Texts in Conversation
Psalm 56 describes tears being stored and recorded with a scroll, emphasizing personal suffering kept with God. The Greek Septuagint changes the scroll to a “promise,” shifting the focus from a negative record of sorrow to positive divine assurance.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Psalm 56:8
Hebrew Bible
6 They stalk and lurk; they watch my every step, as they prepare to take my life. 7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape. In your anger bring down the nations, O God. 8 You keep track of my misery. Put my tears in your leather container. Are they not recorded in your scroll? 9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help; I know that God is on my side. 10 In God—I boast in his promise—in the Lord—I boast in his promise—
Date: 600–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
LXX Psalm 55:9
Septuagint
6 All the day long they have abominated my words; all their devices are against me for evil. 7 They will dwell near and hide themselves; they will watch my steps, accordingly as they have waited for my soul. 8 You will on no account save them; you will bring down the people in fierce anger, God. 9 I have declared my life to you; you have set my tears before you, even according to your promise. 10 My enemies shall be turned back, in the day in which I shall call upon you; look, I know that you are my God.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Schaper finds these ‘proto-Rabbinic exegetical methods’, similar to Tov’s ‘midrash-type’ texts and actualizations, in the Greek Psalms. He thus finds the exegetical method of gezerah shavah, whereby one passage is modified to conform to another similar one, in LXX Psalm 55. There a reference in the Hebrew to a ‘book’ appears in the LXX as a ‘promise’. Schaper follows Flashar and suggests the promise is an allusion to Isaiah 25:8 in the context of the eschatological banquet drawing together the nations in Jerusalem. In Isaiah it is announced that God ‘has wiped away the tears from every cheek’, while Psalm 55 speaks of tears being visible before God. The translator of the Psalms, viewing both texts as God’s pity on the tears of his people, chose ‘promise’ to allude to Isaiah 25. Schaper therefore suggests that this technique is the same as the rabbinic principle of Hillel, the gezerah shavah." ..."
James K. Aitken, “Psalms,” in The T&T Clark Companion to the Septuagint, ed. James K. Aitken, Bloomsbury Companions (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2015), 324–325.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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