Devotional Short Note to Psalm 60: Many
are wondering what the KJV or NIV or other translations did with the same
Psalm. They will notice differences. Our question here is what did the Coptic
translation do with this Psalm? Coptic? Coptic was a language related to
Egyptian but with Greek letters and Greek loanwords. Christianity spread from
Alexandria down the Nile and the locals had a need for understanding the Bible
and Coptic translations originated. When? Some say 150 A.D. with pagan
influences already noticeable. Others say 200, 250, 350, 450, and still others
no earlier than 850. There are four dialects: Bohairic,
Sahidic, Fayumic and Akhmimic. Although most scholars think that the Coptic
translation was made from a Greek translation before Origen’s translations in
240 A.D. it is my experience in Hosea, Judges and Daniel that Copts were
present on the same day the Hebrew reader dictated to the mixed team of Copts
and Greeks to translate and that they translated the same but the Copts scribe
used his own sensibility at times to translate closer to the Hebrew than the
Greek. The cases are not many, maybe less than 1% but they are there. Many Coptic manuscripts were burnt in a
fire in Cairo between 20th of March to 25th of April
1800. Psalms fragments do exist from various periods and various dialects. David says that the purpose of the Psalm
is “to teach”. The Coptic scribe said “a teaching” EU CBW.
In 60:2 David provide the note that he
strove with Aram-Naharaim and with Aram-Zobah by Joab his general. The Coptic
scribe interpreted it as “Mesopotamia of Syria” and “Syria of Sobal”. He read
Aram as Syria. David said that Joab returned and smote 12000 in the Valley of
Salt which is the Dead Sea. The Coptic scribe made it “in the valley of [the]
salt” E }
qellot nte pi hmou. The Coptic scribe added to David’s
words the following that is not in the Greek so-called byzantine survived LXX: “O
God You have cast us off [to move = n cwk]”. Similar to
the Greek of the byzantine time, the Copts also added “and”. They would take
the words: “You have cast off, You have broken” and they would infix a
copulative “and” to read: “You have cast off [and] You have broken”. David did
not use it and thus the Coptic translation is not totally literal, not strictly
literal. The Book of Revelation says that the first church of Ephesians “I have
against you, that you have left your first love” (Revelation 2:4). All the
versions are derivative, secondary and subordinate to the Hebrew original.
Thanks that the Holy Spirit preserved the original for us so exact\. There are
secular Jews who will tell you all kinds of stories about the Hebrew text, but
do not pay attention to them. We have a test-probe from Qumran in Daniel to
measure the accuracy of the transmission of the Hebrew text. Rest assure. David said to God: “You have made the
land to shake” but the Coptic scribe read it as “You have shaken [in] the land”
(M
PKahi). David says that “You have
separated [Late Egyptian pšn meaning ‘to be rid of, or to be separated’ rather
than the Arabic meaning ‘crack’, a language that David did not speak one and a
half millenniums prior to the heyday of Arabic] it”. The Greek of the byzantine
times and the Coptic scribe translated it as “and You have disturbed/troubled
it”. That is how David understood it originally and that is how the Greeks and
Copts understood it in the 3rd-4th centuries and that is
how we get it with Arabic semantic influences over the Rabbis of the Middle
Ages. David [1050 BCE] “separated” based on Egyptian; Copts [250-350 A.D.] “disturbed
or troubled”; Rabbis and modern translations “cleft” based on Arabic. Semantics
or the study of meaning for translation in modern times is crucial, is it not? It
makes a heap of difference what cognitive painting we end up in our minds. The
best solution is to stick to David’s understanding and to override any other
deviations or side-gutters to lead away from David’s original understanding. Egyptian
influenced at times and in small ways all languages including Sumerian and
Akkadian in all its forms and shapes. Don’t be surprised now. Moses and Solomon
influenced Egypt and other surrounding nations! David is a prolific writer
although he was a shepherdsboy. Forget about this oral-tradition nonsense that
Von Rad and others cooked-up to impress Rationalists and their cronies. “Heal its treading down” (60:4b) the
Copt scribe translated with the root homhem. David read “Heal
its breaches” (60:4b). David gave a reason: “that it is built“ [Late Egyptian mḏḥ
meaning ‘to build, to hew’].. The Greek of the byzantine survived texts read “that
it shakes” and the Copt scribe translated “that it moves” [= kim]
(60:4b). David wants breaches of the walls and city to be built and that is
what healing is for him. The Copts should have looked at their own language for
semantics and not lean to the Greek literature for solutions. David used a strong form in the verb to
say “You have made Your people to see toughness/hardship” (60:5a). Of course,
sin has fruits and Satan and his proxies are the R&D of those fruits. God
has to separate Himself from sin and the wave of demons takes over. Result?
