What I have received as Psalm 50 is numbered 51 in the Masoretic textual tradition, from which most English Bibles are translated due to Protestant influence and because that's the earliest complete Hebrew that we have. But it only dates to about the ninth century and comes from a Jewish community openly hostile to Christian revelation. The Septuagint textual tradition dates to over a millennium earlier, to the time before Christ, so while it is a Greek translation of the Old Testament, it comprises a much more ancient witness to the Hebrew Bible. It was also commonly used in synagogues in the time of Christ and the Apostles, treated as having divine authority — for the writers of the New Testament, that is the text they used when quoting the Old Testament. St. Paul actually makes an argument in the Epistle to the Galatians regarding the seed of Abraham that only makes sense in the Septuagint translation of the Torah. The argument doesn't hold in Hebrew, which Paul certainly would have known, but he makes the argument anyways, quoting the Greek translation of Genesis with the authority of revelation. Moving past 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem, the Greek text of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint is what the Christian Church primarily used, and it is what the Orthodox Church has always used. So, unlike the Masoretic text, there is a chain of custody there that is in accord with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Protestants misguidedly based their Bibles on the Masoretic text with the understandable desire to source the text in Hebrew (and the Catholics began following suit last century), so that's why it is commonly known in Western-influenced countries as Psalm 51. The Septuagint numbering differs in many places, and in my estimation yields a numerology that is abundantly coherent in a way that the Masoretic text wrecks. Psalm 50, for example, is specifically Psalm 50, a jubilee, a liberation from slavery, not Psalm "51". Excuse me, but I have strong feelings about the numbering of the Psalms! Many, many feelings!
Hmm, looking on that site, I don't see a translation of the Greek OT there. Elsewhere electronically you'll look for keywords like Septuagint, LXX, Brenton, or NETS. Brenton is an old school translator of the Septuagint into English, which translation is public domain and commonly available. NETS is the "New English Translation of the Septuagint," a very academic translation, very useful for study but not devotion; it's all online here: https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/. There are various different translations of the Psalms used in Orthodox Churches, with new ones appearing all the time. They exist mostly in print. The translation I use in the article (which I probably should have mentioned) is the Holy Transfiguration Monastery (HTM) edition which is well established among Anglophone Orthodox and has been the main one used in all the churches I've been in for the last 25 years. I like the translation a lot, and am very used to it.
Very good, and I am very much looking forward to the retreat.
Umm, Cormac? Isn't this Psalm 51?
Sorry, I should have made that more clear.
What I have received as Psalm 50 is numbered 51 in the Masoretic textual tradition, from which most English Bibles are translated due to Protestant influence and because that's the earliest complete Hebrew that we have. But it only dates to about the ninth century and comes from a Jewish community openly hostile to Christian revelation. The Septuagint textual tradition dates to over a millennium earlier, to the time before Christ, so while it is a Greek translation of the Old Testament, it comprises a much more ancient witness to the Hebrew Bible. It was also commonly used in synagogues in the time of Christ and the Apostles, treated as having divine authority — for the writers of the New Testament, that is the text they used when quoting the Old Testament. St. Paul actually makes an argument in the Epistle to the Galatians regarding the seed of Abraham that only makes sense in the Septuagint translation of the Torah. The argument doesn't hold in Hebrew, which Paul certainly would have known, but he makes the argument anyways, quoting the Greek translation of Genesis with the authority of revelation. Moving past 70 AD and the destruction of Jerusalem, the Greek text of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint is what the Christian Church primarily used, and it is what the Orthodox Church has always used. So, unlike the Masoretic text, there is a chain of custody there that is in accord with the presence of the Holy Spirit. The Protestants misguidedly based their Bibles on the Masoretic text with the understandable desire to source the text in Hebrew (and the Catholics began following suit last century), so that's why it is commonly known in Western-influenced countries as Psalm 51. The Septuagint numbering differs in many places, and in my estimation yields a numerology that is abundantly coherent in a way that the Masoretic text wrecks. Psalm 50, for example, is specifically Psalm 50, a jubilee, a liberation from slavery, not Psalm "51". Excuse me, but I have strong feelings about the numbering of the Psalms! Many, many feelings!
Okay, thank you for that explanation. If I want that translation in something like Bible Gateway dot com, what should I look for?
Hmm, looking on that site, I don't see a translation of the Greek OT there. Elsewhere electronically you'll look for keywords like Septuagint, LXX, Brenton, or NETS. Brenton is an old school translator of the Septuagint into English, which translation is public domain and commonly available. NETS is the "New English Translation of the Septuagint," a very academic translation, very useful for study but not devotion; it's all online here: https://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/. There are various different translations of the Psalms used in Orthodox Churches, with new ones appearing all the time. They exist mostly in print. The translation I use in the article (which I probably should have mentioned) is the Holy Transfiguration Monastery (HTM) edition which is well established among Anglophone Orthodox and has been the main one used in all the churches I've been in for the last 25 years. I like the translation a lot, and am very used to it.
Thank you for all this info! I might be your only non-Orthodox reader. 😆I'm sure it was obvious to everyone else.
No, I know of other non-Orthodox readers, for whose sake I should have been more transparent. I rely on you to keep me honest, and I thank you kindly.