verified by comparison with the photo-lithographic reproduction of Dr. Ceriani.
The Latin has, however, in one sense, a higher interest than the Syriac, quite apart from its value as a translation, from the way in which it entered both into the theology and liturgies of the Western Church.
For the Old Latin of this Psalm, I have mainly relied on the text given by Sabatier (which is that embodied in Jerome's Com-
' Take as an example a comment on v. 2, " Montem umbrosum atque condensum, quamvis multis modis possit intelligi, libentius acceperim Scripturarum altitudinem divinarum, quibus prophetatus est Christus." Or, on vv. 6. 7, " Ingressus (Bternos ejus pro lahoribus vidi ; hoe est, non sine mercede seternitatis laborem caritatis vidi."
2 This remark applies to Habakkuk iii. only. Both in the rest of Habakkuk and in the prophets generally the text of the four cursives is simply that of the LXX. The last three constantly, but by no means invariably, agree together (Cod. 23 often differing), and they frequently display, some or all of them, a markedly correct text. I may take as illustrations the following cases, where the Roman text is certainly corrupt : Hos. iii. 1, omit /texa (23) ; x. 13, apixaat (all); xiii. 3, KUTrvoSoxy^ (23), (iKpi'Sivv (the rest). Amos i. 11, jLiTjTpav (86); viii. 6, om. Kalprim. (62, 147). Micah i. 14, Stvaet^ (all), 16, ^rjprjaiv, clearly an itacism for ^vptjaiu (all but 23) : vi. 7, x^'^I^^PP^^ (l^'^)* Hab. i. 13, ov dvi/rjarj (or et), (all but 23).
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 43
mentary on Habakkuk), and the readings cited by him. I have also had regard to the text given by Cardinal Thomasius in his Fsalterium cum Canticis,'^ to that contained in the Mozarabic Breviary,- and to a small portion found in the Roman Missal.^ In addition to these is the text contained in the exposition of Augustine referred to above.
Lastly, an examination has been made of all citations of the Psalm in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Greek and Latin, though it cannot be said that anything of importance has been yielded therefrom.]
V. 1. fiera wS/'}?. For this translation of ]VW, reference may be made to the preceding chapter.
V. 2. I believe the original reading of the first two clauses to have been, Kvpte, elcraia^Koa Tr)v aKoi]v crov Kvpte^^ Karevorjaa la epya aov. Thus ^Tlb^'l'' is treated as though it were ^'fl'^b^'J^ ; and the [/cat] i(j)ol37]6r]v^ and [/cat] i^earriv are duplicate render- ings of ^ri^^"1'^, with its proper spelling.
Again, to obtain the next two clauses, we must treat the Hebrew as if it were XV^^T} Q^^tl? ihpn, D^^JH D^^tp l^j^^l The <yva)adr)(jr) is of course a duplicate with eiru'yvaiaOrjar), which has been put in where it has no business.
Moreover, the clauses ev rS iyjl^etv ra errj e7n<yp(0(T67]arj, and iv TM irapelvai tov Kaiphv^ dvaSei'x^dtjarj are duplicates, the second being clearly the earlier. The Syro-Hexaplaric obelizes ev tS irapelvat .... rr^v '^v)(')]v fxov.^
^ pp. 694 sqq.
2 Here it forms the Canticle at Lauds on the 3rd Sunday in Advent.
^ vv. 2, 3, occur as a Tractus on Good Friday.
^ The second ^vpie is omitted by ab. It is found, however, in «, in 19 of Holmes and Parsons' cursives, in the Complutensian and Aldine editions, and in the Syro-Hexaplaric version. It is also found in the verse as cited by Origen {de Orat. Lihellus, c. 14 ; Vol. xvii. 144, ed. Lommatzsch) and others, and is manifestly genuine.
^ Karauoew often stands for n«"\, see Gen. xlii. 9; Exod. ii. 11, xix. 21; Num. xxxii. 8, 9 ; Isa. v. 12.
6 evXa^y^Orjv, Codd. 62, 86, 147.
7 n:^ is rendered by Kaip6<s in Jud. x. 8 (Cod. b).
* The whole is, however, cited by Irenseus (iii. 16. 7).
44 The Septuagioit Version of the Psalm.
In the remaining clause of the verse, iv rw rapa'^OrjvaL tyjv -^vxnv fJLov and iv opyfj eXeou? are duplicates, the former being the older. U"^ is treated as though an infinitive construct/ and nm as though ^m^.'^
It cannot be doubted that in the mind of the original translator, the Bvo ^(oa of this verse were the Cherubim over- shadowing the Mercy-seat (see Exod. xxv. 22, Num. vii. 89), and so it is understood, e.g. by Theodoret (de S. Trin. Dial, i., Vol. V. 943, ed. Schulze and Noesselt). Various other interpreta- tions, however, have been put forth by various Fathers, all alike impossible as an exegesis of the true meaning of the passage.
Tertullian {adv. Marc. iv. 22) takes the Svo fwa to be Moses and Elias, and sees in the passage a reference to our Lord's Transfiguration. Augustine (de Civ. Dei xviii. 32), besides the above, suggests also the two Testaments and the two thieves ; and Jerome (comm. in loc.) adds yet other views.
One other interpretation may be noted as curious, the view which understands the two animals of the Ox and the Ass standing by the manger in which the Saviour was laid. See Tillemont, Memoires, i. 447 (Note 5, '' Sur le boeuf et Vasne de la Creche''), and the illustrations given in Smith and Cheetham's Diet, of Christian Antiquities, s. v. Nativity, The, in Art.
We may remark lastly that certain Fathers have stated, or implied, that the reading should be, not Suo ^(i)(ov, but hvo ^comv, "two lives." (So Euseb. Dem. Ev. 1. vi., c. 15, § 4; Cyr. Hier. Cat. xii., c. 20 ; see also Origen, de Princi'p. i. 4, Vol. xxi. 75). The "two lives" are explained (Cyril, I.e.) of our Lord's life before His resurrection and after it, and in other ways.
v. 3. KaTaoKLOv Baaeo^^ {Sacreoo^; A^). It can hardly be doubted that we must view this as a duplicate rendering, or rather pair of duplicates, of pt^Q. As is not surprising in such a case of conflation, several texts omit different individual renderings. Thus fifteen cursives, the Aldine and the Syro- Hexaplaric, and some texts of the Old Latin, omit ^apdv, the
^ Tapaaaeiv stands for m in this chapter, v. 16. 2 See Gen. xli. 8 : Exod. xxxv. 21.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 45
Complutensian and three cursives omit haaeo^y and three cur- sives^ omit KaracncLov Saaeo^i. Irenseus (iii. 20. 4) has simply " de monte Effrem/' but the same Father (iv. 33. 11) "de monte umbroso et condenso."
