Exegetical Guesswork
Therefore, his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. Psalm 73:10 ESV
Turn back – Sometimes the biblical text that we have doesn’t seem to make any sense at all. Alter notes that this cryptic verse “has almost certainly suffered mangling in scribal transmission.”[1] Alter follows the proposed emendation of Hans-Joachim Kraus, changing the Hebrew to read (in translation) “they lap up their words” rather than “and find no fault” (ESV), “waters of a full cup are wrung out to them” (KJV), “waters of abundance are drunk by them,”(NASB), or “drink up waters of abundance” (NIV). Alter is probably right. In this case, it’s guesswork. There is little to commend the ESV. The other translations are attempts to make what seems unintelligible at least passable. About all we know for sure is that the Hebrew verb shuv (to turn back) opens the verse. In this case, we really don’t have any idea what Asaph meant.
If this is so, why even write about it? Why not just avoid the tangle altogether and accept any one of the half dozen proposed translations as good enough? The reason for our investigation is not to help us understand the text. It is to confront the undeniable linguistic evidence that the Bible we have today has passages that are unintelligible.
Does this bother you? Does it make your doctrine of inerrancy or inspiration shake? Do you feel as if you have just lost one of the tent pegs holding up your faith? In the conservative evangelical Christian world, we might feel as if we must defend the absolute reliability and unimpeachable accuracy of the Bible in order to maintain our belief in God. We anxiously seek some impenetrable bulwark of certainty. We end up defending the words of the Bible as we have it in order to believe in the “Word of God.” We have been so bombarded with the false dichotomy between faith and science that we grip the Bible as God’s last line of defense. When we run across verses like this one, we feel a doctrinal earthquake.
But we shouldn’t. Asaph knew what he intended. He wrote what he wanted to communicate about God. The problem is not with God’s involvement with Asaph. The problem is that Asaph’s words were transmitted to us by other men. And men make mistakes. Men alter texts. Men are not perfect recording machines. The fact that we don’t really know what Asaph meant doesn’t mean that he wrote gibberish. It just means that we can’t figure it out.
Is your trust in God solid enough to allow textual mangling? Is your experience with the living Christ deep enough to keep you secure through the billowing waves of textual criticism? Or are you wedded to a security that depends on the certainty of words on a page?
Topical Index: turn back, shuv, emendation, Psalm 73:10
Good word … And challenging one as well
Does the LXX throw light on what the Hebrew would have been at the time of its translation or is this a pre LXX problem? My English LXX says “They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has gone through upon the earth. Therefore shall my people return hither: and full days shall be found with them.” Seems like the LXX is saying that the LORD will remove the injustice and restore long life to his people rather than the wicked having everything. If the vowels are removed, is there is simple Hebrew letter or two change that can explain the LXX rendering? The NIV readers versions says the opposite “So people listen to them. They lap up their words like water.” ie Gods people will go to conferences on how to get rich and live the good life that are run by these people who skoff at the ways of the LORD. History suggests the NIV readers rendering but our faith hopes for the LXX 🙂
You mean, the certainty of words IN ENGLISH?
You made me smile today, Skip! 🙂
You’re right – the ESV translation makes no sense at all; it doesn’t even fit the context. In the MT (Masoretic Text) the word for “they return” is unpronouncable the way it is written. The Masoretes rendered a correction in the margin suggesting “he returned” (<iyashuv), which changes the reading somewhat.
YLT (Young’s Literal Translation) renders the verse thus:
Psa 73:10 YLT – Therefore do His people return hither, And waters of fulness are wrung out to them.
However, if you accept the qere (corrected) reading of the MT, it reads more like, “Therefore He returns to His people, and waters of fullness are wrung out to them (the arrogant, boastful and wicked, based on the context).”
Hmmm – sounds like a prophecy concerning God vindicating Asaph and dealing with the arrogant (and it does fit with the context of the rest of the Psalm).
Your point is well made, though, Skip. If we blindly accept that the text is “inerrant” and subsequently find something like this (an apparent “error”), unless our faith is founded on the right foundation it can be shaken. Some worship the book instead of the original author. We need to get our focus right.
In the words of Asaph:
Psa 73:28 YLT – And I — nearness of God to me [is] good, I have placed in the Lord Jehovah my refuge, To recount all Thy works!
Oops- I forgot to close a tag. “He returned” should have been rendered as yashuv.
A very through point to discuss in any case, –I think only a very good teacher would think to take this subject on. There may be many who have never considered what they would think if this verse or one like it was a subject of discussion, but you prepare one time to think what they indend to do with it.
#1. I know I am committed to the Bible as the Word of God, given to mankind, tho thru humans, who make mistakes & over time forgets meanings. Wasn’t there some teachings that Jesus straightened out on the road to Emmaus, something the disciples didn’t see?
#2. And as CS Lewis says, If one didn’t know what a poem was, they may analyse the paper & the ink & conclude it is only black marks on paper, while one with more insight will insist that it is soooo much more. What is required is not mere knowledge of the marks, but insight, and getting the focus right.
#3. Well I know have plenty to study and fill my heart with of the verses I do understand!
I always enjoy the surprising topics you come up with! If I’m not saying “ahhhhh” I’m saying “amen”
Usually,…. those who stress the translational errors of scripture are coming from a place of irreverence, or perhaps I should say they do not appreciate the abundance of obvious inspiration that is preserved in the bible.
This is not Skip, but the secular nature of most of these translational attacks is understandingly polarizing for many Christians.