The use of the Masoretic numbering betrays a misguided interreligious-ecumenical priority that dishonors the unanimous tradition of Greek & Latin Christendom AND falls foul of Hebrew tradition
My good friend and NLM colleague Gregory DiPippo shared with me some counterpoints concerning my article on Psalm numbering. In a spirit of seeking the truth, I would like to share these here.
<< 1. First, St Jerome did not do three translations of the Psalter. He did two emendations, correcting a Latin text already in use on the basis of the Greek. One of these has been lost, the other is the one in the breviary. He then did a translation directly from Hebrew.
2. The story of the 70 translators from which comes the term Septuagint is universally regarded as an historically tenuous legend at best. But even if every word of the traditional version were true, it would still apply only to the Torah. The other books, including the Psalms, were translated rather later, and not as the result of a unitary project, but piecemeal, by different translators working with different approaches. It is generally thought that the Psalms were done in the 2nd century BC, roughly 120 years after the translation of the Torah.
3. It is universally acknowledged that the divisions of the psalter found in the Septuagint are not fully accurate either, and in terms of the numbers of mistakes, the Septuagint has more. It incorrectly joins two Psalms into Psalm 113 (In exitu and Non nobis), and incorrectly divides a Psalm into two (114 Dilexi and 115 Credidi). It then incorrectly divides another Psalm into two (146 and 147), which is how it gets back to the same number of psalms in toto as the Hebrew.
4. It is also universally recognized that both traditions, the LXX and the Masoretic, unite two originally separate Psalms into one (our 26, their 27), and split a psalm that was originally one into two (our 41 and 42, their 42 and 43). These divisions may very well reflect some kind of liturgical use now lost and unrecoverable to us, but this brings up another point. The idea that the Hebrew division of 9 into 9 and 10 is a corruption of the Masorah is certainly a likely explanation, to be sure, but it is also possible that it too reflects a now lost and unrecoverable liturgical use. >>
The Psalms and their ordering are such an integral part of Catholic life right down to the bones. The change in their numbering in the Bibles and the Breviaries was one of the things that changed the air we breathe as Catholics after Vatican II so to speak.
When the article came to Ps 23 or 22 my memory was jogged. When I came back to the church somewhere in the 1990s, I was surprised that "The Lord is my shepherd" didn't ring a bell. On checking I found in an old version of the office of the dead, second nocturn of matins: Ps 22, "The Lord ruleth me and I shall want nothing, He has set me in a place of pasture"--Dominus regit me et nihil mihi deerit. Later I learned that in another of St. Jerome's translations he says "The Lord pastures me...
Well, that explains why Psalm 51 is not the same in this Eucharistic Adoration holy hour book I have that I read some of during my holy hour at the pink sisters here in Lincoln. That’s because it’s actually Psalm 50 in the DR.
Yes. And to think that for literally EVERY SAINT from the time of Christ down to the Protestant Revolt, and from there all the way to Vatican II, the Miserere was always Psalm 50. How arrogant modern Catholics are, to overturn such an unbroken tradition.
In the Byzantine Tradition, which utilizes the Psalms extensively, Psalm 50 is integral to our Divine Services. Psalm 50 is part of morning prayers (strictly speaking, it's used at the Third Hour) and the ordinary prayers of laymen. Psalm 50: 17 is used in the dialogue between the priest and deacon at the beginning of the Liturgy. The deacon prays Psalm 50 when he censes the people. It's part of Great Compline with Litiya (which is Compline, Mesonytikon and Matins put together with Litiya ❤️). Psalm 50 is also part of Parastas, the official funeral service for the deceased (notwithstanding the fact that one's eternal destiny is decided at the moment of death).
The only other Psalm that comes close is Psalm 118 which is said during Mesonytikon (Midnight Hour) and said twice during the the Great Fast - at midnight and the Sixth Hour (that's the entire Psalm btw).
Suggestion for a future article, Dr. K :
Re Psalm 118, how can poor sinners like ourselves sincerely pray Psalm 118 ? It seems like that Psalm is meant for saints and religious because David says things like:
"O how have I loved thy law, O Lord ! it is my meditation all the day. (Ps. 118: 97, Mem)
How many of us could *sincerely* pray that verse ? I know I'm not mediating "all the day" at work.