As to the manner in which this curious rendering has been obtained, several suggestions have been made, which can hardly be possible. Such are the views that the Greek is a corruption of Smcr/ceSacreo)?, representing some noun derived from "I^D or y^Q ; or of i^ opov^ So^t]^, i.e. ^^B. Hardly more reasonable is the view that KaraaKiov and Ba(Teo<; are two translations of 71*^^$ or n"J^^Q, read mistakenly for ]*Jb^Q.^
I venture to suggest the following as at any rate possible. The word KardaKLo^ occurs elsewhere three times : (1) for p^*^ (of a tree), Jer. ii. 20; (2) for rta.V^ (of trees), Ezek. xx.'28; (3) for nb^!^ (of mountains), Zech. i. 8.* Again, Sao-u? stands for nilj^ (of trees). Lev. xxiii. 40, Neh. viii. 15; for TM^'IV. (of an oak), Ezek. vi. 13 ; for l^y^'^ (of trees), Deut. xii. 2, Isa. Ivii. 5 ; and for ^^V'^ or ■^;^\2; (of a hairy man). Gen. xxv. 25, xxvii. H, 23 ; 4 Kings i. 8. From the common ground in all this, it will clearly appear how completely /cardaKLo^ and Saav^; are akin in their usage.
Now if our present passage be compared with Deut. xxxiii. 2 and Judges v. 4, 5, we find in all alike the same imagery as to the Manifestation of God's glory. In the former of the two parallels, Sinai, Seir, and Mount Paran are associated, and in the latter, Seir, Edom, and Sinai. Yet all three passages show that we must look for some deeper idea of association than a geographical one, for Seir and Sinai are far apart. Teman is a district or city of Edom, and therefore to be asssociated with Edom. Paran, of course, may be used generally of the great
^ This is perhaps not strictly relevant, as the three cursives are, Codd. 62, 86, 147.
'^ So Agellius, p. 144.
^ It is worth noting the one other rendering of niiy, avaKcos (of trees) Ezek. vi. 13.
* The Q"'Dnnn of the Heb. has been misread as ri'T(r\ in the LXX.
46 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
wilderness of Paran, but it is more probable that it refers to some individual height in the Sinaitic peninsula. In any case names are used in the present passage which a comparison of the two other passages justifies us in viewing as being, if not geographi- cally, yet at any rate in recognised poetic imagery, cognate with Seir. The name of this mountain means " rough " or " shaggy," and, whatever may be the case now, it would be fitly applied to hills covered with trees and bushes, rather than to hills rough or rugged in a more general sense. There is also a neighbouring line of hills, " Mount Halak " (Josh. xi. 17), i.e. " smooth " or " bare." The two adjectives Ti^ti^ and phtl are used to distin- guish Esau and Jacob.
Now if Paran or Teman were viewed in poetic imagery as virtually the same with Seir, then, the meaning of this last name being what it is, KardaKto^i and Sacrz;? might well have been descriptive epithets, possibly at first marginal remarks, ultimately finding their way into the text.
Before leaving this passage, it is perhaps worth noting a curious translation of e/c Qaifjudv found in some texts of the Old Latin, a Lihano. This occurs e.g. in the text of Card. Thomasius, and in those contained in the Mozarabic Breviary and the Roman Missal. So also Greg. Magn. Moral, xxxiii. 1. Thomasius sug- gests that it is an error for a Libanoto. Rather should it be a Lihonoto, i.e. diro Xl^ovotov. There does not, it is true, seem to be any trace of this reading, but the three cursives, Codd. 62, 86, 147, read diro \c^6<i.
V. 3. dperr). This stands for I^Tl also in Zech. vi. 13. For this our four cursives read rj €v7rp67r6La[oYrr]v evir.] 77)986^779 avrov.
V. 4. Wero is simply Dtl) for DtT.^
— djaTrrjaiv treats tViJ^ " covert " from the root H!!)!, ^^in, as though from lin or IHt^.^
^ The reading of the "four cursives" eTretnrjpiKTai [aTreaTyptKrat, Cod. 23] is presumably due to the same cause.
2 Presumably the latter; for on the one occurrence of the verb iin (Deut. xxxiii. 2), it is rendered ecpetauTo ; whereas in more than 150 instances d<ya7rdio represents int<. Also in all the seven instances where fh^dTrrjffif occurs in the canonical books, it represents niri!?*.
V.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 47
4. Kparaiav is in duplicate with lax^o^ avrov, as though
V. 5. X6709 is of course ^yi in place of ni^l. Here the four cursives read irrcbai^, which represents the Masoretic pointing.
— ireSia is presumably due to a different division of the letters, V^:in I ^DtZ^h See e.g. Deut. i. 7. It has been sug- gested that TreSla represents "'pUJ, which view has the advantage of leaving the ^ to represent the Kara ; but this word is never rendered TreSla in the LXX.-^
The curious error ek iraihelav has entered into no less than seventeen cursive MSS., besides the Aldine text. Theodoret also {Int. in Psal. 84 ; Vol. i. 1208) has this reading, on which he comments.
Some have suggested, most needlessly, that irehia is a cor- ruption of ire-reLvd. The four cursives, already mentioned as having so individual a text, do indeed read to, y^kr^iGTa tmv irerebVMv, but the rendering Treretud is simply due to an altogether independent view as to the meaning of P])^"^, and agrees with the rendering of the Peshito in the present passage.^ So too Aquila appears to have read iTTrjvov (volatile, Jerome), and Symmachus,Theodotion, and the Quinta, ireT€Lv6v{volucrem, id.). Again, in the well-known verse of Job (v. 7), " Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upwards," the r|tr") is by some authorities rendered ''young birds." ^ We are not now concerned to discuss the correctness of this view ; it is sufficient to say that it was current.* It is quite clear, however, that the existing text of the LXX. has had an altogether different origin.
^ Still, HQ^: is rendered ire^ivov, Isa. xiii. 2.
2 As also in Job v. 7, but not in Ps. Ixxvii. 48 (Ixxviii. Heb.).
^ So Aquila, viol Trrr^vov; Symmachus, to. Teicva tCov ireTeivwv; and the LXX., veoaaol r^viro?. So also in Psalm {I.e.), where, though the LXX. has TTvpi, Symm. has olivpoi^, and Aquila, it would seem, 7reTeiuo7<t.
** There seems no need to appeal to Arabic to get the necessary root- meaning ; that of " flash " is sufficient. We may compare Tennyson's
"... the curlews call, Dreary gleams about the moorland."
