Excerpt from
Psalms
by Konrad R. Schaefer, O.S.B.
© The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced by any means, without the written permission of The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321.

CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Imagery
Repetition and Parallelism
The Psalms in Context and Sequence
Shifting Address and Modes of Discourse
A School of Prayer
Disease, Death, and the Enemy
Prayer and the Curse
Book One, Psalms 1–41
Book Two, Psalms 42–72
Book Three, Psalms 73–89
Book Four, Psalms 90–106
Book Five, Psalms 107–150
Appendices
Superscriptions
Prehistory of the Psalter
Literary Types
For Further Reading

Preface
Some people never tire of reading the psalms. Recently a friend told me that she has read and listened to them repeatedly over the past few years. The phrases and images have become so familiar to her that they are almost memorized yet still unsettling. The content is always experienced in novel ways, and repeated contact awards surprisingly new insights.

Even so, recitation of the psalms can become tiring, the questions about them are in some respects unanswerable and the obstacles to their appropriation insurmountable. The images, phrases and ideas are sometimes far from the contemporary reader's life and interest. The present volume seeks to respond to this difficulty by adopting a particular focus in the appreciation of the psalms as poems which chart a profound and vital relationship with God, with all the ups and downs that such a relationship implies. The psalms have a literary context, the Bible. As Sacred Scripture they share the historical and cultural milieu of the Ancient Near East. They have had pride of place in the liturgy since time immemorial. In commenting on each psalm, I will pay special attention to their poetic elements, while also respecting their historical context and liturgical use.

We do not know who composed these texts, whether they are the product of a single hand or various hands in successive stages of redaction, honed by continuous use in the life of a people at prayer. Tradition has honored an Israelite shepherd, musician, king, and messiah named David as the authority behind the psalms. To respect this and yet to honor the countless other hands and voices which contributed to their inspiration, I have dubbed the author "the poet" or "psalmist."

The aim in the Introduction is to synthesize some preliminary considerations. The Psalms in Context and Sequence represents a relatively new emphasis in the study of the book known in Hebrew as Tehillim or "Praises." Just as successive chapters may form a novel, so the Psalter taken as a whole has a shape analogous to a plot. Each psalm has a literary context within the Psalter, which has a design like that of a Jewish or Christian prayer book or hymnal. A hymnal, for example, may be arranged according to the liturgical cycle, in which a selection of hymns and prayers follows the sequence of the weekly or annual celebrations. It is instructive to locate a psalm in the plot of the Psalter as one studies or recites it, even though the psalms are usually read and prayed in isolation from that larger context.

The section on Shifting Address and Modes of Discourse shows an appreciation for the psalms as liturgical poems. That is how they are approached by many Jews and Christians who pray them. A psalm cannot be appreciated for its deepest meaning without acknowledging this aspect; otherwise, it may be too easily judged to be just a poem which is either fittingly well-done or untidy.

The remaining sections expound the hermeneutical considerations of the psalms. The Psalter was preserved in various forms, not just because it is a body of good classical Hebrew poetry, but because the reader has been interested in what he or she has read and prayed. Part of literary appreciation is the meaning of the text in the poet's context, and how this may be transposed and interpreted in the contemporary life of the reader who wishes to contact God and understand life in relation to God. The psalms, after all, represent the poet's efforts at self-expression in this relation. Thus, the Psalter is A School of Prayer. The section on Disease, Death, and the Enemy summarizes a theme which risks an overly literal interpretation, which in turn could divorce these texts from the author's intent and remove them from the reader's life. A sore spot in the Hebrew Psalter is violent rhetoric and the use of the curse in a religious context. The treatment of this theme is also hermeneutical. What does the poet mean by venting in this objectionable fashion? How can such harsh expressions be read and appreciated today? I suggest that the author was not as backward or surly as some readers might suppose. A benign judgment on the use of violence in the Psalter allows the reader freer scope in the appreciation of its poetry.

In the commentary I have not catalogued the psalms according to literary types. This is the slant of many other studies. Rather, I present a mental snapshot of the psalm and highlight some of the contours of the poetry, the phrases and images which otherwise may be lost on the reader who approaches the psalms in translation. Thus, a decision has been made in the commentary to identify the dynamics of the poetic discourse and thus enhance the reader's appreciation of the rhetoric and imagery, which are major keys to the meaning of the psalms.

The present commentary, based on the Hebrew text, is designed to be used alongside the nrsv translation with its chapter and verse divisions. This version does not count among the verses the psalm captions, like "To the leader: with stringed instruments; according to The Sheminith. A Psalm of David" (Psalm 6). Thus, the Hebrew verse numbering used in some versions may differ by one or two digits from that cited here. For example, nrsv 6:1 = Hebrew 6:2 nrsv 60:1 = Hebrew 60:3.

Where a comment hinges on the Hebrew verse in discussion, this is indicated. When appreciation of the inner dynamic of a psalm depends on the evidence of verbal or repetitive patterns in Hebrew, a more literal translation is offered, along with the nrsv's wording. The rendering "Lord" (in small capitals) represents the divine name (yhwh) in Hebrew; "Lord" translates the Hebrew ádønåy.

The poet exploits repetition and double meanings to good effect, and these techniques result in certain homogeneity of the text. As literary techniques, they create echoes that weave together what might otherwise appear to be disparate texts. Elements of Hebrew poetry like rhythm, alliteration, and assonance are difficult to represent in translation, and these will not be treated in the commentary, except in some instances where such a feature highlights the meaning or signals an inner dynamic in a poem. English composition requires the use of pronouns. This is not the case in Hebrew, where the verbal inflection includes the pronominal sense. The Hebrew pronoun is often employed for emphasis, in which case mention of it is made in the commentary.

Strophic division and the disposition of a psalm in paragraphs is a matter of conjecture and interpretation. Nonetheless, identifiable sections and successive movements are part of the drama and literary art of the poem. Sectional divisions are usually indicated by repetition (including the refrain) and framing devices or inclusion. Numerical patterns (for example, the sevenfold repetition of a word) and shifts of address or mood also help to delimit a section. In the few psalms which evidence a clear division, I apply the term strophe for the sections. In many psalms an alternate division from that in the nrsv is proposed, based on the literary and thematic factors identified in the commentary. Usually I refer to successive movements, in an effort to respect the flow of the composition and highlight the dramatic and liturgical action