Until When? (Harp-song 13)

Today’s readings are

Psalms 119:1-24; 12; 13; 14

1 Kings 3:1-15

Acts 27:9-26

Mark 14:1-11



Psalm 13 is what it’s about today.



Every time I look up a psalm in the online Hebrew Interlinear, I feel compelled to render it as close to the Hebrew translation as possible. The psalms sound completely different when I do this, and occasionally I have to laugh because I get an echo of a Yiddish accent in my mind’s ear. I mean, just listen to the first line!

I have to confess that I’ve been having trouble with the Psalms as they are translated in most contemporary Bibles. They sound whiny and vindictive to me. I really don’t think that is how they were intended to sound when they were originally written. The other thing that bugs me is the word “psalm” itself. In Hebrew the word is “mizmor” and it just means a song or melody with accompaniment on the harp. The word “psalm” comes from the Old English psealm, salm; and the Greek psalmos— song sung to a harp.

So, here is my rendition of the 13th song in the Book of Harp-songs:

Harp-song 13

Until when, Yahweh, must you keep on forever forgetting me?

Until when must you hide your faces from me?

Until when must I be asking advice from my soul, heartsick every day?

Until when must my enemy be the boss of me?

Look!  Answer me!

Yahweh, Lord of me, light my eyes!

For fear that I might sleep the death;

for fear that the one who’s my enemy will say, “I win!”—

My opponents will rub it in that I’m slipping!

And me— In your kindness I trust; delighting my heart in your rescue of me.

I will sing to Yahweh— who returned the favor on me.