Hardship. By them rejecting God, and God not machine-operating them like tin-soldiers
in the toyshop, God indirectly “made them to see hardship/toughness”. Satan
directly provided hardship and trouble on a dish in this vacuum permitted by
humans. Also in the next phrase: “You have made
us to drink wine of staggering” (60:5b). God forcing people to be alcoholics?
Is Predestination true? No. It is all about the respect God has for the human
freedom to choose. God forces no-one, not even Satan. This sacred attribute of
God is why the Universe is going through this ordeal with Satan and humanity. That
is not what David meant, namely that God selected prior to birth some humans to
be good and others to be alcoholics and then He forces the bad ones to be
alcoholics to stagger. The next verse explains that “them that fear You”
(60:6a) Out of their freedom they choose to fear the Lord and the fruits of
their faith step is God “has given a banner to them”. Why? To put under a
bushel? No. To let it shine like the Lighthouse so that people just in time can
also make positive choices “that it may be displayed from the face of decay/rottenness”
[Late Egyptian ḳsṭṭ meaning: ‘stink, boil, blain, ulcer, decay, dry rot, rust,
perish”. Consult any Hebrew dictionary. They say the meaning is dubious. That
is because the Arabic they relied on since the Middle Ages so conveniently to
take long shots for meanings to Moses and David is not helping]. That the meaning was lost is also seen
in the translation of the Greek of the byzantine manuscripts reading “to flee
from the face of the bow” and the Copt scribe who also translated “that he may
flee from the face of a blossom” (60:6b) ha pho n ou vi].
What happened here in the third century
is that they did not know what the Hebrew word qesheth means so they changed
the last letter in the word to geshet and that word means “bow” or “grow-up”.
There you have the translation license to take liberties in the face of the
unknown. If you do not know what God’s Word means, change the letters to what
you know and see you know God’s Word. Vicious circle. David had “stink” of this sinful world
in mind. The Greek and Coptic scribes heard the word, did not know what it
means but grab a dictionary moving to the next word in line that resembles this
form and used it for the meaning. It is like saying “cath” but because no-one knows
what it means everyone says “cat” because they know what that means. Revelation
says about the church of Ephesians period . . . David then wrote the reason of all this:
“So that Your beloved [which is the spiritual remnant as the same word is used
in the parable of the vineyard Israel in Isaiah 5:1-7] may be delivered. Your
right hand saved and answer him” (60:7). In 60:8 David talks about instruction
he received from God to do some divisions in the country. “I exult, I divide”
the Coptic scribe infixed “and” in between: “I would rejoice [and] I would
parade(? Vws.
Meaning unknown in Coptic but vwf
which relates to the Hebrew better)”. Did the Coptic scribe understood the
meaning correctly but a copyist wrote the wrong letter later at the end? This
is the other thing: one scribe scribbled the translation on the wax and another
scribe then deciphered the bad handwriting and wrote it on a papyrus vellum. It
is then neatly copied by females in a beautiful hand letter by letter. This is
how letter problems can slip in. David would divide Shechem and mete out
the valley of Sukkoth which is Deir ‘Alla where scholars have found the Deir ‘Alla
inscription about Bileam’s dream and visions on a wall from the Persian Period.
For four hundred years the Hebrew tradition flourished at his site so that one
can see it concocted in this plaster-text widely published. Gilead would be
David’s and Manasseh also Ephraim would be the defense of his head and Judah would
be his scepter (60:8-10). David’s parody list included: Moab as a
washpot (60:10a); Edom to cast the shoe upon (60:10b); Philistia who will cry
aloud because of him (60:10c). David asked who will lead him into the fortified
city and who will lead him unto Edom. But David had a problem: God does not
accompany his army and he asked if God has rejected them? (60:12). He asked for help against the enemy
because for humans it is impossible (60:13). He expressed his strong conviction that
through God they will succeed and if there is a winning it is because “He it is
that will tread down our adversaries” (60:14b).