As
always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
1In You, YHVH, I have taken refuge. Do not let me be
ashamed to ages. In Your righteousness, deliver me. 2Incline to me
Your ear. Quickly rescue me. Be to me to a rock from strength, to a house of
fortresses to save me, 3because You [are] my Rock and my Fortress
and for the sake of Your name You lead and guide me.
In
the last post, I pondered over the “Be to me because You are.” There is a
little more to the “because” I want to think about before I move on to v4.
David
says, “Be to me a Rock and a Fortress because You are my Rock and my Fortress,”
but then notice in my translation, the “because” clause continues: “Because You
are my Rock and my Fortress and for the
sake of Your name You lead and guide me.” It is this final “and” clause I
want to think about.
First
of all, I should note this clause is variously translated. Both the NIV and the
old KJV translated the phrase as imperatives:
“For Your name’s sake, lead and guide me,” while the NASB translated it
as futures: “For Your name’s sake You will lead and guide me.” As usual, I
recognize that the translators are far better Hebrew scholars than I will ever
be, but, on the other hand, this is a good example of exactly why I personally
have to be able to examine the original text. While they may all be great
scholars, yet they don’t agree on how to translate it – which means it is
subject to judgment.
It
is precisely these places where I want to be able to form my own opinion. I
want to know exactly why they are disagreeing, exactly what the Hebrew text
does say, and then be able to decide for myself what I think is the best
translation. A general rule I try to follow is, at least at first, to render
the simplest possible translation of each of the Hebrew words. Only after that
do I look back and consider perhaps the simplest translation is for some reason
not the best.
For
example, consider this decision of whether the verbs are indicative (as in my
translation), imperative (as in the KJV and NIV), or futures (as in the NASB). The
form of the Hebrew verbs could be any one of the three – but the simplest
translation is to leave them as indicatives … and so I do.
Also
notice in my translation this final phrase begins with an “and.” None of the three
major translations even include the “and,” even though there is in fact a
Hebrew “and” in the text. Once again, I include the “and” in my translation
just because it’s there, then look back to see if for some reason I think there
is some reason to ignore it. In this case, in my opinion, I see no reason to
ignore it and, in fact, if we leave it in, we see that the thought in our
larger “because” clause is actually continued.
In
my opinion, the entirety of vv. 2&3 form a single sentence, based on what I
think is the simplest translation of each word all compiled together. For
whatever it’s worth, this is also why I always start these posts with my “fairly
literal translation of these verses.” What I’m trying to record (for my own
later perusal) is what I think is the simplest possible translation of each
word. It makes for very awkward English translations, but, what I’m trying to
avoid is that, in order to “smooth out” the English translation, any would-be
translator has to make a lot of decisions. As in this text, the old KJV or the
NASB try to reflect the original text, to be as “literal” as possible, which
sometimes leaves them (like me) reading a little awkwardly. The NIV translators,
in an effort to make the Bible very readable (and in which I personally think
they did a very admirable job), often depart further from the original text
than I personally am comfortable with. What we are all reflecting is the
difficulty of translating from one language to another – do you try to
translate exactly what they said or is it more important to translate what they
meant? The problem with the first is that it may be awkward. The problem with
the second is that it is subject to the translator’s judgment (and biases … and
errors).
What
I’m trying to do with my “fairly literal” translations is to reflect the
simplest possible translation from the original words without inserting my own
judgment. “It is what it is.” In this case, however, one does have to make some
decisions in order for the English to make any sense at all, and so, in the
end, my translation just becomes one of many. Being fundamentally arrogant, of
course I think I’m right, that mine is the simplest (and best) translation of
the words. Honestly (and I hope humbly) I do think my translation is the most
defensible – and so, going forward, my thoughts are candidly based on my own translation.
I
had to say all of that so I could comment on this final “and” clause of
indicative verbs. David, again, is praying, “Be to me a Rock and a Fortress
because You are my Rock and my Fortress and
for Your name’s sake you lead me and guide me. I personally think this “and”
clause is highly significant. As I pondered in my last post, we, in faith, ask
the Lord to be to us who He is. But there’s more to it than even that. We can
ask Him to be who He is to us, but we also can remind ourselves that it is all “for
His name’s sake.”
There
is something going on here much more important than my own personal comfort and
desires. Even as I struggle on in my little corner of the universe, the Lord
Himself is engaged in the great eternal battle of the ages. It is “for His name’s
sake” that He leads us and guides us. Fortunately for us, the Lord’s greatest glory
is always our greatest good. Recognizing this, we can pray for whatever we
think we need or what we think should happen in the confidence that He will in
fact do what is best. This, of
course, is just more faith-talk. Confidence in Him is faith in Him.
“Be
to us because You are and because we’re confident You always do what’s best.”
