Psalm 122
1 A song of ascents. Of David.
I rejoiced when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
2 And now our feet are standing
within your gates, Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem, built as a city,
walled round about.
4 There the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD,
As it was decreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
5 There are the thrones of justice,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 For the peace of Jerusalem pray:
“May those who love you prosper!
7 May peace be within your ramparts,
prosperity within your towers.”
8 For the sake of my brothers and friends I say,
“Peace be with you.”
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD, our God,
I pray for your good.
--NABRE
1 A Song of Ascent. Of David.
I rejoiced when they said to me,
"Let us go to the house of the LORD."
2 And now our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built as a city
bonded as one together.
4 It is there that the tribes go up,
the tribes of the LORD.
For Israel's witness it is
to praise the name of the LORD.
5 There were set thrones for judgment,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 For the peace of Jerusalem pray,
"May they prosper, those who love you."
7 May peace abide in your walls,
and security be in your towers.
8 For the sake of my family and friends,
let me say, "Peace upon you."
9 For the sake of the house of the LORD, our God,
I will seek good things for you.
--Revised Grail Psalms
NABRE Notes:
[Psalm 122] A song of Zion, sung by pilgrims obeying the law to visit Jerusalem three times on a journey. The singer anticipates joining the procession into the city (Ps 122:1–3). Jerusalem is a place of encounter, where the people praise God (Ps 122:4) and hear the divine justice mediated by the king (Ps 122:5). The very buildings bespeak God’s power (cf. Ps 48:13–15). May the grace of this place transform the people’s lives (Ps 122:6–9)!
[122:3] Walled round about: lit., “which is joined to it,” probably referring both to the density of the buildings and to the dense population.
5 comments:
In this, the English and meaning of the Grail is clearly and significantly superior to the NABRE ("a city walled around"?), but I can not comment on its accuracy to the Hebrew. The Grail conforms to the Rahlf's I have more precisely, but neither translation can be called literal.
These two are nearly identical. I'd call it a draw.
I will give a slight edge to the Revised Grail Psalms which flowed a little more smoothly. I think the NABRE note to verse three shows this verse can be translated 'compact together' (D-R) or 'compact unity' (NAB 1970), Having been to the old city of Jerusalem, I can understand how being 'walled round about' can cause things in the city with a large (dense) population to feel compacted together, that was the feeling I had when I was there.
I've been in old-style cities (i.e. with fortifications aplenty), and the fortifications never made them seem smaller than they were - by and large they were small, at least originally, and grew on a sprawling, unplanned plan that left mismatched buildings to be abutted to each other and built against each other, down curving, poorly-paved, and endlessly merging and splitting roads. That's what makes them feel small, chaotic, and "European" to the American mind: not the walls!
I'm actually pretty sure there was a time when the difference between "city" and everything else was that the former had a wall and everything else didn't (except for the fortress, which was all wall).
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