Psalms

Psalm 1 in 1628 printing with tune, metrical version by Thomas Sternhold (died 1549). Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

The Psalms (from the Greek ψαλμοί, to play the harp) are the name used to designate the Jewish religious poetry contained in the biblical Book of Psalms, collectively referred to as the Psalms of David or the Psalter. This article deals with translations of the Psalms into English verse.

Overview

Modern collections of religious poetry sometimes bear the title of Psalms and Hymns, but these are always more or less directly connected with the actual Psalms of David. Longfellow wrote "A Psalm of Life" (1839), which was an intimate confession of the religious aspirations of the author. The Psaumes of Clement Marot (1538) were curious adaptations of Hebrew ideas to French forms of the epigram and the madrigal. But it is doubtful whether the psalm, as distinguished from the Hebrew Psalter, can be said to have any independent existence. The word "psalm" is loosely used to describe any exalted strain of devotional melody.

English translations

Sternhold

Thomas Sternhold is remembered as the originator of the 1st metrical version of the Psalms which obtained general currency alike in England and Scotland. Sternhold (with the exception of Ps. cxx) used only one meter, the simplest of all ballad measures, the meter of "Chevy Chace." This choice of meter was really of infinitely wider consequence than the psalms he set to it; for either in this form, which has 2 rhymes, or that of Hopkins, which has 4, it became the predominant meter (common meter or C.M.) not only of the old and new versions of England and Scotland, but of countless metrical psalters and English hymns in general. Sternhold and Hopkins's version has had a larger circulation than any work in the language, except the authorised version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.

Francis Rous

When the singing of psalms was discussed at the Westminster assembly, it was agreed that there should also be a new Psalter for British churches. The Psalters then in use were known to have some problems in accuracy. Francis Rous and William Barton had made 2 different metrical Psalters; the assembly chose Rous’s version for its greater accuracy, and began reviewing and revising it, to bring it into greater conformity to the original Hebrew. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland undertook an even more extensive revision, which lasted 2 years. On November 23, 1649, a commission of the General Assembly authorized the finished work to be the only Psalter sung in congregations after May 1, 1650. Since then, the Scottish Psalter has been sung by millions around the world for over 360 years.

In 1673, an edition of the Scottish Psalter was printed in London, which included a preface signed by over 2 dozen Puritan ministers (including Thomas Manton, John Owen, Thomas Watson, and Matthew Poole), described this Psalter in the following words: "The translation which is now put into thy hands cometh nearest to the original of any that we have seen.” About 100 years later, William Marshall, in a sermon preached to the Associate Presbytery of Pennsylvania, gave the same sentiment: “We shall not say that it is the most elegant in respect of the style, yet it is acknowledged to excel in what is far more momentous, [that is,] in expressing the mind of the Spirit.”

Brady and Tate

In 1696 appeared the New Version of the Psalms, in metre, by Nahum Tate and Nicholas Brady. On 3 December 1696, William III issued an order in council that this version might "be used in all churches … as shall think fit to receive the same." 2 different versions of it were published in 1698, and from each of these a stream of editions issued for a century. Also in 1698 the same authors published A Supplement to the New Version of the Psalms, containing paraphrases of the Lord's Prayer, Apostle's Creed, Commandments, Canticles, and several additional psalms in peculiar measures. Though attaining ultimately almost universal use, the new version initially made way slowly in the churches.

Isaac Watts

The Psalms of David of Isaac Watts is not a metrical psalter of the ordinary pattern. It leaves out all the imprecatory portions, paraphrases freely, infuses into the text the Messianic fulfillment and the evangelical interpretations, and adjusts the whole (sometimes in grotesquely bad taste, as in the substitution of "Britain" for "Israel") to the devotional standpoint of his time.

Publications

• Thomas Sternhold & John Hopkins, The Whole Booke of Psalmes; collected into Englysh metre. London: John Day, 1562.
• William Slatyer, Psalms, or Songs of Sion: Turned into the language, and set to the tunes of a strange land. London: Robert Young, 1631, 1642
  • revised as The Psalms of David: In 4 languages: Set to ye tunes of our Church. London: Tho. Harper, for George Thomason & Octavian Pullen, 1643; London: P. Stent, 1652.
• The Psalmes of David in English Meeter. London: R.Y., for Ph. Nevill, 1641; London: James Young, for Philip Nevill, 1643; London: Tho. Parkhurst, 1700.
• Samuel Woodford, *A Paraphrase upon the Psalms of David. London: R. White, for Octavian Pullein, 1667; London: J.M., for John Martyn / John Baker / Henry Brome, 1678; (2 volumes), London: Samuel Keble, 1713.
• Nahum Tate & Nicholas Brady, A New Version of the Psalms of David. London: M. Clark, for the Company of Stationers, 1698; Boston: J. Draper, for J. Edwards, 1754.
• Tate & Brady, A Supplement to the New Version of Psalms. J. Heptinstall, for D. Brown, J. Wild, et al, 1700.

The Lord's My Shepherd - 23rd Psalm - Aileen Gilchrist - Hymn - Lyrics

• Isaac Watts, The Psalms of David: Imitated in the language of the New Testament, and apply'd to the Christian state and worship. London: J. Clark / R. Ford / R. Cruttenden, 1719; Hartford, CT: N. Patten, 1785.
• Philip Sidney & Mary Herbert, The Psalmes of David. Chiswick, UK: C. Whittingham for R. Triphook, 1823.
  • The Psalms of Sir Philip Sidney and the Countess of Pembroke (edited by C.A. Rathnell). New York: New York University Press, 1963; New York: Anchor, 1963.
  • The Sidney Psalms (edited by R.E. Pritchard). Manchester, UK: Carcanet, 1992.
• Nathan Drake, The Harp of Judah; or, Songs of Sion: Being a metrical translation of the Psalms. London : J.G. & F. Rivington, 1837.

See also

• Translators of the Psalms