48 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
V. 6. iaaXevOrj. The derivation of *T7P*^ from I'TO gives a somewhat tame sense " he measured " ; and the view of the LXX., which implies a root 1^'0, akin to IDI^, seems to be more to the point.^ It should be noted that there is no second case of the Poel of *no in the Bible. Further, the existence of the Piel IID in the sense of measuring, is an objection to the existence of the Poel in the same sense. Moreover, the Targum, which renders ^''th^, takes the same view as the LXX.
— 8c€Td/ci] [*)ri^y. This is simply due to a confusion between *ir\^ and ^jll See Ezek. xxiv. 11 ; Nah. i. 6.
The " four cursives," together with the Complutensian, read here i^eUacre (or i^rjKaae). It is suggested in Schleusner's Lexicon {s.v. i^etKa^o)) that this is an error for.efeTTyfe. I must confess that this does not strike me as at all probable. If there were a corruption of text, it would be more reasonable to suggest e^erlva^e, which stands for *)ri^ in 2 Sam. xxii. 33, Dan. iv. 11. Obviously, however, there has been simply a confusion with *iri^5, from the root ^^^\, " to search out, or investigate " ; and elKa^co is found in this sense in Jer. xxvi. 43 [xlvi. 23, Heb.].*^
— iraKijaav [^Htt?]- This translation has doubtless been obtained through a confusion with the Chaldee root H^'UJ (liquefactus est). See Exod. xvi. 21 {Targ. Ps. Jon. and Jerushalmi). So also in Syriac, Wisd. xvi. 27 ; 2 Pet. iii. 12.
— /3/a [1^, perpetuity]. The simplest change is to suppose a confusion with fy, taken adverbially.^
— TTopeia^i alwvia^ avrov. This accusative must presumably be understood as an accusative of reference, "in view of His goings."^ We might compare the common use of (f)ol3e2a6ac
^ The " four cursives," which read Sie/tieTpyaeu, refer the word to the former root.
^ If another suggestion is sought, one might propose e^yraae, from i^erd^aj in the above sense, but this is unnecessary.
' For ra opy, our four cursives read al vdrrai, which also represents rn?33 in Isa. xl. 12; see also Song iv. 6 (Symm.).
** The Syro-Hexaplaric makes it simpler by prefixing to "goings" the preposition X.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 49
with the accusative, which in strictness would be "to feel internal alarm in view of" this or that object. Thus here, "the eternal hills melted before His- eternal goings." iTaKTjaav would thus bo a more vivid and pictorial equivalent for
V. 7. avrl KOTToov {ttoucov in the Complutensian). What the translators understood by their own Greek, or whether indeed it conveyed any very definite meaning, may perhaps be doubted, and one can readily understand the diversity of interpretation that has arisen. Jerome's view (comm. in loc), which applies alike to the Hebrew and the Greek, has been already mentioned. It amounts to this, that men who devote their lives to the acquisition of gain, and to base pursuits become the abode of demons instead of being the Temples of God. Augustine (de Civ. Dei, xviii. 32) punctuates the words differently, " Ingressus seternos eius pro laboribus vidi,"^ and it is worth noting that Cod. A of the LXX. has the colon after aloovioi, and not at the end of the verse ; though of course, from the standpoint of the Hebrew, such a grouping is impossible. Augustine's interpre- tation of the clause is "non sine mercede aeternitatis laborem caritatis aspexi."
In the Latin text of Jerome the iropela^ has been viewed as a genitive (" Colles sseculi itineris sempiterni ejus"), which recalls Hitzig's view as to the Hebrew, referred to in the pre- ceding chapter. The form in the Mozarabic Breviary goes more widely afield, "itinera ssecularia ejus pro laboribus. Viderunt . . .," though the cause of the blunder is obvious.
In the Psalter of Thomasius and other Latin texts we have "prse (not pro) laboribus." This, however, though giving a striking sense, has been clearly altered from a text which read pro.
— Kal at aKTjval. The kol al is suspicious. There is nothing in the Hebrew calling for fcal, and its position after the verb is awkward; also the article before crKrjval might very well be left out according to Septuagintal usage, due to the Hebrew
^ So too the Cod. S. Germ, and others cited by Sabatier.
50 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
idiom, and so the aKrjvcofJLaTa in the preceding clause. When further we find that thirteen cursives and the Aldine omit the alj one cursive the kol, and three cursives the kol aij I think that it is quite possible that the two words are due to a sort of dittographia with the last syllable of the preceding word.^
V. 9. eveT€Lva<;. The past tense is read by Codd. ^^B, but ^^ca, cb^ Q^Q other uncial MS. (xii. of Holmes and Parsons), twenty-one cursives, and the Aldine read the future evreveh. The latter reading, which is called for by the Hebrew, is also that of Origen {Set. in Threnos; Vol. xiii. 190).
The translation is of course not literal, but is a very obvious Midrash. The "baring" of the bow is drawing it completely out of its case, that it may be used in action. Thus ivrelveiv stands ordinarily for ^^1 (as in Isa. v. 28) ; it also stands for ^ti^D (3 Kings xxii. 34, in A, but not in B).
The Complutensian reads e/cretVa? iKreveU, but to suggest that this is a likelier translation than the preceding is absurd, when we find that all the passages (about twenty in number) where ivreiveLv is used refer to the bow, while of the numerous instances of eKreiveiv (ordinarily used of the stretching out of the hand) there is not one.
— eirl o-KrJTTTpa Xiyec Kvpio^. The Xeyeu is of course got by reading *^^t^ for *^?^j^, the Kvpio^ being an obvious Midrashic insertion. It is obelized in the Syro-Hexaplaric text.
The rest of the clause is not so obvious ; the following seems to me at least possible. First as regards the reading : one uncial MS. (xii. of Holmes and Parsons), nine cursives, the Compluten- sian, and Origen [u.s.) read eirl ra crKrJTTTpa. Now, may not the iirl (and especially if with the above we read iirl to) be a corruption of eTrra, due to the translator's confusion of Jli^l^J with r)V5^ ? He may originally have put eVt eirTa aKfjirrpa, and the iirl having somehow dropped, the eiTTa may have been emended into eVt ra and so to eVt. Thus the verse as viewed by the original translator would refer to God's judgements done upon the " seven nations " of Canaan (Deut. vii. 1, Acts xiii. 19).
^ It should be noted that the conjunction is given in the Syro-Hexaplaric.