Are there any good Catholic commentaries that could shed light on this subject - praying sincerely with the Psalms ?
And I do love your line... AND falls foul of Hebrew tradition. The dear friend who helped with the transcription of the book about Pop's experiences would take a walk every week to discuss our efforts. Being of the same faith, her's so deep it shakes me, we'd digress from the book into conversations about our love for Him. one walk we came up with the idea He is our Jewish Boss. He was born a Jew, raised as a Jew, lived as a Jew, died as a jew, and came back from the dead as a Jew. I am flummoxed why some of us don't realize our spiritual ancestry, Judaism. My Dad and I love to have theological conversations. I remember one in particular. He said, "You know Smokey (his nickname for me - he wanted me born on July 4th and I did not show up until July 10th - so instead of going off like a firecracker I just smoked and fizzled for six days), I really admire The Prophet and the Buddha. But until they come back from the dead I am going to be a Jesus Man." And he was. When on forty-eight notice over a thousand people from coast to coast and Germany came to his funeral (he never made much money, grew up on a farm, never held a public office) my Godfather, a Diocesan priest gave the homily. He was my Mom's only living relative and he called my dad his best friend. He finished his homily with, "I have never met a man more like Jesus."
I recently got a Vulgate (Weber-Gryson, Deutsche Biblegesellschaft) and it has no capital letters and no punctuation! I like it. Switching back to modernized texts, even in Latin, feels like a loss of authenticity, the intrusion of the busy-body editor who wants to impose his help on you instead of just handing on what he received. (It has chapter and verse numbers, but I don't find them distracting, maybe just because I'm so used to them.)
It's quite an experience to return to ancient texts, some of which lack all punctuation and capitalization. It makes one appreciate even more both how many tools had to be taught as part of "grammar," and how so many interesting interpretations were possible for the Fathers (just think of how they differently divide some of the sentences in John's prologue).
I recently acquired this edition of the psalter that's translated from the LXX: https://www.ignatius.cc/publications-psalter.html. In addition to using the traditional numbering of the psalms, I've been generally impressed with how closely the translation is in line with the Vulgate (which would make sense). I don't particularly like the paper they used, but otherwise it's a beautiful edition.
Again my thanks to Dr Peter Kwasniewski for his tireless scholarship, and about the LXX and the Masoretic mess. I would recommend for further reading the Proceedings of the Ninth Fota International liturgical Confrence, 2016. Chapter 3 Rediscovering the Septuagint: Reception, Text, Canon by Joseph Broady.
The Orthodox Monastery of Holy Transfiguartion Monastery, Boston issued The Psalter According to the Seventy, 1974, and is still available. The Translators' Introduction makes the point that the Massoretic Text is hopelssly corruput - quoting the Biblical Scholar Oesterley, and having to use LXX to find the true meaning.
Ah, excellent! Thank you for recommending that essay. I believe I have the volume in question but did not know, or had forgotten, that it contained a piece on the LXX.
Somewhere in meh thirties my father, a survivor of the Death March on Bataan in WWII (his story is transcribed in a book 'Faithful: Because of Love A True Story of the Survivors of Bataan' (on Amazon) gave me a book of only the Psalms. Our daily readings almost always have a Psalm. Needless to say, I love the Psalms, particularly attracted to those attributed to King David. Excellent piece! Thank you!
Not really, I find strengths and weaknesses in all of them: Coverdale, Douay, King James, RSV, ASV... but overall I find the KJV versions resonate the most as English poetry.
My good friend and NLM colleague Gregory DiPippo shared with me some counterpoints concerning my article on Psalm numbering. In a spirit of seeking the truth, I would like to share these here.
<< 1. First, St Jerome did not do three translations of the Psalter. He did two emendations, correcting a Latin text already in use on the basis of the Greek. One of these has been lost, the other is the one in the breviary. He then did a translation directly from Hebrew.
2. The story of the 70 translators from which comes the term Septuagint is universally regarded as an historically tenuous legend at best. But even if every word of the traditional version were true, it would still apply only to the Torah. The other books, including the Psalms, were translated rather later, and not as the result of a unitary project, but piecemeal, by different translators working with different approaches. It is generally thought that the Psalms were done in the 2nd century BC, roughly 120 years after the translation of the Torah.
