Psalms of Solomon

Historical printed page 647

THE PSALMS OF SOLOMON 16. 2—17. 3 (I had been) nigh unto the gates of Sheol with the sinner, 3 when my soul departed from the Lord God of Israel— Had not the Lord helped me with His everlasting mercy. 4 He pricked me, as a horse is pricked, that I might serve Him, My saviour and helper at all times saved me. 5 I will give thanks unto Thee, O God, for Thou hast helped me to (my) salvation ; And hast not counted me with sinners to (my) destruction. 6 Remove not Thy mercy from me, O God, Nor Thy memorial from my heart until I die. 7 Rule me, O God, (keeping me back) from wicked sin, And from every wicked woman that causeth the simple to stumble. g And let not the beauty of a lawless woman beguile me, Nor any one that is subject to (?) unprofitable sin. 9 Establish the works of my hands before Thee, And preserve my goings in the remembrance of Thee. το Protect my tongue and my lips with words of truth; Anger and unreasoning wrath put far from me. τι Murmuring, and impatience in affliction, remove far from me, When, if I sin, Thou chastenest me that I may return (unto Thee). __ 12 But with goodwill and cheerfulness support my soul ; ; When Thou strengthenest my soul, what is given (to me) will be sufficient for me. 13 For if Thou givest not strength, Who can endure chastisement with poverty ? _ 14 When a man is rebuked by means of his corruption, Thy testing (of him) is in his flesh and in the affliction of poverty. 15 If the righteous endureth in all these (trials), he shall receive mercy from the Lord. XVII. A Psalm. Of Solomon. With Song. Of the King. 17 τ Lord, Thou art our King for ever and ever, , For in Thee, O God, doth our soul glory. 2 How long are the days of man’s life upon the earth? As are his days, so is the hope (set) upon him. 3 But we hope in God, our deliverer ; (2) that ὕπνου is due to a misplaced gloss or a corrupt dittograph in ® (NNW ΤΣ for NNW3); and (3) that καταφθορᾷ, as in Ps. xlix. 9, and as more frequently διαφθορά, was a misrendering of NNW, ‘pit’. The actual readings of the MSS. are ‘in corruption of sleep’ (J C H), (in) ‘sleep of corruption’ (S, which perchance represents the order of the two words in the original text of G&), and ‘in heaviness (καταφορᾷ) of sleep’ (R L). When (I was) far, τῷ μακράν. (ἃ lacks the ἐν and the pronoun which should normally be present, if the sense implied by the translation was intended. 5S ,5; but this is inconclusive as to the reading of (τ, Von Gebhardt for ὕπνου τῷ conjectures ὑπνοῦτῶ = ὑπνούντων ; then render ‘ (sunk) in the heaviness of them that sleep afar from God’. 3. Lord 5 om. ‘ Lord’. 4. as a horse is pricked. Lit. ‘like the goad of a horse’; ὡς κέντρον ἵππου, perhaps in #) simply 2773 ‘as with a goad’, that I might serve Him. (ἃ ἐπὶ τὴν γρηγόρησιν αὐτοῦ, which Ryle and James render ‘that I might watch unto him’. 35 perhaps yay) ; cp. iii. 2 note. 8. Nor any one. G& ‘nor of any thing’ (or ‘of any one’). The translation ‘ subject to’ presupposes a very ques- tionable construction in &. Ryle and James conjecture πᾶν τὸ συγκείμενον for παντὸς ὑποκειμένου, render ‘ Nor aught that consisteth in sinful vanity’. 5% ‘ Nor any sin that is’, which seems to be a paraphrase of &. 9. before Thee. 3 = ἐνώπιον cov, which is probably the original whence the readings ἐν rwrw σου (J) and ἐν τόπῳ σου (all other MSS. of 61 arose. Renderings of conjectural emendations that have been suggested are, ‘in thy fear’, ‘in thy word’. 14. The sense is obscure. ‘A man’; & ‘asoul’. ‘Corruption’; cp. xiv. 4. 15. Or, ‘If the righteous endureth, in the midst of these trials he shall receive,’ &c. XVII. TitLe. Cp. xv. 1. 1. and ever, For in Thee ... doth. Or, perhaps, reading καὶ ἔτι for καὶ ἔτι ὅτι, ‘And yet (cp. Ps. xlii. 6, 11) in Thee . . . shall.’ 2. How long are the days. (ἃ ‘and what is the time’. the . (ἃ ‘his hope’. Transitory as is man’s life, so transitory is the hope which one man places in another ; but (v. 3) the hope placed in God is eternal. 3. Mercy for Israel; judgement for the nations. hope. So J; al. ‘ will hope’. ᾿ 647