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LXX Psalms

Septuagint

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Psalm 9

1 For the end, a Psalm of David, concerning the secrets of the Son. 2 I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart; I will recount all your wonderful works. 3 I will be glad and exult in you: I will sing to your name, you Most High. 4 When my enemies are turned back, they shall be feeble and perish at your presence. 5 For you have maintained my cause and my right; you sat on the throne, you who judge righteousness. 6 You have rebuked the nations, and the ungodly one has perished;⁠ you have blotted out their name for ever, even for ever and ever. 7 The swords of the enemy have failed utterly; and you have destroyed cities: their memorial has been destroyed with a noise, 8 but the Lord endures for ever: he has prepared his throne for judgment. 9 And he will judge the world in righteousness, he will judge the nations in uprightness. 10 The Lord also has become a refuge for the poor, a seasonable help, in affliction. 11 And let those that know your name hope in you: for you, Lord, have not failed those that diligently seek you. 12 Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion: declare his dealings among the nations. 13 For he remembered them, in making inquisition for blood: he has not forgotten the plea of the poor. 14 Have mercy upon me, Lord; look upon my affliction which I suffer from my enemies, you that lift me up from the gates of death: 15 that I may declare all your praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion: I will exult in your salvation. 16 The pagan nations are caught in the destruction which they planned: in the very snare which they hid is their foot taken. 17 The Lord is known as executing judgments: the sinner is taken in the works of his hands. A song of Pause. 18 Let sinners be driven away into Hades, even all the nations that forget God. 19 For the poor shall not be forgotten for ever: the patience of the needy ones shall not perish for ever. 20 Arise, Lord, let not man prevail: let the pagan nations be judged before you.⁠ 21 Appoint, Lord, a lawgiver over them: let the pagan nations know that they are men. Pause. 22 Why do you stand afar off, Lord? why do you overlook us in times of need, in affliction? 23 While the ungodly one acts proudly, the poor is hotly pursued: the wicked are taken in the crafty counsels which they devise. 24 Because the sinner praises himself for the desires of his heart; and the unjust one blesses himself. 25 The sinner has provoked the Lord: according to the abundance of his anger he will not seek after him: God is not before him. 26 His ways are profane at all times; your judgments are removed from before him: he will gain the mastery over all his enemies. 27 For he has said in his heart, I shall not be moved, continuing without evil from generation to generation. 28 Whose mouth is full of cursing, and bitterness, and fraud: under his tongue are trouble and pain. 29 He lies in wait with rich men in secret places, in order to kill the innocent: his eyes are set against the poor. 30 He lies in wait in secret as a lion in his den: he lies in wait to ravish the poor, to ravish the poor when he draws him after him. 31 He will bring him down in his snare: he will bow down and fall when he has mastered the poor. 32 For he has said in his heart, God has forgotten: he has turned away his face so as never to look. 33 Arise, Lord God; let your hand be lifted up: do not forget the poor. 34 Why has the wicked provoked God? for he has said in his heart, He will not require it. 35 You see it; for you observe trouble and fierce anger, to deliver them into your hands: the poor has been left to you; you were a helper to the orphan. 36 Break the arm of the sinner and wicked man: his sin shall be sought for, and shall not be found. 37 The Lord shall reign for ever, even for ever and ever: you Gentiles shall perish out of his land. 38 The Lord has heard the desire of the poor: your ear has inclined to the preparation of their heart; 39 to plead for the orphan and afflicted, that man may no more boast upon the earth.

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 9:6 and LXX Psalm 9:6

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Psalm 9 describes God destroying the unrighteous and erasing their memory. The Greek Septuagint changes this so they are destroyed, without saying God did it, possibly removing a violent description of God or reflecting a different Hebrew version.

Passages

Psalm 9:6

Hebrew Bible
4 For you defended my just cause; from your throne you pronounced a just decision. 5 You terrified the nations with your battle cry. You destroyed the wicked; you permanently wiped out all memory of them. 6 The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins. You destroyed their cities; all memory of the enemies has perished. 7 But the Lord rules forever; he reigns in a just manner. 8 He judges the world fairly; he makes just legal decisions for the nations.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

LXX Psalm 9:6

Septuagint
4 When my enemies are turned back, they shall be feeble and perish at your presence. 5 For you have maintained my cause and my right; you sat on the throne, you who judge righteousness. 6 You have rebuked the nations, and the ungodly one has perished; you have blotted out their name for ever, even for ever and ever. 7 The swords of the enemy have failed utterly; and you have destroyed cities: their memorial has been destroyed with a noise, 8 but the Lord endures for ever: he has prepared his throne for judgment.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Psalms

References

"... It has been suggested that the translator of Psalms evaded the idea that God himself destroyed the wicked, and that he therefore changed the original text by reading the letters differently from the Masoretic text (אָבַד הרשע). However, if this were true, he would have been inconsistent for elsewhere in the LXX of Psalms God is pictured as personally destroying the wicked (Psalm 5:6–7; 143:12). It is therefore more likely that the difference between the Masoretic text and the Septuagint is based not on the translator’s tendentious change, but on variants that underlie the translation ..."
Emanuel Tov, The Text-Critical Use of the Septuagint in Biblical Research, 3rd ed. (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 2015), 112.

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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Psalm 9:6 and LXX Psalm 9:6

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