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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 45

1 For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”; by the Korahites, a well-written poem, a love song. My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. I say, “I have composed this special song for the king; my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.”⁠ 2 You are the most handsome of all men. You speak in an impressive and fitting manner. For this reason God grants you continual blessings.⁠ 3 Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior. Appear in your majestic splendor. 4 Appear in your majesty and be victorious. Ride forth for the sake of what is right, on behalf of justice. Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts. 5 Your arrows are sharp and penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies. Nations fall at your feet. 6 Your throne, O God, is permanent. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice.⁠ 7 You love justice and hate evil. For this reason God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of joy, elevating you above your companions. 8 All your garments are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia. From the luxurious palaces comes the music of stringed instruments that makes you happy. 9 Princesses are among your honored women. Your bride stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir. 10 Listen, O princess. Observe and pay attention! Forget your homeland and your family.⁠ 11 Then the king will be attracted by your beauty. After all, he is your master. Submit to him. 12 Rich people from Tyre will seek your favor by bringing a gift. 13 The princess looks absolutely magnificent, decked out in pearls and clothed in a brocade trimmed with gold. 14 In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king. Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her, are led before you. 15 They are bubbling with joy as they walk in procession and enter the royal palace. 16 Your sons will carry on the dynasty of your ancestors; you will make them princes throughout the land.⁠ 17 I will proclaim your greatness through the coming years, then the nations will praise you forever.

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Compare Psalm 45:10 and Exegesis on the Soul 4:10

Hebrew Bible · Nag Hammadi

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Summary

In Psalm 45, the poet urges a royal bride to forget her people and family. Exegesis on the Soul, a Nag Hammadi text, reads this as a command for the soul to leave her former lovers and devote herself to her heavenly husband.

Passages

Psalm 45:10

Hebrew Bible
10 Listen, O princess. Observe and pay attention! Forget your homeland and your family. 11 Then the king will be attracted by your beauty. After all, he is your master. Submit to him. 12 Rich people from Tyre will seek your favor by bringing a gift.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Exegesis on the Soul 4:10

Nag Hammadi
And the prophet said in the Psalms: “Hear, my daughter, and look, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty, for he is your lord.” For he commands her to turn her gaze away from her people and from the crowd of her adulterers, among whom she once dwelt, to dedicate herself to her king alone, her true Lord, and to forget her earthly father’s house, where the situation was appalling for her, and instead to remember her Father who is in heaven. Accordingly, it was also said to Abraham: “Go from your country and your kindred and from your father's house.”
200–230 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Exegesis on the Soul

References

“... And the prophet said in the Psalms (45:10-11), Hear, my daughter, and see and incline your ear and forget your people and your father’s house, for the king has desired your beauty, for he is your lord. For he requires her to turn her face from her people and the multitude of her adulterers, in whose midst she once was, to devote herself only to her king, her real lord, and to forget the house of the earthly father, with whom things went badly for her, but to remember her father who is in heaven. Thus also it was said (Gn 12:1) to Abraham, Come out from your country and your kinsfolk and from your father’s house. ...”
William C. Robinson Jr. and Maddalena Scopello, “The Exegesis on the Soul (II,6),” in The Nag Hammadi Library in English, ed. James M. Robinson, rev. ed. (New York: HarperCollins, 1990), 195–196.

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 45:10 and Exegesis on the Soul 4:10

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