The 8eptuagint Version of the Psalm. 51
One is bound to add that this corruption, if indeed it be a corruption, must be of exceeding antiquity. There is practically identity of text here in all MSS. of the LXX., except in the "four cursives," and the variation in them has no relevance here. Of the versions of the LXX., the Latin texts are unani- mous in reading sceptra, so too the Syro-Hexaplaric. The Armenian renders the words by upon power or dominion}
It remains to speak now of the text of the four cursives, Codd. 23, 62, 86, 147. The first hemistich runs in these, o Trpoe/Srj^i e^Tj^epOrj to to^ou aov e'xppraaa^ Ta<; ^o\i,8a<; tt;? (fiaperpa^ avrov} The irpoe^r]^ can hardly have been anything else but a marginal variant for the ave/Brj^ which these four MSS. have in the preceding clause, where the current text has iTTL^rjarj. The preceding word is given in Holmes and Parsons as o, but it seems to me best to take it as o, the sign for the LXX. ; and to suppose that when the various reading was embodied in the text, it carried its critical mark with it.^
Of the following words which call for remark, i^rjyepOr] is due to a confusion between '^'^^y and y\'^ ; ixoprdcra^ is got from nl^^tr misread as n^^ltp ; l3okLSa<; stands for JlltS^, taken in the sense of "rods," the ideas of a rod, and of a spear or javelin, being sufficiently cognate. There remains ^a/jerpa?, which must somehow be deduced from ^72^- I can propose nothing better than that there has been a confusion with *^!^b«^, as suggested in Schleusner (s. v. (paperpa), the latter word meaning not only the collected treasures, but the containing receptacle* (see e.g. Jer. 1. 25, "armoury" E. V.). Thus we
^ I owe this statement as to the Armenian, and also the other references to the same version in this chapter, to the kindness of the Rev. Dr. S. C. Malan.
2 Cod. 33 has avrr)^, but this is, I suppose, a mere lapsus plumaB. It also omits the xas.
' It is worth noting that one at least of these four cursives (Cod. 86) has itself various readings in its margin from Aquila, Symmachus, etc., so that the parent MS. would doubtless also have them.
^ In 1 Chron. xxviii. 12, the LXX. renders it by aTroOrjKTf.
52 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
should be doing no violence to language in calling a quiver a " store-house " of arrows.^
V. 10. XaoL This may be due to an actual confusion between D*^*^n and D''?^^, but it is perhaps more likely a change for a supposed improvement in the sense (c/. Exod. xix. 18). The " four cursives " have ra opr].
— a/cop7rl^(op vhara iropela^. The first word^ clearly pre- supposes TV\) for 'Cr)\, and iropeia^ may be "^1V> ^^ere and in Nah. i. 8. In that case, we can view the D^'P as an instance of an absolute form, where a construct might be looked for.
As regards the structure of the Greek sentence, it would seem that we must view o-fcopTrl^cov as a nominative absolute, forming a kind of apposition to the foregoing sentence,^ " Scat- tering as Thou dost the rushing waters."*
The comments of Augustine (de Civ. Dei, I. c.) and Jerome (comm. in loc.) show, at any rate, that they took the construc- tion in this way, though the " hac atque hac dispergis fluenta doctrinse" of the former, and the "Deus omnes aquas quae a perversis dogmatibus conculcatse sunt, disperget " of the latter are curiously different. See also " disperges " in Tert. {adv. Marc. iv. 39).
— v'v/ro? .... Here Dl"^ is treated as a substantive instead of doing duty as an adverb ; and (fiavTaaia^i has been obtained from TVy^ by changing 1 into *^, and treating the result as some derivative of nt^*^. The same word occurs again in ii. 18, where it stands for n^i?2, evidently read as an equivalent of
^ Their rendering of the last clause, Trorafiov^ diaaKeddaei^ kuI r^^u aeiffei^, is, I suppose, simply due to treating p.xi as yiii), while the two verbs are two not very exact paraphrases of v^npi, one of them perhaps due to a gloss.
2 The Complutensian reads Siaairepei^.
^ Winer {Gramm. of N. T. Greek, § 59, Sa, 86), speaking on the subject of apposition, refers to instances of nominatives, where a diflferent case might have been expected. He compares Jas. iii. 8, etc., and also Mark vii. 19. In the latter case, there seems no reason why the acceptance of the reading KaOapi^oov should tie us to treat the clause which it introduces as necessarily the comment of the Evangelist.
* Cf. Nahum's Ka^aKkvafio^ iropeca^, " rushing deluge."
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 53
The construction of the verse will hinge upon the position of the full stop relatively to eTrrjpdT), this word being obtained by pointing ^XO": as though b^tT'^. If the full stop be made to follow €7rrjp6r}, in which case the punctuation will agree with that of the Hebrew, then, understanding <j>avTaaia of the visible surface of the sea, we get the idea as seen by the Psalmist of the storm " which lifteth up the waves thereof."
Probably, however, so far as the Greek version is concerned, the full stop should not precede eirrjpOt] ; so that the v-v/ro? .... is governed by ehcoKev. In support of this it may be noted that Cod. B puts a colon before iinfjpOr) ; in Cod. A, which is dis- tinctly stichometrical, the stichus runs, eTrrjpOr} 6 rfkio<^ koI rj aeXrjvrj earij. Cod. b^ is perhaps indeterminate, though in this the line begins with iirTjpOrj. The same punctuation is also taken by the Old Latin and the Syro-Hexaplaric, and we may probably accept it therefore as representing the view of the Greek translator.
The four cursives, Codd. 28, etc., translate ^^b^"^ by iv tw avTo<t>6a\p.elv {<je\, as though they had TyHib^*)!!. This curious word (for which see Wisd. xii. 14, Ecclus. xix. 5, Acts xxvii. 15), from the notion of looking full in the face, carries with it the notion of defiance and resistance. The phrase D''?:^ Dlt they paraphrase by e^ato-to? ofju/Spo^,^ the same adjective being also used by them for the D"^3.^ of u 15. Their rendering of the rest of the verse is somewhat paraphrastic ; I am inclined to think that fjuel^cov is meant to reproduce D1*^, and ^n*'!'' has been somehow passed over. As for eireaxev, it is clearly intransitive, "to wait" or " pause," ^ and so, as here applied to the sun, would be equivalent to " remain high in the heavens." Perhaps therefore there has simply been a confusion between b^U?^ and ij^tZ?^
TT T •
V. 12. oXfc7(W(j6i9. This translation simply implies the change of the 1 of l^trs into *1. The verb ^^^^ only occurs in the
^ Liddell and Scott [s. v. i^alaio^) cite this very phrase from Xeu. (Ec. 5. 18.
