The Book of Psalms

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  • Psalm 35

    (of David) * * * In this psalm, everything depends on who speaks. If, as it seems from several verses, it’s one who’s been falsely accused, then Psalm 35 depicts desperate indignation and the desire for justice. “There arise | vicious witnesses,” the speaker says in verse 11. This reading fits the actions and speech Read more

  • Psalm 34

    (of David, at his scrambling of sense before Abimelech, so that he exiled him and he went) * * * The superscription of Psalm 34 is particularly sharp. In 1 Samuel 21, David’s north-northwest madness in the court of Philistine King Achish (whose title may have been Abimelech, “my father is king”) allows him to Read more

  • Psalm 33

    * * * So much of the Bible—of every scripture, indeed of all art—is revisionary. Texts make sense of other texts, making meaning by difference. This psalm begins as praise but it becomes something else, “a new song” (3). The first stanza conveys typical images of a laudatory psalm: “thank the Lord | with the Read more

  • Psalm 32

    (of David, didactic) * * * This psalm is several fabrics held by delicate stitches. It is a careful chiasm, with hallmarks of wisdom literature as its A-A’ frame (1-2, 10-11), a fascinating B-B’ second frame that pairs suffering with the bridling of a horse or mule (3-4, 8-9), a C-C’ third paneling of prayers Read more

  • Psalm 31

    (director: lyric, of David) * * * Like a kitchen sink, Psalm 31 is full. At first glance, it’s a jumble of quotation and cliché. Psalms 7, 11, 16 and 71 all start with the same image of refuge, and the first line here (1a) seems cribbed from Psalm 25:20: “In you Lord I nest.” Read more

  • Psalm 30

    (lyric, a dedication song for the house of David) * * * A defining dynamic of lyric poetry runs between the speaker’s world and the reader’s. One I speaks, many I’s read. As I recite, “Lord | my God / I cried to you | and you healed me” (2), there is a tension. I Read more