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LXX Psalms

Septuagint

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Psalm 15

1 An inscription of David. Keep me, Lord; for I have hoped in you. 2 I said to the Lord, You are my Lord; for you have no need of my goodness. 3 On behalf of the saints that are in his land, he has magnified all his pleasure in them. 4 Their weaknesses have been multiplied; afterward they hastened. I will by no means assemble their bloody meetings, neither will I make mention of their names with my lips. 5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup:⁠ you are he that restores my inheritance to me. 6 The lines have fallen to me in the best places, yes, I have a most excellent heritage. 7 I will bless the Lord who has instructed me; my kidneys too have disciplined me even till night. 8 I foresaw the Lord always before my face; for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue exulted; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 10 because you will not leave my soul in hell, neither will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.⁠ 11 You have made known to me the ways of life; you will fill me with joy with your face: at your right hand there are delights for ever.

Texts in conversation

Compare LXX Psalm 15:5 and Wisdom of Solomon 2:9

Septuagint · Deuterocanon

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Summary

In the Septuagint translation of Psalm 15 the psalmist describes God as his inheritance. The Wisdom of Solomon uses this language for the wicked who treat pleasure as their inheritance instead, ironically twisting the psalmist’s confession into hedonism.

Passages

LXX Psalm 15:5

Septuagint
4 Their weaknesses have been multiplied; afterward they hastened. I will by no means assemble their bloody meetings, neither will I make mention of their names with my lips. 5 The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup: you are he that restores my inheritance to me. 6 The lines have fallen to me in the best places, yes, I have a most excellent heritage.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Psalms

Wisdom of Solomon 2:9

Deuterocanon
8 Let’s crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither. 9 Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry. Let’s leave tokens of mirth everywhere, because this is our portion, and this is our lot. 10 Let’s oppress the righteous poor. Let’s not spare the widow, nor regard the gray hair of the old man.
50 BCE – 50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Wisdom of Solomon

References

… The irony in the book of Wisdom, as Luca Mazzinghi explains, has to be distinguished from sarcasm and parody or satire, for in contrast to these, it is not aimed at excoriating or ridiculing the adversary; it is based on an authentic quest for truth. In this sense, in Wisdom 2:9 the author puts a citation in the mouth of the wicked that undermines their claims; similarly, in Wisdom 13:10–19 the idolaters become the object of the author’s irony; in Wisdom 14:22 instead, according to Mazzinghi one may locate an ironic critique of the Pax Romana. Often, these ironies rely on subtle allusions that the reader is expected to recognize. By doing so, one may appreciate the theological insights that the author wants to communicate by means of irony …
Tobias Häner and Virginia Miller, “Introduction: Reading Irony in Ancient Texts,” in Irony in the Bible: Between Subversion and Innovation, ed. Tobias Häner and Virginia Miller (Leiden: Brill, 2023), 8.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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LXX Psalm 15:5 and Wisdom of Solomon 2:9

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