Image via Wikipedia 1 In the LORD I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
2 For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?
4 The LORD is in His holy temple,
The LORD’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The LORD tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the LORD is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.[a
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain”?
2 For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?
4 The LORD is in His holy temple,
The LORD’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
5 The LORD tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
6 Upon the wicked He will rain coals;
Fire and brimstone and a burning wind
Shall be the portion of their cup.
7 For the LORD is righteous,
He loves righteousness;
His countenance beholds the upright.[a
New King James Version (NKJV)Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
A key interpretive issue with this psalm is how far the quotation in the first paragraph goes. Compare the above with the NASB below:
1 In the LORD I take refuge;
How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain;
2 For, behold, the wicked bend the bow,
They [a]make ready their arrow upon the string
To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?”
I favour the latter interpretation. Have a restful day.
A key interpretive issue with this psalm is how far the quotation in the first paragraph goes. Compare the above with the NASB below:
1 In the LORD I take refuge;
How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your mountain;
2 For, behold, the wicked bend the bow,
They [a]make ready their arrow upon the string
To shoot in darkness at the upright in heart.
3 If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?”
I favour the latter interpretation. Have a restful day.
source: Biblegateway.com
3 comments:
In Yahweh I take shelter.
How can you say to me,
'Bird, fly back to your mountain:
'see how the wicked are bending their bows and fitting their arrows to the string,
ready to shoot the upright from the shadows.
When the foundations fall to ruin, what can the righteous do?'
Yahweh is in his holy Temple,
Yahweh whose throne is in heaven;
his eyes look down on the world,
his searching gaze scans all mankind.
The virtuous and the wicked are under Yahweh's scrutiny,
and his soul hates anyone who loves brutality.
He rains coals of fire and brimstone on the wicked,
he serves them a scorching wind to swallow down.
Yahweh is righteous, he loves virtue,
Upright men will contemplate his face.
Jerusalem Bible (my favourite translation)
Joe -- what is it about the JB you like? My favourite is the NASB.
What I like about the Jerusalem over the NASB is that the English in the Jerusalem is much more readable than the English in the NASB. While NASB tries to remain as faithful as possible to the original languages the resulting English is stilted enough to make its reading less than smooth. The idea behind the Jerusalem is making it readable while rendering an accurate translation. Of course one other reason I like the Jerusalem is that it uses the actual names of Yahweh not His English nicknames.
For example the first two verses of the 91st Psalm:
If you live in the shelter of Elyon and make your home in the shadow of Shaddai, you can say to Yahweh, 'My refuge, my fortress, my God in whom I trust!'
Just between you and me how many people, Christian or otherwise, fail to realize that God is not a name of Yahweh?
Of course the biggest reason I prefer the Jerusalem Bible is the number of times that Yahweh has spoken to me through it. Having used the KJV, NIV, RSV, NASB, EV and the Jerusalem for my private devotionals again and again I find my meditation on the 'message' from the Jerusalem has given me deeper insights than all the others combined.
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