The Book of Psalms

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  • Psalm 60

    (director: “The Witness Lilies,” in stone, to teach, of David, when, battling Aram of the Two Rivers and Aram Station, Joab returned to strike Edom in Salt Valley, 12,000) * * * Even if biblical Hebrew had periods and quotation marks, would we want them? Our desire for clarity in poetry and song has to Read more

  • Psalm 59

    (director: don’t destroy, in stone, of David at Saul’s sending to watch the house to kill him) * * * Psalm 59 starts straightforwardly with a fourfold wish for rescue (“free me…evacuate me… free me… rescue me,” 1-2) and a threefold “not guilty” plea (“no crime is mine | no wrong is mine Lord / Read more

  • Psalm 58

    (director: don’t destroy, of David, in stone) * * * The images of Psalm 58 are toothed and bloody. They bite each other, making this an easy poem to not understand. It’s so not understood that Dahood leaves verse 9 blank in the Anchor Bible translation rather than even trying to translate it. Anglican committees Read more

  • Psalm 57

    (director: don’t destroy; of David, in stone, when he ran from Saul into the cave) * * * Probably no biblical Hebrew word presents the challenges the word kavod presents. It appears three times in the second half of Psalm 57 (verses 5, 8, 11), twice in a refrain in reference to God. The other Read more

  • Psalm 56

    (director, to “the hushed dove of far away,” in stone, of David when the Philistines snatched him in Gath) * * * Though not the most original of psalms, Psalm 56 has interesting shape. Stanzas that beg for personal intervention and rescue from enemies are met with refrains that show confidence. The refrains in 3-4 Read more

  • Psalm 55

    (director: with strings, instructive, of David) * * * Psalm 55 appears to be deeply personal, interior, a psalmist suffering inwardly. The voice of the enemy and the face of the vile have mentally torn up the speaker: “My heart twists | in my insides” (4). That root word for “insides,” qerev, holds the poem Read more