2 For instances of this meaning in the LXX., see Gen. viii. 10, 12; 2 Mace. V, 25.
54 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
Bible in Kal and in an intransitive sense ; we may therefore assume that the translator treated the verb as though *\''y;^ri. Curiously enough, though the verb *1V^ occurs three times in the Bible/ in none of these is it rendered by oXiyoco.^
The cursive MSS. 62, 86, 147, read er^epOrjaei [Cod. 23 has iy6p6r](;, i.e. i^yepdT)^^ but the Hebrew shows that this is a simple error], as though for "^^Vri-
V. 12. KaTCL^ei^. This is obviously from KaTayvv/jii, not Kardyco. So it is taken by the Syro-Hexaplaric (]-kkLdZ) ; but it is curious that the Old Latin texts should be unanimous in taking it from the latter, e.g. depones (Tert.), detrahes (Jer.), dejicies (Aug.), etc. We find Kardyw/JLL standing for Jljin in 2 Kings (Sam.) xxii. 35, and for ^"I^ in Jer. xlviii. 25. In the present passage, the rendering is satisfactory enough, for W"T, besides its special meaning of threshing corn, is used also for crushing generally. See e.g. Isa. xli. 15, Job xxxix. 15. Therefore there is no need to suppose that the translator assumed a reading yi'^ri'l from the root VT), for that would be to assume a simul- taneous action of eye-mistake and ear-mistake, which is hardly conceivable. To suppose that Kard^ec^ is a corruption for iraTTjaec'; (cf. Isa. xxv. 10) is a guess as improbable as it is uncalled for.^
V. 18. Tov Xpiarov aov. A considerable amount of textual authority exists for reading the plural tou? Xpiaroix; aov. It stood in Jerome's text, it is read by Cod. A and apparently by b^^°, by twenty-two cursives, the Complutensian and Aldine, the Syro-Hexaplaric, and by all Old Latin texts. Also the cursive MS. 23 reads rou? eVXe/crou? aov.
If we accept the view spoken of in the preceding chapter, according to which the ''Anointed" means the Jewish nation, it will be seen that the difference between the singular and
^ Jer. XXV. 19, Zech. xiii. 7, Job xiv. 21.
^ We have it once, however, rendered oXiyoi ylyveaOai, Job xiv. 21 ; "(^^^ by oXtfyoo-T09 in Mich. v. 2; and -ix-sd by 6\i<ya in Job viii. 7, 2 Chron. xxiv. 24.
' The four cursives, Codd. 23, etc., translate quite literally aXoycrei^.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 55
plural is apparent rather than real. Though the word in Hebrew is singular, yet if the view be right which takes it collectively, the tov<; Xpiarov^ gov is but of the nature of an explanation. Of the varying views adopted by the other Greek versions, it is not needful to speak again here.
V. 13. jSaXei^. The Hebrew here is in the past tense, and so not a few MSS. of the Greek, Codd. Ab^^^' «^ one uncial (xii.) and twenty-one cursive MSS. of Holmes and Parsons, and the Aldine edition (eTreyLt-i/ra?, Complutensian). To these may be added the Syro-Hexaplaric (ZuisDjI), and, it would seem, all forms of the Old Latin. Considering, too, that the other two finite verbs in the verse are past tenses, the /SaXet? is at any rate open to considerable suspicion.
The clause in the Greek, "Thou wilt cast death on the heads of lawless ones," is curiously unlike the Hebrew, " Thou didst wound (dash off, shatter) the head from the house of the wicked " ; yet the variations are obviously due to mere mechan- ical blunders. The word Vr\72 is properly to split or pierce, and is applied to the head in Judges v. 26 (np*l), Psalm Ixviii. 22 (ti>t^*^). Thus paXkeiv ddvaTov would be to strike death into, as though death itself were the destroying weapon. The words ^\i^*1 n*'!?^ are clearly transposed, and the former word becomes r\yO. Thus the Hebrew is treated as involving a double accu- sative, " Thou didst strike into the head a deadly weapon." ^
The cursive MSS. 23, 62, 86, 147, render the latter half of the verse, KaT6T6^6vaa<;'^ Ke<pa\a<; avdpcoircov vireprjcpdvcov [this clause is omitted by Cod. 23], eoj? affvaaov t?)? 6aXdaar)<; Kaja- Bvaovrai,. I think we can but view this as a loose paraphrase.
— i^7]yeipa<;. In Hi*l^, the inf. Pi. of r\1^ to " lay bare," the translators have seen the root Hl^ to "wake up." They may have taken it as the Kal IT)^, o^, as there is only one instance in the Bible of the Kal being transitive (Job xli. 2, Kri),
^ Some writers speak of /SaXet? .... Odvarov as being the translation of ri^nio, but this would be to pass over the word n'nn.
* So yno is rendered in Num. xxiv. 8,
56 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
it may be safer to say Hiphil or Piel, presumably the former.^
V. 18. hea^iovfi [T\0^\ The 1 being changed to a ^, we get a Qoun derived from the root "^D'', the common word for "chas- tening," but also largely overlapping with the root *^Dt^ " to bind." Thus from the former root is formed the common Hiphihc noun ^Ip'i?^ " a bond " ; see e.g. Ps. ii. 3, where and elsewhere the LXX. renders it by hea^o^.
— BidylraXfjia. This word, the ordinary representative of Selah in the LXX. is omitted here by one uncial (xii. of Holmes and Parsons) and five cursive MSS. In thirteen cursives and the Aldine text, however, as well as in the text of Jerome, Selah is rendered by ek TeXo<?^ (ek to Te\o<i in the Compluten- sian) ; and in Cod. b^^°, four cursives, and the Syro-Hexaplaric the two are combined ek reXo^; (]v>\n m. *^ Syro-Hexaplaric) ^cdyfraXfjua.
The rendering et9 riXo^ is that frequently adopted by the Sexta in the Psalms,^ and by Theodotion in Hab, iii. 3. It is rather curious that, in the present passage, Jerome should only have been cognisant of the one reading: "ipsi LXX. rerum necessitate compulsi ; qui semper sela interpretantur diapsalma, nunc transtulerunt in finem." This, it will be noticed, was tantamount to his own rendering semper.
V. 14. iv eK<TTdaeL [VD?21]. In what way this extraordinary translation has been arrived at must be considered very doubtful.
It may be asked first, whether there are any good grounds for doubting the correctness of the present Greek text. It has been suggested that we have here a corruption for iv eKTacrecj i.e. a stretching out of hand or staff to deliver a blow.
^ The verb i^rjt^eipio occurs in the Bible in the active voice eighteen times, of which fourteen are for Hi. and four for Pi.
"^ In Smith's Bible Dictionary {s. v. Selah) the rendering eh reXo's is said to be that occurring in the Alexandrian MS. in Hab. iii. 13. This, how- ever, is not so ; Cod. a. reads simply hiaylraXima.
