The one hundred and twenty-sixth psalm from the biblical book Psalm (in the Masoretic numbering - 127th) refers to a sequence of psalms 119-133, united by the inscription " Song of Ascension ." Known by the Latin incipit, "Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum" ( Vulgate ; often abbreviated as "Nisi Dominus"), in the Church Slavonic translation - "It is not the Lord who will build the house" (according to the Elizabethan Bible ). In Western Europe XVI — XVIII centuries Ps. 126 is one of the most popular texts for sacred music .
Content
Brief
The hundred and twenty-sixth psalm bears the name of King Solomon in the inscription, but in the general opinion of the biblical exegetes it does not indicate authorship, but that the psalm is dedicated to Solomon. The meaning of the psalm: all the efforts of people will be in vain if the Lord does not help them. The Psalm also speaks of sons as a reward from the Lord - they will not flinch when faced with an enemy.
In the five verses of the psalm, rhetorical-stylistic techniques are traditional for psalm poetry - anaphora , metaphor , parallelism .
Text
| Septuagint | Clementine and Psalterium romanum | Elizabethan Bible |
|---|---|---|
| 1 ἐὰν μὴ Κύριος οἰκοδομήσῃ οἶκον, εἰς μάτην ἐκοπίασαν ἱ 2 εἰς μάτην ὑμῖν ἐστι τὸ ὀρθρίζειν, ἐγείρεσθαι μετὰ τὸ καθῆσθαι, ἱἱ ἐσθίοντες ἄρτον ὀδύνης, ὅταν δῷ 3 ἰδοὺ ἡ κληρονομία Κυρίου υἱοί, ὁ μισθὸς τοῦ καρποῦ τῆς γαστρός. 4 ὡσεὶ βέλη ἐν χειρὶ δυνατοῦ, οὕτως οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων. 5 μακάριος ὃς πληρώσει τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ ἐξ αὐτῶν · οὐ καταισχυνθήσονται, ὅταν λαλῶσι τοῖς ἐχθροῖς αὐτῶν ἐ | 1 Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum laboraverunt qui aedificant eam. Nisi Dominus custodierit civitatem, frustra vigilat qui custodit eam. 2 Vanum est vobis ante lucem surgere: surgite postquam sederitis, qui manducatis panem doloris, cum dederit dilectis suis somnum. 3 Ecce haereditas Domini filii, merces fructus ventris. 4 Sicut sagittae in manu potentis, ita filii excussorum. 5 Beatus vir, qui implevit desiderium suum ex ipsis: non confundetur cum loquetur inimicis suis in porta. | 1 It is not the Lord who builds the house, in vain laboring for those who are waiting. As soon as the Lord does not preserve hail, in vain bdes stregii. 2 In all, you have a morning meal, you will rise up in gray hair, eating the bread of disease, and will always give your beloved a dream. 3 This is the possession of the Lord's son, the bribe of the fruit of the womb [1] . 4 Like arrows in the hands of a strong man, such as the son of a shocked one. 5 Blessed is he who will fulfill his desire from them. They will not be ashamed, they always glance at their enemy in the gates. |
Comments
Already bliss. Jerome , who performed the revision of the Psalter according to the Hebrew text, noticed the inaccuracies in the Greek translation of Ps. 126 and discussed them in his letter to Marcellus (c. 384). Among those in the fourth verse are the sons of the “shocked,” that is, the expelled, abandoned to their fate ( dr. Greek οἱ υἱοὶ τῶν ἐκτετιναγμένων , lat. Filii excussorum ), correctly - sons born in young years (as revised in Jewish words ) "Jerome - lat. Filii iuventutis , letters." Sons of youth ").
Another example of inaccuracy is the word ἐπιθυμία (attraction, passion; hence in Klimentin desiderium and in the TS-translation “desire”) in the fifth verse, giving the phrase μακάριος ὃς πληρώσει τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν αὐτοῦ (who translates his desire, ”) A somewhat sexual connotation, while a metaphor develops in the Hebrew original: the author of the psalm compares the gift of God — sons — with the arrows with which the happy husband“ fills his quiver ”(translated by Jerome“ for the Jews ”- implevit faretram suam ex ipsis )
Also in the fifth verse, scholars note a discrepancy between the Septuagint (and the following TS text) and the Vulgate (in the version of Clementine): in the Septuagint “sons ( καταισχυνθήσονται, λαλῶσι - both verbs) are used in many words . - the father of the family ( confundetur, loquetur - both verbs in singular). This hesitation is due to the fact that the text of Masora in this place may be corrupted. The prominent German biblical scholar G.I. Kraus points out that there is a plural in Masor, and instead of a negative construction (they will not be ashamed) they are positive (they will be ashamed), and changes the text, in his “critical” version, “according to meaning” ( sinngemäß) - accordingly, “will not be ashamed” (instead of “sie werden zuschanden” of the Masoretic text - “er wird nicht zuschanden”) and “says” (instead of “sie reden” - “er redet”) [2] .
