This Sunday may be observed as either the Conversion of Paul or Epiphany.
For the sake of compiling a complete set of responsorial psalms for use in future years, I am providing Psalm 27 as set for Epiphany 3. This is verses 1 and 4 – 11 (numbered 4 – 9 in Bibles).
Psalm 27 is designated a psalm of David. The Septuagint adds the ascription ‘before the anointing’, suggesting it was written by David before he became king.
My translation begins with the familiar opening, ‘The Lord is my light and my salvation’, but instead of the parallel phrase often translated as ‘The Lord is the stronghold of my life,’ I have used ‘The Lord defends my life,’ which is more natural in verb-loving English. Each of these statements is followed by a question; for these, I have reflected the Hebrew use of two differing verbs, opting for ‘fear’ and ‘dread’ rather than using ‘be afraid’ to make the text flow more easily.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation,
Whom should I fear?
The Lord defends my life,
Whom should I dread?
In verse 4, most translations retain the Hebrew word order and begin, ‘One thing I have asked of the Lord’. In English, this emphasises ‘he ‘one and only thing’ at the expense of more natural word order. Other translations leave the asking implicated, using ‘desire’ as the main verb. The Hebrew also mentions the psalmist seeking as well as asking or desiring but I have decided to condense this asking, desiring and seeking into a single line, beginning with the subject (I) so that it fits into the responsorial format more neatly.
The second line of verse 4 also needed condensing to make the meaning clearer and the text easier to sing. So, rather than ‘dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life’, I have used ‘spend my whole life in God’s house’.
In verse 5 I have glossed what the protagonist will do in the Temple as ‘pray’ rather than the more usual (and confusing) ‘enquire’ or the lengthier paraphrase ‘meditate’.
4 I asked the Lord for one thing I desire:
To spend my whole life in God’s house
5 so I may gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and pray in God’s Temple.
It was difficult to decide what tense to use in verse 6. The Hebrew uses an imperfect tense (yiqtol), which indicates an ongoing, unfinished or open-ended action but doesn’t specify if this is in the past, present or future. It could therefore be translated as a continuous past or present (e.g. ‘was hiding’ or ‘hiding’) or a future tense (e.g. ‘he will hide’ or ‘he shall hide’).
The Septuagint (LXX) uses the aorist tense, which is usually translated as a simple past (Brenton’s English Septuagint translates the verbs as ‘he hid me... he sheltered me, he set me up…). Most English translations interpret this as a future tense but I have decided to follow LLX and use the simple past so that it contrasts with the immediacy of verse 7.
The other issue in verse 6 was how to translate the word variously translated as ‘pavilion’ (AV) ‘dwelling’ (NIV), ‘shelter’ (NRSVue/CW) and ‘tabernacle’ (BCP). I have chosen to use ‘tent’ as a simpler synonym of ‘pavilion’ to reduce the length of the line.
Having struggled with the tense in verse 6, verse 7 is much clearer as it begins ‘And now’, firmly situating it in the present. However, many translations use the passive ‘my head shall be lifted up’. Here, I have decided to use the active voice (‘I hold my head high’) as it makes more sense in English (and saves syllables!). Verse 8 is used as the refrain.
6 The Lord hid me in God’s tent on my day of distress,
The Lord hid me in the secrecy of the tabernacle
and raised me upon a rock.
7 And see now, I hold my head high over my surrounding enemies.
Verse 9 was relatively straightforward to translate but verse 10 was trickier. Lots of translations don’t seem to know how to render what is literally something along the lines of ‘my heart said of you seek my face’. For example, the AV has ‘When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek,’ while the NIV has “My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek,” and LXX has ‘My heart said to thee, I have diligently sought thy face: thy face, O Lord, I will seek.’ (Brenton’s English Septuagint). I have assumed that the psalmist’s heart (or conscience) is reflecting the will of God.
9 O Lord, hear my voice calling,
have mercy on me and answer me.
10 You said in my heart, “Seek my face!”
Your face, Lord, I will seek.
In the final stanza, most translations have the psalmist asking God not to turn him away, whereas LXX asks God not to turn away, forming a clearer parallelism with the first line, ‘Turn not thy face away from me’ (BES). Note that this differs from the Hebrew, which uses the verb ‘hide’ at the beginning of the verse. I decided to retain the two verbs from the Hebrew (‘hide’ and ‘turn’) but follow LXX in asking God not to turn away, thus strengthening the parallelism and leading in to verse 12, which asks God not to abandon or leave the psalmist.
11 Do not hide your face from me
Nor turn away from your servant in anger.
12 You have been my helper,
Do not abandon or leave me, O God my Saviour.
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