David G. Firth
Although the opening beatitude of Psalm 41 provides encouragement, anyone familiar with the Psalms as a whole may feel some discomfort as they reach verse 10, at least as it is normally translated. ESV is typical:
But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
and raise me up that I may repay them!
Translated this way, the verse is jarring. The psalmist, apparently enduring a period of suffering that has been exacerbated by the actions of enemies, asks not only to be restored but to be the one who enacts retribution against these enemies for what they have done. Yet such a request is contrary to the rest of the Psalter where, if retribution is sought, it is left to Yahweh. This observation is not simply the result of modern concerns with such language. Already, the Midrash Tehellim, a medieval rabbinic text interpreting Psalms, expressed its concern about this verse, noting that it is not only out of character with the rest of the Psalter, but the Hebrew Bible as a whole.
This article argues, with some other recent scholarship,1 that a different translation is needed:
But you, O Yahweh, be gracious to me and raise me up,
that I might restore them.
For our purposes we do not need to consider the question of where the line is broken, but rather shall concentrate on the question of whether to translate the key verb in the second line as “repay” or “restore.” To foreground our conclusion, there are sound linguistic reasons for understanding the verb as meaning “restore,” not only because of the semantic range of the verb here but also through close attention to the form and structure of the poem. Because “restore” is a less common sense for the verb here, we need first to attend to the text-internal features that point towards this conclusion. Although Psalm 41’s place as the last psalm in Book 1 of the Psalter is an important element in its overall interpretation, it does not bear directly on this issue and so is not considered.
The Shape of Psalm 41
Psalm 41 has an unusual structure, fusing elements more typically associated with wisdom texts (notably the beatitude) with a prayer for deliverance and healing, and exhibiting a declaration of integrity before a closing affirmation of praise. A beatitude before a prayer for deliverance and healing is unusual, but an important element of this psalm is the way it mixes genres in innovative ways.
The psalm is arranged in three stanzas—the beatitude (verses 1–3), the prayer (verses 4–10—note the requests for grace which provide a boundary to this section), and then a benediction (verses 11–13). Although the segments can be treated as almost independent units, it is better to read them as a carefully shaped prayer in which the opening beatitude guides us by framing the prayer, providing a context in which to understand it. The benediction emerges out of the combination of the beatitude and the prayer.
The oddity of the opening beatitude is only recognised when we move into the prayer since no other beatitude in the Psalter works this way. Beatitudes in Psalms are typically a means of teaching an audience encountering the poem and so do not address Yahweh. Since Yahweh is spoken about in verse 2 rather than addressed, it is clear that it has this function here. The beatitude encourages an audience to see that a desirable life is one which ponders the weak.
It is important to note that the verb in verse 1 refers in the first instance to intellectual activity. It is not that the desirable life is lived by someone who is considerate of the poor, since this focuses more on actions. Rather, the desirable life is one which ponders the weak. In practice, such pondering is meant to lead the one who lives this life to see that Yahweh delivers the weak. But is the one delivered the poet or the weak? Both are possible readings of the Hebrew, and at one level it may be unnecessary to choose. However, in that the psalmist presents this beatitude, it is probably a reflection on the poet’s own experience, even if this might be generalised. That is, the beatitude encourages the psalmist, and through the psalmist those who read this psalm, to see that desirable life is one that is lived by observing that Yahweh delivers the weak. Those who ponder the weak see that Yahweh works for them, a key affirmation of Book 1 of the Psalms overall, even if it also accepts that the weak will face many forms of opposition.
The beatitude then shapes our reading of the prayer, which here is a report of what was said before the insight reported in the beatitude.2 Consistent with Psalms 38–41, the psalmist acknowledged personal sinfulness but had asked for grace from Yahweh. This grace was needed because in addition to personal sin there was also the problem of enemies who looked forward to the psalmist’s death from illness. Of particular importance was a friend who had joined the enemies and who had “lifted the heel” (v. 9) towards the psalmist. The idiom is probably a visual way of presenting someone who walks away from another, the heel being visible as they depart. It is at the end of this report of previous prayer that we encounter verse 10, the detail of which we return to below.
Irrespective of how we read verse 10, the prayer leads into the benediction with which the psalm closes. The assumption here is that Yahweh has indeed acted for the poet, which is why the audience who were addressed in the beatitude are now also invited to join the psalmist in pronouncing a benediction that celebrates Yahweh. The benediction closes Book 1, as do similar benedictions at the ends of Books 2–4. But where those benedictions are probably added to those poems, there is good reason to think that this one is integral to this psalm because of its function in creating an envelope structure about the whole poem.3
Translating a Verb in Context
The psalm’s shape is important because it helps us place verse 10 in its larger context, a context which helps identify the most appropriate meaning that should be applied from the range of meanings which are possible for this verb. Is it to be rendered “repay” or “restore”?
