Monday, April 23, 2012

Monday with the New Psalms: Psalm 123 (122)

Psalm 123

1 A song of ascents.
To you I raise my eyes,
to you enthroned in heaven.

2 Yes, like the eyes of servants
on the hand of their masters,
like the eyes of a maid
on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on the LORD our God,
till we are shown favor.

3 Show us favor, LORD, show us favor,
for we have our fill of contempt.

4 Our souls are more than sated
with mockery from the insolent,
with contempt from the arrogant.
--NABRE


1 A Song of Ascents.
To you have I lifted up my eyes,
you who dwell in the heavens.

2 Behold, like the eyes of slaves
on the hand of their lords,
like the eyes of a servant
on the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes are on the LORD our God,
till he shows us his mercy.

3 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy.
We are filled with contempt.

4 Indeed, all too full is our soul
with the scorn of the arrogant,
the disdain of the proud.
--Revised Grail Psalms


NABRE Notes:
[Psalm 123] A lament that begins as a prayer of an individual (Ps 123:1), who expresses by a touching comparison exemplary confidence in God (Ps 123:2). The Psalm ends in prayer that God relieve the people’s humiliation at the hands of the arrogant (Ps 123:3–4).
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6 comments:

  1. Dan Z.April 23, 2012 at 8:23 AM

    Grail wind this round. Mercy over "favor".

    ReplyDelete
  2. TimothyApril 23, 2012 at 8:58 AM

    The NASB goes with 'gracious' but most others stick with 'mercy'.

    ReplyDelete
  3. rolfApril 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM

    Both are good, with a slight nod the the Revised Grail version. In verse 3, I prefer; 'have mercy on us' (Revised Grail, RSV, NRSV, NETS, D-R, etc.) to 'show us favor' (NABRE, REB). Again I prefer the RSV-2CE version of this Psalm:

    1 To you I lift up my eyes,
    O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

    2 Behold, as the eyes of servants
    look to the hand of their master,
    as the eyes of a maid to the hand
    of her mistress,
    so our eyes look to the Lord our God, till he have mercy upon us.

    3 Have mercy upon us, O Lord,
    have mercy upon us,
    for we have had more than enough of contempt.

    4 Too long our soul has been sated
    with the scorn of those who are at ease, the contempt of the proud.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RussApril 23, 2012 at 2:13 PM

    A post-exilic psalm?

    ReplyDelete
  5. ChrysostomApril 23, 2012 at 7:13 PM

    Grail by far. "Mercy" is the best rendering here.

    That's one reason I dislike the NASB Psalms: they're full of "favor" and the unbearably non-poetic "loving-kindness".

    ReplyDelete
  6. BrendonApril 24, 2012 at 2:48 AM

    I prefer the Grail. What I'd really like is for the Psalm responses in the Lectionary to also be from the Grail.

    ReplyDelete