3 See e.g. iii. 3, Ixxvi. 4, 10 (Ixxv. Gr.)j cf. Jer. Ep. 29 ad Marcellam, §6; Vol. I. 138.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 57
This point may first be considered. Against the theory clearly may be urged the fact that no such variant is to be found in any Greek MS.^ ; that iv iKarda-ei- certainly underlies all forms of the Old Latin,^ and is the original of the Syro- Hexaplaric (IZoioAr^), Armenian/ and Arabic.
Next, it may be asked, what evidence does the LXX. itself yield as to the use of a word eVracrt? ? We find it in some MSS., including Cod. B, in Ezek. xvii. 3 for *^liS^, where the idea is of the long, outstretched wings of an eagle.'* Again, in Judg. v. 22 (last clause), several MSS. and the Aldine text read ra? v/Bpec^ iKardo-eco^ avrcov, the last two words standing for V*)*^2l^<^.^ One fancies that eKTacreco^ should be read, and that there has been a blunder between "l^^t^ and "^Ib^.
Yet once again, in Judg. xvi. 14, we read in some texts (including A and the Complutensian, but not B and the Aldine, which are altogether different) /xera rij^ iKaTd(T€co<;. Here four cursives are cited by Holmes and Parsons as reading iKTd(Te(o<;. There is nothing in the Hebrew for either Greek word to answer to. Montfaucon {HexapL, in loc.) translates " in ecstasi," as though the reference was to the deep sleep in which Samson was ; those who advocate the latter reading understanding it of the stretched thread of the web.^
To these may be added Isa. xi. 14, where Symmachus and Theodotion render ni7tl>?0 by eicTaoi^ : " Moab shall be that on which they put forth their hands " (eTrl Mcoa^ .... Ta<; %et)3a9 iTTLffdXovacVj LXX.), with which may be compared the ;)^et/3 eKTerafiePT) of Jer. xxi. 4<J
^ The eV Odfi^ei of the Complutensian is the only variant noted by Holmes and Parsons.
2 Thus we have in stupore (Jer.), in stupore mentis (Aug.), in pavore (Mozarab. et al.), in alienatione (Psalt. Thomasii, etc.).
2 Communicated by the Rev. Dr. Malan.
** Cod. A has €K(Trd(Tei, but the other reading is certainly correct.
^ Tromm, copied by Biel and Schleusner, wrongly give T"i«. There is no trace of such a reading.
^ I do not find any evidence to justify this meaning.
7 The reference to eicTaai^ as a translation of n:DO is Judg. xv. 4, given by Schleusner {s. v.) is one I entirely fail to solve.
58 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
The case for iv eKracrei is thus not a very strong one. There is a total absence of external evidence in its favour, and of the foregoing references, that in Isa. xi. 14 alone is relevant; and, besides all this, such a phrase as SLaKoirrecv iv eKraaei is hardly a probable one. We must maintain then that sufficient cause has not been shown against the existing reading.
If then iv iKardaeb be accepted as the true reading, it may be well to see first in what various meanings the word is found in the LXX., etc. It occurs then (i) With the meaning of fear, whether
[a) The feeling or state of fear, as for n^"^n (Gen. xxvii. 83) ; IHQ (1 Kings [Sam.] xi. 7) Tn^^np (2 Chr. XV. 5); nyy). (2 Chr. xxix. 8); n^;^ (Ezek. xxvii. 35). (h) The fear-producing cause, as for nS.*! (Num. xiii. 33) ; n?5tf (Jer. v. 30). (ii) Y or trovhle, flurry, ^juepLfjiva^ ?i^ior TXTSn, (4 Kings iv. 13) ; ten (Ps. xxx. 23).
(iii) For stupor or trance, as for n?211il (Gen. ii. 21) ; and^ in an unnamed translation,^ apparently for the stupor of intoxication in Hab. ii. 15, where the Hebrew is
(iv) For anger. It represents n?2tOtp?2 in Hos. ix. 7, in Aquila and Symmachus. [So it may be inferred from the Syro-Hexaplaric, which gives the rendering of Aquila and Symmachus for the last two words of the verse as ]5oZ - * .t <^ Jerome {in loc.) gives iyKOTTjaL'; as Aquila's rendering, but perhaps there was a difference herein between the first and second edition.] Here the LXX. has fiavla. It occurs also in the LXX. of Prov. xxvi. 10, due apparently to the D'^'^li^ being treated as though DH'^IV.
^ "Alibi translatum legi .... eKaracriu ox^ov/j-et^rju, id est, amentiam turbidam." — Jerome, in loc.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 59
The ancient versions, I believe without exception, adopt the rendering either of stupor or of fear, so that the Greek would thus be equivalent to " Thou didst pierce .... so that they are stupified with fear." Perhaps a more natural prima facie view of the Greek would be to make it mean " Thou didst pierce in fury . . . ./' a meaning for which, as we have seen, instances can be produced from Hellenistic Greek.
It is by no means easy, however, to see how either of these could be got from the Hebrew. The suggestion that there was a confusion with some derivative of the verb 7172^ would com-
- T
mend itself, if there were more external similarity between the words. That the confusion was with 12^72 is more plausible, but it lacks confirmatory evidence. Now the LXX. renders Jl^tDto in Hos. ix. 7, 8, by fiavia ; and It^ ^tOtZ? in Ps. xl. 5 (xxxix. 5, LXX.) by fjLavia^ yfrevSeli; ; though the former means " provoca- tion," and the latter '* apostate liars." By no means improbably there was a confusion in both cases with the Chaldee fc^IOt!? " to
T :
be mad." Conceivably the translators may have run off on this word in the passage now before us.
On the other hand, if we are to take the meaning of " fury " here, perhaps the confusion was with some derivative of DtOiZ?.
V. 14. (TeKrOrjcrovTai,. The verb (Tela) occurs most often by far as the rendering of tjj^'l, but stands for '^^D in Amos i. 14 ; and we find o-vcraeia-fjLo^ for n^i^D (or ri^V© in 4 Kings ii. 1, Jer. xxiii. 19, Nah. i. 3. We may translate the Hebrew verb, which is in Kal in the passage before us, " sweep on like a tempest." The Kal is indeed intransitive (see Isa. liv. 11, Jon. i. 11, 18), but we had probably better assume that the translators treated the verb as a Pual (^^^p*l). Cf Hos. xiii. 3.
— iv avTjj. That is, iv rfj eKaTaaet. This is obtained by detaching the first two letters of the next word, and changing the rn into HI (i.e. rf!l). The Bcavol^ova-i represents the remainder of the word, read as ^!^Q\ The verb TOD is trans- lated by BiavouyeLv also in Lam. ii. 16, iii. 45 ; and by avo'v^eiv seven times.
