Barrick, "Early Versions & Psalm 23"
ETS -- November 2005
© William D. Barrick 2005
7
4d: Just the paraphrastic Targum displays a variation in translation here:
yd[sb $rmymd
("your Memra is my support"). The
divine Memra occurs in the Targum of Psalms "exclusively where God and humans relate to one another, as a device for keeping a
proper distance between them."
23
In this particular occurrence it has the potential of being hypostatic and perhaps is used to "obviate
anthropomorphism."
24
4e: Interpretive expansion accounts for the Targum's
$tyrwaw acyrt $adgyt
("your straight staff and your law"), an
obvious use of an allegorical hermeneutic.
4f: All ancient versions are identical down to the emphatic personal pronoun.
5a
!x'ªl.vu Yyn:"p'l. %roì[]T;
h`toi,masaj evnw,pio,n mou
tra,pezan
rwtp ymdq trds
@yqz anm
)r{wtP yMdQ trds
parasti in conspectus
meo mensam [pones
coram me mensam]
b
yr"_r>co dg<n<ï
evx evnanti,aj tw/n
qlibo,ntwn
25
me
yyqy[m lbq
]yBBdL(B* LBQwL
adversus eos qui
tribulant me [ex adverso
hostium meorum]
c
yviªaro÷ !m,V,îb; T'n>V:ßDI
evli,panaj evn evlai,w| th.n
kefalh,n mou
aypw[b atnyhd
hymvwg aymyjp
vyr atwbr xvmbw
yynhk
)x$MB y$Yr tNhd)
inpinguasti in [delete in]
oleo caput meum
d
`hy")w"r> ysiîAK
kai. to. Poth,rio,n sou
mequ,skon w`j kra,tiston
`axwwr ydylk
])Yx kY) )wrM ysKw
et calix meus inebrians
quam praeclarus est
[calix meus inebrians]
Verse 5
5a: Targumic variation continues with
@yqz anm
("manna is raised up"), an example of double translation to give two
different explanations for a Hebrew word (here,
!x'l.vu
). The repeat appearance of manna (cp. v. 3) reminds the reader of the
translator's application of this psalm to Israel's wilderness experience.
23
Stec, 12.
24
Cp. Marcus Jastrow, comp., A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature, 2vols. (Brooklyn, N.Y.:
P. Shalom Pub. Inc., 1967), 1:775.
25
Symmachus translates as evndesmou,ntwn me ("who tie me up" or "who bind me")--Field, 2:121.