It should be noted at the outset that both are possible for the pi’el of שׁלם, though the former is much more common. Within Psalms we see it with this sense in Pss 62:12 and 137:8, though when we consider these verses, we note that the sense is more of an exact requital of what has previously been done. This is a common feature of the verb in this form, but there is no necessity that it be used this way (e.g., Prov. 19:17). Requiting a previous action is thus a well-established meaning for this verb and, as the most common translation for it, is certainly defensible.
However, among other possible senses for the verb there is also the possibility of it meaning “restore.” We find this sense in Job 8:6, and alongside this we might also note that the meaning of “heal” is also possible in some of the Qumran documents. Common to both options is the idea that the previous situation is ended, though the way in which this happens varies greatly, depending on the translation.
We are not free to translate one way just because it is more theologically comfortable for us. But there are two elements within Psalm 41 that suggest that “restore” is more probable here.
First, the friend who has “lifted the heel” against the psalmist is called אִישׁ שְׁלוֹמִי—a term which clearly refers to a friend, but which is a relatively unusual way of mentioning one. This former friend is now one of those whispering against the psalmist. This phrase, more literally “man of my welfare,” seems to be deliberately chosen to anticipate the verb in the prayer. That the root שׁלם is first used with a more positive sense (even if the former friend has turned against the poet) could function to prepare readers for the more positive sense when we encounter the verb in verse 10.
On its own, this is not sufficient to overthrow the dominant reading. But it is at this point we need to read the reported prayer in light of the opening beatitude which declares as blessed (אשׁרי) the one who ponders the weak, who learns from the fact that Yahweh protects and sustains them. The point of this is to encourage all to see that Yahweh, not humans, is the one who acts to protect and to restore life, and that this in turn is to shape their own life.
As such, praying to repay the enemies is asking for the right to do something that by rights belongs only to Yahweh. Since the benediction celebrates the fact that Yahweh has acted for the psalmist, we need to read the psalm’s closing as vindication of the claim of the opening beatitude. If so, then the prayer should also be read through this frame, and “restore” is the sense that fits with the rest of the poem.
Although it is perhaps not a major supporting feature, this translation has the additional benefit of seeing the whole of the prayer as focused on grace—the psalmist needs Yahweh’s grace to be raised up and then as a recipient of grace also demonstrates this towards the enemies.
Conclusion
The evidence noted above suggests that, although the standard translation of Ps 41:10 is defensible, it may not be the best in context. Where the standard translation suggests that the prayer asks for the opportunity to pay enemies back in person, the alternative proposed here shows that the prayer is about reconciliation with those who have harmed the psalmist.
Because of the wisdom framing in the beatitude and benediction, each of us who reads and prays this psalm is asked to reflect also on our own concern for the weak and how God’s grace has been made known to us. As we reflect on that, we see that the right of retribution belongs to God alone, something that is consistent with the rest of the Psalter, and indeed the Bible as a whole.
Rather than being an outlier then, Psalm 41 takes up the difficult challenge of reconciliation with those who have been close to us but have hurt us deeply. Even in this most challenging of circumstances, reconciliation is still the path we are to follow. Such prayer is costly, but it is the prayer and attitude that reflects the desirable life laid out for us in the opening beatitude.
David G. Firth is Tutor in Old Testament and Academic Dean at Trinity College in Bristol, UK. David is the author of Surrendering Retribution in the Psalms, Joshua (Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary), and Including the Stranger: Foreigners in the Former Prophets, and he is currently working on a Psalms volume for the Apollos Old Testament Commentary series.
Image: Valentin de Boulogne, King David
- See John Goldingay, Psalms 1–41 (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 586–587 (from whom I first learned of the information in Midrash Tehellim) and, more guardedly, Willem A. M. Beuken, From Servant of YHWH to Being Considerate of the Wretched (Leuven: Peeters, 2020), 79.[↩]
- For the view that the prayer is the psalmist’s current distress, see Tremper Longman III, Psalms: An Introduction and Commentary (Nottingham: IVP, 2014), 190–192.[↩]
- See G. Barbiero, “Psalm 41:14, or the Unity of the Masoretic Psalm 41,” OTE 32 (2019), 317–342. Note that the title in MT is verse 1 there, so verse 14 in MT is verse 13 in English.[↩]