First, I'm posting this one here b/c we saw it a while ago, but I missed the post for Psalm 92 when it came around b/c we were traveling...while driving in Michigan when we first started on the psalms, we passed a car with vanity plates that read PSLM921, which is "It is good to give thanks for the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High." Sure, why not? If you're going to pick something out of all this, that seems as good as any.
My other comment is that all I can think while trying to get through these is that part in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when they are talking to God: GOD: Oh, don't grovel! If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people groveling. ARTHUR: Sorry-- GOD: And don't apologize. Every time I try to talk to someone it's "sorry this" and "forgive me that" and "I'm not worthy". What are you doing now!? ARTHUR: I'm averting my eyes, oh Lord. GOD: Well, don't. It's like those miserable Psalms-- they're so depressing. Now knock it off!
I was reading your quote of Psalms 91:1. I have been doing some more reading on KJV and other translations. Something i need to watch for, and your quote brought it out. When addressing God they used the word "your". This is what i will need to keep my eye out for. In the KJV they don't ever use you,your,yours, they use either thee, thine, thou. This is because in English the "T" are single and the "y" are plural. Since there is only one God, they always use the "t". Now this is something i just read, and did not notice before. I will see if it's true, i expect it is.
Also check Hosea 11:12, it should read Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Isreal with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
Actually in the English of that time 'you' could also be singular when addressing a social superior (think of vous versus tu in French). Thou was used with close friends and family and children (unless the child was a definite social superior such as a son of a noble or king and you were a commoner). Quakers a few decades later insisted on using thou for everyone including judges who were trying them (reserving you strictly for groups); the rest of the English speakers started using you for everyone and thou became defunct (most Quakers joined them some time ago).
Nowadays thou has vanished from English and there is no distinction between either second person plural/singular or second person honorific/familiar. (In fact some people have the mistaken idea that thou is honorific and for that reason should be used in addressing god.)
Biblical Hebrew also seems to have made that distinction as did New Testament Greek. Aramaic made a distinction between whether you was masculine or feminine.
BTW I should point that God in the Bible sometimes used 'we' to refer to God. "Let us make man".
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A couple of random comments...
ReplyDeleteFirst, I'm posting this one here b/c we saw it a while ago, but I missed the post for Psalm 92 when it came around b/c we were traveling...while driving in Michigan when we first started on the psalms, we passed a car with vanity plates that read PSLM921, which is "It is good to give thanks for the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High." Sure, why not? If you're going to pick something out of all this, that seems as good as any.
My other comment is that all I can think while trying to get through these is that part in Monty Python and the Holy Grail when they are talking to God:
GOD: Oh, don't grovel! If there's one thing I can't stand, it's people groveling.
ARTHUR: Sorry--
GOD: And don't apologize. Every time I try to talk to someone it's "sorry this" and "forgive me that" and "I'm not worthy". What are you doing now!?
ARTHUR: I'm averting my eyes, oh Lord.
GOD: Well, don't. It's like those miserable Psalms-- they're so depressing. Now knock it off!
@Susan,
ReplyDeleteI was reading your quote of Psalms 91:1. I have been doing some more reading on KJV and other translations. Something i need to watch for, and your quote brought it out. When addressing God they used the word "your". This is what i will need to keep my eye out for. In the KJV they don't ever use you,your,yours, they use either thee, thine, thou. This is because in English the "T" are single and the "y" are plural. Since there is only one God, they always use the "t". Now this is something i just read, and did not notice before. I will see if it's true, i expect it is.
Also check Hosea 11:12, it should read Ephraim compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Isreal with deceit: but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faithful with the saints.
Many translations have that one totally wrong.
Actually in the English of that time 'you' could also be singular when addressing a social superior (think of vous versus tu in French). Thou was used with close friends and family and children (unless the child was a definite social superior such as a son of a noble or king and you were a commoner). Quakers a few decades later insisted on using thou for everyone including judges who were trying them (reserving you strictly for groups); the rest of the English speakers started using you for everyone and thou became defunct (most Quakers joined them some time ago).
ReplyDeleteNowadays thou has vanished from English and there is no distinction between either second person plural/singular or second person honorific/familiar. (In fact some people have the mistaken idea that thou is honorific and for that reason should be used in addressing god.)
Biblical Hebrew also seems to have made that distinction as did New Testament Greek. Aramaic made a distinction between whether you was masculine or feminine.
BTW I should point that God in the Bible sometimes used 'we' to refer to God. "Let us make man".