Difficult to understand is also the second half of the first verse - εἰς μάτην ὑμῖν ἐστι τὸ ὀρθρίζειν, ἐγείρεσθαι μετὰ τὸ καθῆσθαι, οἱ ἐσθίοντες ἄρτον ὀδύνης, ὅταν δῷ τοῖς ἀγαπητοῖς αὐτοῦ ὕπνον, in Church Slavonic translation - "vain you have utrenevati, vostanete on Cedeno, those who eat bread of sickness will always give their beloved a dream. " The German translation of this place from Hebrew K. F. Keil and Franz Delich (1867) is more understandable, with which the English translation of the Jewish Publication Society (1917) agrees: “you get up early in vain and sit down to eat your mournful bread later, while your beloved He gives [to him] in a dream ” [3] . German scholars explain the verb “sit” ( καθῆσθαι ) by the fact that the Jews ate food while sitting - unlike the Greeks (and the Romans copying them), who ate half-lying food, and also insisted on the adverbial syntactic function of the accusative (God gives in a dream , instead of God gives a dream ), which ensures the coherence of the religious rhetoric contained in verse 2 (what the infidels achieve only by their mournful work tirelessly, the believer is given easily, “in a dream”) [4] ; The Jewish Publication Society ( so he giveth unto His beloved in sleep ) and Kraus [5] hold the same interpretation.
Despite these and some other textual problems, Ps. 126, it was the reading of the Septuagint that was entrenched in translations for many centuries in the Russian Orthodox and Latin Catholic traditions; it was it that formed the basis of liturgical texts and church chants [6] . The Protestant translations of the Psalms are traditionally based directly on the Jewish original, for example, the discussed “problematic” verses of Psalm 127 (numbering according to the German Bible) in Luther's translation (in the 1535 edition) look like this:
| Luther (1535) | Transfer |
|---|---|
| 2 Es ist umb sonst das ir frue auffstehet / und hernach lange sitzet / und esset ewr brod mit sorgen / Denn seinen freunden gibt ers schlaffend. | 2 In vain do you get up early and only much later sit down and eat your bread in sorrow, because He gives it to His friends in a dream. |
| 4 Wie die pfeile inn der hand eines starcken / also geraten die jungen knaben. 5 Wol dem der seine [n] köcher derselben vol hat ... | 4 That the arrows are in the hand of the strong, the young men. 5 Blessed is he who filled their quiver with them ... |
Psalm 126 in the history of music
The Latin text of this psalm is one of the favorite by the ancient European composers of the Psalms, usually embodied in the genres of motet and cantata . Musical works on the text of Ps.126 were written by O. Lasso (in the collection “Cantiones sacrae” , 1562), C. Monteverdi (part of his famous “Vespers of the Blessed Virgin”), A. Grandi , F. Cavalli , A. Dumont , M A. Charpentier , G. I.F. von Bieber , G. F. Handel , J. D. Zelenka , A. Vivaldi (2 cantatas) and others. The German translation of Ps.126 “Wo Gott zum Haus” was written by H. L. von Hasler , on the other (Luther) translation of “Wo der Herrnicht das Haus baut” - G. Schütz (SWV 400).
Notes
- ↑ Synodal translation and many other translations (from Masora): [His] "reward is the fruit of the womb."
- ↑ Kraus H.-J. Psalmen 60-150. - 2. Teilband. - 5. Aufl. - Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1978, S. 1036.
- ↑ Keil-Delitzsch: Vergeblich ist daß ihr frühe aufsteht / Und spät erst euch niedersetzet, / Essend Brot mühvoller Arbeit - / Ebenso gibt er seinem Liebling im Schlaf . Jewish Publication Society: It is vain for you that ye rise early, and sit up late, Ye that eat the bread of toil; so He giveth unto His beloved in sleep.
- ↑ Keil-Delitzsch 1867, S. 708.
- ↑ Kraus H.-J. op.cit., S. 1036.
- ↑ Moreover, in some respects, Clementine even worsened the text of the Septuagint. In the last verse of Ps. 126 in Klimentin units non confundetur cum loquetur , i.e. the action is attributed to the father, while Jerome translated in plural non confundentur, cum loquentur (exactly according to the Septuagint - οὐ καταισχυνθήσονται, ὅταν λαλῶσι), that is, (correctly) attributed the action to sons.
Literature
- Keil CF, Delitzsch F. Kommentar zum Alten Testament. Bd. 8. Lpz., 1867, S.707-709.
- Kraus H.-J. Psalmen 60-150. 2. Teilband. 8. Aufl. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-7887-2028-X .