Article July 15, 1939 Issue

Bible Notes

"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (Jo hn 17:17)— More literally, "Sanctify them by (or 'in') the truth" (compare Weymouth, fifth edition). Goodspeed renders: "Consecrate them by truth. Your message is truth;" and Moffatt has: "Consecrate them by the truth: thy word is truth."

"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give praise" (Ps. 57:7)— The Hebrew term here translated "fixed" can also mean "securely determined, certain, steadfast, prepared, ready" (cf. Brown, Driver, and Briggs: Hebrew Lexicon, p. 465). Moffatt suggests: "My heart is ready, ready, O God, for song and melody;" and Smith has: "My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast. I will play and sing." In his "Commentary on Psalms," Vol. II, p. 37, Dr. Briggs offers the rendering: "My mind is fixed, Yahweh; with my mind let me sing and let me make melody;" while the early Genevan Version had: "Mine heart is prepared, O God, mine heart is prepared: I will sing and give praise."

"Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early" (Ps. 57:8)—The words "my glory" scarcely seem to fit the context, though they represent a literal translation of the Hebrew text as it has come down to us. On the basis of the Syriac Version and one Hebrew manuscript, Kent suggests the reading: "Awake, my lyre"; while Moffatt has: "Awake, my soul!" In the latter part of the verse, the word "shachar," rendered "early," is properly a word meaning "dawn" (Brown, etc., op. cit., p. 1007). Consequently, we find: "Let me awake the dawn" (Moffatt); "I will awaken the dawn" (Smith); "Let me awake the dawn" (Kent). The Genevan Version rendered the verse as follows: "Awake, my tongue, awake viole and harpe: I will awake earely."

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