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).
6 comments:
Grail wind this round. Mercy over "favor".
The NASB goes with 'gracious' but most others stick with 'mercy'.
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.
A post-exilic psalm?
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".
I prefer the Grail. What I'd really like is for the Psalm responses in the Lectionary to also be from the Grail.
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