60 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
V. 14. ')(a\Lvov<^ avTcov. This rendering is as puzzling as any in the chapter. There appear to be no good grounds for doubting the correctness of the text. No various reading occurs (for the Ta<: r)vla<; of the Complutensian cannot be considered really different), and the Syro-Hexaplaric ("J5a^,L.^), Armenian/ and Arabic versions agree, as well as all the various forms of the Old Latin.^ Clearly if the text is corrupt, the corruption is a decidedly ancient one.
The Hebrew word here, n^!^*'^;^, is indeed a air. Xey., but the verb ^7^ occurs no less than eight times, and the cognate verb tT'^ and its derivatives are still commoner.
The most reasonable suggestion is to suppose a confusion with ni7^. This word, properly meaning "bells," is trans- lated ;^aX«^6z/ in Zech. xiv. 20, presumably from being supposed to refer to tinkling ornaments on the harness of the horses. Still, even if this view be taken as to the passage before us, the meaning of the Greek is far from obvious; but it is possible that ;^a\iwt may mean the mouth with its bit. Thus the sense will be, " They will open their bitted mouth like a beggar eating furtively and under difficulties." Here may be cited as relevant the renderings miorsus and ova of the Old Latin given in the preceding note.
The order of the last three words is awkward, but it may be urged that it follows that of the Hebrew. It is true that the reading tttcoxov occurs in the Complutensian (co? rpcoycop tttcoxov iv a7roKpv(f)a)) and in one cursive ; but, apart from this exceeding scantiness of evidence, it is clear that there would be every temptation to alter the nominative into an accusative, and none, so far as I can see, leading the other way. The XdOpa
^ Communicated by the Rev. Dr. Malan.
2 The renderings in Jerome and Augustine {II. cc.) are frenos and morsus respectively. Thomasius's Psalter has lora, and the Mozarabic Breviaiy and some of the MSS. edited by Sabatier have ora. This last must be, I should suppose, a corruption of lora; but, at any rate, it shows the direction in which an attempt to make sense would proceed. Sabatier remarks on the rendering in Thomasius's Psalter " vocem lora pro ora" but a glance at the Greek shows that this is out of the question.
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 61
seems quite unaccountable on this latter view. The Syro- Hexaplaric may be cited, ^1? U^mk) *^-.l, which is definite enough.
Other suggestions which have been made seem strangely far fetched. For example/ that the translators confused the word before them with Jli^^'iVn (see Judg. xiv. 19, 2 Sam. ii. 21), and that they rendered it by '^XatW?, of which ;)^aXtz^ov9 is a corruption. To this it is sufficient to say, that not only is there not the slightest trace of any such reading having ever existed, but that ni^^^'^rr means exuvice,^ spoils stripped from a con- quered foe, and so can have no fitness in a passage where the sense would clearly be that of opening their own dress. Or again, to suppose that the translators, in downright helplessness, simply transliterated the Hebrew word, and that x^^'^^ov^ avjMv was a bold attempt to educe sense, is surely incredible.^
In the four cursives, Codd. 23, 62, 86, 147, the verse runs i €^€SLKr]aa<; fxera BvvdfjU€co<; <tov tov<; apxvyov^ t^^ a^apTO)\(bv 7ov<; ireiroiOoTas iirl rfj avOa^eia avrcov eveKev rov KaTa4>a<yelp^ [roif^] irTOixov^ XdOpa. They have of course taken i1?)25 ^s though 21^)21^ and hvvajjii^ represents TWO, viewed as the external symbol of power. The dfjbaprwXMv is less obvious ; but it is not unlikely that the translator read WD as D^!J"'"|Q. This word is, it is true, never rendered by dfiaprcoXo^ in the LXX., but Aquila, in his second edition, so rendered the word in Ezek. xviii. 10.^ The tov^ TreTrot^ora? must represent some modifica- tion of y^y/0"^ ; and Schleusner suggests iniD''. Still, ^ and 1 are dissimilar enough; and not only do we never find *I1D
^ So Bos, in his Prolegomena to his edition of the LXX. (c. 3, suhjin.).
2 In Judges [l. c), the LXX. has apparently confused the word with niD'brr.
3 So Lud. Cappel. {Comm. et not. crit. in V. T. p. 114).
^ Cod. 23, by error, Ka-racfivr^e'Lv.
5 The verb is so rendered twenty-four times in the LXX, besides still more frequent instances of the derived substantives, which are rendered
^ See Jerome {comm. in loc.).
62 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
rendered as above, but its meaning is rather that of looking forward, or expecting ('irpoaSoKap, iXTrl^eiv, etc., LXX.), than that of relying on, staying oneself on, as in the Greek before us. One would rather fancy the translator took the word as ll^D**. This verb is generally transitive, but we find it intransitive in 1 Kings xiii. 7 and Prov. xx. 28; or indeed (though no case occurs in the Bible) we might point it as a passive voice. If there were sufficient authority to justify the change of tf and D, one would be tempted to suppose they read ^^^D'', i.q. ^^V.tZ^*'. This last root is several times rendered by TreiroLOore^; elvai and the like [e.g. Isa. x. 20, xxx. 12, xxxi. 1), besides four cases in which this Greek stands for Jl^tl? (as in Isa. xxxi. 1), evidently confused with |^tp. The following word ^i^^^^iDnb is evidently omitted, and eVt Trj avOahela avrcov is probably simply
DJn^!^'^7J^. \h^] somewhat freely interpreted, the idea being that of arrogant and wanton insolence.
^'. 15. eVtyStySa?. Here the Kal of ^yi has been treated as identical with the Hiphil, which occurs below, v. 19.
— rapdaaovTa^. It is clear that the translators have mis- read "^pn as though D'''^?pn. The verb "^?^n has been rendered by Tapdaaeiv in Ps. xlvi. 4 (xlv. 4 Gk.) ; and, one might even add in v. 3, for, coming in such close proximity, the rendering of ■^'^pn by rapdaaeadac is quite suggestive of a blunder between H and n. See also Lam. i. 20, ii. 11.
V. 16. i(f)vXa^d/jir]v. This careless confusion between ^721^ and "1?^t^ occurs also 3 Kings xi. 38, Prov. xix. 37.
— Koikia. The reading KapSla is supported by the Aldine text, seventeen of Holmes and Parsons' cursives, and the Syro- Hexaplaric (|^X), and it may be noted that ]t^S is rendered by Kap^ia in Prov. xxii. 18. Still "[tp^ ^s so common a word, and KoCkia is its so constant translation, that there is no reason for disturbing the common text.
— TTpoaevxv^' Here a noun comes in where in the Hebrew is the verb ^77!^. The origin of the blunder is obvious, though the resulting Greek text does not give much sense. The trans-
The Septuagint Version of the Psalm. 63
lator dropped one ^, and then read 'h'^, from the Chaldee root ^hl^ 'Ho pray" (see e.g. Targ. Onk. Gen. xviii. 22, Ex. xvii. 12).
