Psalms of Solomon

Historical printed page 643

18 (το) (2) THE PSALMS OF SOLOMON 9. 17—11. 3 And didst set Thy name upon us, O Lord, And Thou wilt not reject (us) for ever. Thou madest a covenant with our fathers concerning us ; And we hope in Thee, when our soul turneth (unto Thee). The mercy of the Lord be upon the house of Israel for ever and ever. X. A Hymn. Of Solomon. O x Happy is the man whom the Lord remembereth with reproving, And whom He restraineth from the way of evil with strokes, That he may be cleansed from sin, that it may not be multiplied. 2 He that maketh ready his back for strokes shall be cleansed, For the Lord is good to them that endure chastening. 3 For He maketh straight the ways of the righteous, And doth not pervert (them) by His chastening. 4 And the mercy of the Lord (is) upon them that love Him in truth, (4) 5 For the testimony (is) in the law of the eternal covenant, And the Lord remembereth His servants in mercy. The testimony of the Lord (is) on the ways of men in (His) visitation. 6 (5) Just and kind is our Lord in His judgements for ever, And Israel shall praise the name of the Lord in gladness. 7 (6) And the pious shall give thanks in the assembly of the people ; And on the poor shall God have mercy in the gladness (?) of Israel ; (7) For good and merciful is God for ever, And the assemblies of Israel shall glorify the name of the Lord. The salvation of the Lord be upon the house of Israel unto everlasting gladness ! ΧΙ. Of Solomon. Unto expectation. Blow ye in Zion on the trumpet to summon (the) saints, Cause ye to be heard in Jerusalem the voice of him that bringeth good tidings ; For God hath had pity on Israel in visiting them. Stand on the height, O Jerusalem, and behold thy children, From the East and the West, gathered together by the Lord ; 18, Thou wilt not reject. So, by conjecture, von Gebhardt ; cp. vii. 8. Ryle and James, by conjecture, ‘ Thou wilt abide (among us) for ever.’ (τ Thou wilt not cease’. X. TitLt. A Hymn JLCH; ‘In hymns’ R. 1. whom He restraineth. So S, and so, perhaps, 9, though S may be merely a free rendering of ἐκωλύθη, which Fritzsche tentatively suggested was the original text of @&; all codices of τ read ἐκυκλώθη, which Ryle and James render, on the authority of Exod. xiii. 18, Deut. xxxii. 12. @& ‘and he is fenced about’. That he may be cleansed. 39, perhaps, ‘and whom He cleanseth’; cp. ix. 12. 3. % ‘ For the way of the righteous is straight, and His chastening doth not pervert it’. maketh. (τ ‘will make’. doth not pervert. & ‘will not pervert’. 4. remembereth. (τ ‘ will remember’. 5. The witness to God’s mercy is to be found written in the Law, and constantly in His visitations of men in their daily lives (or, ways) ; such may be the meaning of the verse. 6. kind. & ὅσιος ; but this probably rendered DN, as in Ps, cxlv. (cxliv.) 17. % ‘upright’. our Lord. 5S ‘our God’, in His judgements. 5S ‘in all His judgements’. forever. 5% omits. the Lord. J + ‘for ever’. 7. God. S$ ‘the Lord’. the gladness (7) of Israel. A term for the Messianic age? Cp. Ryle and James. Or does ‘ gladness’ conceal some term more parallel to ‘ assembly’ in the previous line ? and was ‘ the poor’ originally the subject, and ‘ God’ the object of a verb concealed by ἐλεήσει ἢ Kit. renders the line, ‘ Because God has pity on the poor, to the joy of Israel.’ 8. The salvation of the Lord be upon, or, rather, in view of the position of τοῦ κυρίου, ‘ Unto the Lord belongeth the salvation (to be wrought for).’ XI. For the relation of this Psalm to Baruch iv. 36-v. 9, and of both passages to Isa. xl-Ixvi, see Ryle and James, pp. Ixxii ff.; but also above, p. 628. 1. Based on Joel ii. 1. The exact form of # here cannot be determined ; Zossz/y the last half of the line ran, ‘the holy trumpet of Jubilee’ (Ryle and James). 2. Cause ye to be heard. & % ‘proclaim’. 643 Tt2