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Psalms

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Psalm 9

1 For the music director, according to the alumoth-labben style; a psalm of David. I will thank the Lord with all my heart! I will tell about all your amazing deeds. 2 I will be happy and rejoice in you. I will sing praises to you, O Most High. 3 When my enemies turn back, they trip and are defeated before you. 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. 9 Consequently the Lord provides safety for the oppressed; he provides safety in times of trouble. 10 Your loyal followers trust in you, for you, Lord, do not abandon those who seek your help. 11 Sing praises to the Lord, who rules in Zion. Tell the nations what he has done. 12 For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; he did not overlook their cry for help⁠ 13 when they prayed: “Have mercy on me, Lord! See how I am oppressed by those who hate me, O one who can snatch me away from the gates of death! 14 Then I will tell about all your praiseworthy acts; in the gates of Daughter Zion I will rejoice because of your deliverance.” 15 The nations fell into the pit they had made; their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. 16 The Lord revealed himself; he accomplished justice. The wicked were ensnared by their own actions. (Higgaion. Selah) 17 The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; this is the destiny of all the nations that ignore God, 18 for the needy are not permanently ignored, the hopes of the oppressed are not forever dashed. 19 Rise up, Lord! Don’t let men be defiant. May the nations be judged in your presence. 20 Terrify them, Lord.⁠ Let the nations know they are mere mortals. (Selah)

Texts in conversation

Compare Deuteronomy 9:14 and Psalm 9:6

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Deuteronomy 9 and Psalm 9 use “blot out” to describe erasing a name, a form of shame involving the loss of all one's reputation after death. This is threatened for those who break the covenant, and in the psalm it describes the defeat of foreign nations.

Passages

Deuteronomy 9:14

Hebrew Bible
13 Moreover, he said to me, “I have taken note of these people; they are a stubborn lot! 14 Stand aside and I will destroy them, obliterating their very name from memory, and I will make you into a stronger and more numerous nation than they are.” 15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Deuteronomy

Psalm 9:6

Hebrew Bible
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.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

References

"... Noteworthy are the iconic and textual associations in the golden calf narrative when Moses beseeches YHWH to forgive Israel for making “gods of gold” and, if not, to “blot me out from the document that you wrote.” The root mḥh, here translated as “blot out,” appears elsewhere in the West semitic corpus in reference to inscription effacement, as, for example, in the reciprocal curse against text effacement in the ʾAḥirom sarcophagus (“may his inscription be effaced”). These observations recall a wider range of biblical traditions concerning the “blotting out” of names and memories of people and places (Exodus 17:14; Deuteronomy 25:19; 2 Kings 14:27; 2 Kings 21:13; Psalm 9:6; Deuteronomy 29:19; Deuteronomy 9:14; Deuteronomy 25:6; Judges 21:17; Psalm 109:13; Psalm 69:29). This same root mḥh also appears in Numbers 5:23 in the context of the ritual ordeal for the accused adulteress, in which written curses are “blotted off” into water and then given to the suspected adulteress to drink ..."
Natalie Naomi May, ed., Iconoclasm and Text Destruction in the Ancient Near East and Beyond, OIS 8 (Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 2012), 333–334.

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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Deuteronomy 9:14 and Psalm 9:6

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