V. 16. vTroKCLTcoBev. The Hebrew "^TSHV) in this passage is simply "where I stand," ''in loco meo." The LXX., though somewhat too literal, clearly understood this sense.
-^ i^i^ fjiov. This is somehow got from *\?JSl, but it is
absurd to suggest, as has been done, that it was a confusion with *1tpb^, because happiness is the basis of physical well-being I Possibly there might have been a confusion with I'l^tThJl or '^■^^^tZ^^^, that is, a course of going, and so one's state. More likely, however, is it that something connected with tT]] was thought of. Twice in the Bible (2 Sam. xiv. 19, Mic. vi. 10) this appears in a semi-Aramseanized form, ^^, which brings us nearer.-^
There does not seem to be much ground for doubting the correctness of the text, though laxv^ is found in some autho- rities. The last-named reading is found in six (or perhaps rather five) cursives and in the Complutensian ; it was also that found in Jerome's text.^ On the other hand, the great mass ©f MSS. read eft?,^ which was also the reading of Augustine Qiahitudo) as well as that in other Old Latin texts^; and this further has the support of the Syro-Hexaplaric (IZa^-LT)).^
In Lam. iv. 7, Symmachus renders W^V ^tyi^ by TrvpporepoL Tr)v e^LVj where the Syro-Hexaplaric has the same word as in our present passage.
The four cursive MSS. (23, 62, 86, 147) have, as usual, a totally different translation. The following points may be
1 In face of the other reading fVxv?, it may be worth remarking that the noun from the same root, n;xpw, is translated /o-xv? in Job xii. 16.
2 Fortitudo mea, sive ut alibi scriptum reperimus, r) e^i^ fiov, quod nos possumus dicere, habitudo mea; diversa quippe exemplaria reperiuntur. {Comm. in loc).
^ One cursive reads V7r6(naat<s.
^ The text in the Mozarabic Breviary reads virtus, which occurs also in Thomasius's Psalter and some other texts.
5 In the margin of the Ambrosian MS. e^iafx^ov is written.
64 The Septuagint Version of the Psalm.
noted. We find iTa^dfjurjv in the place of i(j)v\a^dfjb7)v, the Hebrew being presumably read as ''riptl?,^ though it is perhaps possible that it^ like the ordinary reading, is to be referred to 'V2'^. The T^h)^ now disappears altogether. We haye Ip*^ rendered by rpofio^^ which, the character of the version in these four MSS. being considered, is probably a sort of Midrash ; and we need not suppose a confusion with Ti?*^, for which or n"Ti^*^, Tp6fjLo<^ stands six times in the LXX.
The latter part of the verse (from the Ethnakh onwards) in these four MSS. runs, Tama (j)vXd^rjg ek rjfjiipav (or iv rj/jbipa) dXlyfreay^i eTrayayelv eVl eOvo^^ TroXe/juovv rov Xaov aov. How the first two words can be got from the Hebrew I quite fail to see. The eirayayelv is clearly used in a seemingly intransitive sense " to march against a nation that wars with^ Thy people." This, viewed as a paraphrase, can be got from the Hebrew.
V. 16. TrapoLKLa^. " The people of my sojourning," i.e. " those among whom I am a sojourner." The LXX. of course saw here in the Hebrew 1^11^*', not the root 1^X but '^^^ ; and perhaps doubling the final mem of DV> they made the next word into
V. 17. ^pco(76(o<;. The foregoing ^pooacv shows that instead of taking n7DD, as it really is, from the root ^h^, the translator foolishly referred it to 7Db^, as though it were nb^^?^ and a feminine equivalent of 7D^5t?^.
After <^aTi/at9, Cod. A and one of Holmes and Parsons' uncials (Cod. xii.) and two cursives add e^iXdaeco^; avrcjv. This word only occurs elsewhere in the LXX. in Num. xxix. 11, for D^*)Q5. Clearly, however, i^iXdaeo)^ is a corruption for ef
^ Taaaiv stands for D"'ir in the LXX. nearly forty times, including one passage in the present chapter {v. 19), though there the four cursives have KareaTTjffe.
^ In Cod. 23, for eV^ eduo^ . . . ., stands e(f)evos TroXejuov, the other three reading as above. The Hebrew makes it plain that the latter reading must be a mere corruption of the preceding.
^ The construction 7ro\efie7v Tiva is very common in the LXX. See e.g. Num. xxi. 26, Josh. ix. 2, and often.
The Septuagiiit Version of the Psalm. 65
Idaew^j which is actually the reading of one cursive. This has been a second rendering of DT^D"^^, treated as LDn^t^D"^!. See Prov. iii. 8.
V. 19. eh (TwreXelav [Di^'^b^S]. The reading co? eXd^wv is fonnd in three cursives, and w? iXdcpov in three cursives, and in Theodoret (In Cant. Cant. c. 2 ; Vol. ii. 64). It is, however, simply a conforming to the Hebrew. The word avvreXeia is of frequent occurrence in the LXX., and ordinarily for some deri- vative of the root n^D ; perhaps n^75i!) (Job xxvi. 10) would be the nearest. The meaning is doubtless, " He will set my feet in a state of perfect safety," though " utter destruction " is the most ordinary meaning in the LXX.
The four cursives (Codd. 23, etc.) render the word by a(T<^aXet9, either from the same general idea as that of the current text, or by some confusion with il^^'^Sl.
— ra yy^rfka. This, save for the omission of the promo- minal affix, is a literal translation of the Hebrew. The four cursives, Codd. 23, etc., have the curious Midrash koX iirl Tpa^rjkov^; rwv e')(dp(hv /jlou. This same translation also occurs in Deut. xxxiii. 29.
— rod viKrjaat [115^^?^ 7]. "That I should prevail." Con- sidering the great frequency of the Hebrew word in the headings of the Psalms, it is a little singular that we should have here a different translation. Whatever root-meanings the verb TO^ may include, the meaning of power or innate strength is clearly to be taken; see e.g. 1 Chron. xxix. 11, where we have vUt] for TOl -'-^^ ^^® ^^^-^^ cursives, Codd. 23, etc., after eTTi^L^a yue, stand the words ra-^faa'; [Ka9r](Ta<;^ Cod. 23) KareTravaaTo. I am strongly inclined to doubt whether these words are to be taken as representing the Hebrew, however disguised. Some have suggested that some form from Hl^ was taken for n-!iwQ, but this does not take us very far; and I prefer to consider the words to have originated as a remark appended by some scribe ; the subject of the verb being the Prophet, who, his task finished, ceases. This is made more probable by the clause not being prefaced by any connecting particle.
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