3. It is universally acknowledged that the divisions of the psalter found in the Septuagint are not fully accurate either, and in terms of the numbers of mistakes, the Septuagint has more. It incorrectly joins two Psalms into Psalm 113 (In exitu and Non nobis), and incorrectly divides a Psalm into two (114 Dilexi and 115 Credidi). It then incorrectly divides another Psalm into two (146 and 147), which is how it gets back to the same number of psalms in toto as the Hebrew.
4. It is also universally recognized that both traditions, the LXX and the Masoretic, unite two originally separate Psalms into one (our 26, their 27), and split a psalm that was originally one into two (our 41 and 42, their 42 and 43). These divisions may very well reflect some kind of liturgical use now lost and unrecoverable to us, but this brings up another point. The idea that the Hebrew division of 9 into 9 and 10 is a corruption of the Masorah is certainly a likely explanation, to be sure, but it is also possible that it too reflects a now lost and unrecoverable liturgical use. >>
The Psalms and their ordering are such an integral part of Catholic life right down to the bones. The change in their numbering in the Bibles and the Breviaries was one of the things that changed the air we breathe as Catholics after Vatican II so to speak.
When the article came to Ps 23 or 22 my memory was jogged. When I came back to the church somewhere in the 1990s, I was surprised that "The Lord is my shepherd" didn't ring a bell. On checking I found in an old version of the office of the dead, second nocturn of matins: Ps 22, "The Lord ruleth me and I shall want nothing, He has set me in a place of pasture"--Dominus regit me et nihil mihi deerit. Later I learned that in another of St. Jerome's translations he says "The Lord pastures me...
I was a little sad when I learned the Latin for Ps. 22. It seems I should look up the Greek Septuagint version.
The above Latin is from St. Jerome's Vulgate, translated by him from the Septuagint.
Well, that explains why Psalm 51 is not the same in this Eucharistic Adoration holy hour book I have that I read some of during my holy hour at the pink sisters here in Lincoln. That’s because it’s actually Psalm 50 in the DR.
Yes. And to think that for literally EVERY SAINT from the time of Christ down to the Protestant Revolt, and from there all the way to Vatican II, the Miserere was always Psalm 50. How arrogant modern Catholics are, to overturn such an unbroken tradition.
Well, I can remedy that in my book. I can just take a sharpie and turn Psalm 51 into psalm 50. :)
In the Byzantine Tradition, which utilizes the Psalms extensively, Psalm 50 is integral to our Divine Services. Psalm 50 is part of morning prayers (strictly speaking, it's used at the Third Hour) and the ordinary prayers of laymen. Psalm 50: 17 is used in the dialogue between the priest and deacon at the beginning of the Liturgy. The deacon prays Psalm 50 when he censes the people. It's part of Great Compline with Litiya (which is Compline, Mesonytikon and Matins put together with Litiya ❤️). Psalm 50 is also part of Parastas, the official funeral service for the deceased (notwithstanding the fact that one's eternal destiny is decided at the moment of death).
The only other Psalm that comes close is Psalm 118 which is said during Mesonytikon (Midnight Hour) and said twice during the the Great Fast - at midnight and the Sixth Hour (that's the entire Psalm btw).
Suggestion for a future article, Dr. K :
Re Psalm 118, how can poor sinners like ourselves sincerely pray Psalm 118 ? It seems like that Psalm is meant for saints and religious because David says things like:
"O how have I loved thy law, O Lord ! it is my meditation all the day. (Ps. 118: 97, Mem)
How many of us could *sincerely* pray that verse ? I know I'm not mediating "all the day" at work.
Are there any good Catholic commentaries that could shed light on this subject - praying sincerely with the Psalms ?
Just wondering. Thank you !
And I do love your line... AND falls foul of Hebrew tradition. The dear friend who helped with the transcription of the book about Pop's experiences would take a walk every week to discuss our efforts. Being of the same faith, her's so deep it shakes me, we'd digress from the book into conversations about our love for Him. one walk we came up with the idea He is our Jewish Boss. He was born a Jew, raised as a Jew, lived as a Jew, died as a jew, and came back from the dead as a Jew. I am flummoxed why some of us don't realize our spiritual ancestry, Judaism. My Dad and I love to have theological conversations. I remember one in particular. He said, "You know Smokey (his nickname for me - he wanted me born on July 4th and I did not show up until July 10th - so instead of going off like a firecracker I just smoked and fizzled for six days), I really admire The Prophet and the Buddha. But until they come back from the dead I am going to be a Jesus Man." And he was. When on forty-eight notice over a thousand people from coast to coast and Germany came to his funeral (he never made much money, grew up on a farm, never held a public office) my Godfather, a Diocesan priest gave the homily. He was my Mom's only living relative and he called my dad his best friend. He finished his homily with, "I have never met a man more like Jesus."
I recently got a Vulgate (Weber-Gryson, Deutsche Biblegesellschaft) and it has no capital letters and no punctuation! I like it. Switching back to modernized texts, even in Latin, feels like a loss of authenticity, the intrusion of the busy-body editor who wants to impose his help on you instead of just handing on what he received. (It has chapter and verse numbers, but I don't find them distracting, maybe just because I'm so used to them.)
It's quite an experience to return to ancient texts, some of which lack all punctuation and capitalization. It makes one appreciate even more both how many tools had to be taught as part of "grammar," and how so many interesting interpretations were possible for the Fathers (just think of how they differently divide some of the sentences in John's prologue).
Dr K, does that beautiful Biblioteca Bible set contain all the books in a Catholic Bible?
Yes, it does, though in Protestant fashion it refers to them as Apocrypha.
Thank you.
I recently acquired this edition of the psalter that's translated from the LXX: https://www.ignatius.cc/publications-psalter.html. In addition to using the traditional numbering of the psalms, I've been generally impressed with how closely the translation is in line with the Vulgate (which would make sense). I don't particularly like the paper they used, but otherwise it's a beautiful edition.
Again my thanks to Dr Peter Kwasniewski for his tireless scholarship, and about the LXX and the Masoretic mess. I would recommend for further reading the Proceedings of the Ninth Fota International liturgical Confrence, 2016. Chapter 3 Rediscovering the Septuagint: Reception, Text, Canon by Joseph Broady.
The Orthodox Monastery of Holy Transfiguartion Monastery, Boston issued The Psalter According to the Seventy, 1974, and is still available. The Translators' Introduction makes the point that the Massoretic Text is hopelssly corruput - quoting the Biblical Scholar Oesterley, and having to use LXX to find the true meaning.
Ah, excellent! Thank you for recommending that essay. I believe I have the volume in question but did not know, or had forgotten, that it contained a piece on the LXX.
I've always wondered about these two numbering systems. Now I know everything about it. Thank you!
Somewhere in meh thirties my father, a survivor of the Death March on Bataan in WWII (his story is transcribed in a book 'Faithful: Because of Love A True Story of the Survivors of Bataan' (on Amazon) gave me a book of only the Psalms. Our daily readings almost always have a Psalm. Needless to say, I love the Psalms, particularly attracted to those attributed to King David. Excellent piece! Thank you!
Couldn’t find it on Amazon, Mr Charles. Could you double-check?
try this link... https://www.amazon.com/Faithful-Because-Survival-Defenders-Bataan/dp/B09WQDWVZ7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3U966HB5H69MO&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KtmqhvRSr2i1s-0_atQ13uRL-En0IdcWXiJ2_UCFHZHnPUJLFyUFHQce3CtoPOr0Ccw8nTK8j102gP6-NmMGcHRSNefw6n93tzH-cyeF7S4.zol45l8PUkAl7ZP7KTuyhzuDJqcK7u5z7SSKsNDaXfM&dib_tag=se&keywords=faithful+clement+charles&qid=1729602803&sprefix=faithful+clem%2Caps%2C174&sr=8-1
Thanks!
Relatedly, can anyone recommend a beautiful edition of the traditional Latin psalter?
I'm not aware of an edition just of the psalms. Of the Vulgate:
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2022/08/announcing-new-facsimile-edition-of.html
https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2024/09/review-of-new-reprint-of-old-edition-of.html
Would you, by any chance, know what Bibles in French or German are the closest to the Vulgate/Catholic bible?
Out of curiosity, do you have a preferred English version of the psalter?
Not really, I find strengths and weaknesses in all of them: Coverdale, Douay, King James, RSV, ASV... but overall I find the KJV versions resonate the most as English poetry.