Additional Psalm 151
Superscription
1 This psalm was written by David himself (even though it lies outside the accepted number of psalms)
after he fought single-handedly with Goliath.
The Lords Selection of David
I was the smallest among my brothers,
and the youngest in my fathers household.
I used to take care of my fathers sheep.
2 My hands constructed a musical instrument;
my fingers tuned a harp.
3 Who will announce this to my Lord?
The Lord himselfhe is listening.
4 He himself sent his messenger
and took me from my fathers sheep,
and anointed me with his anointing oil.
5 My brothers were handsome and big,
but the Lord was did not approve of them.
Davids Victory over Goliath
6 I went out to meet the foreigner;
he called down curses on me by his idols.
7 But I pulled out his own sword;
I beheaded him and thereby removed reproach from the Israelites.
Although this psalm is not accepted as canonical by Jews, Catholics, or Protestants, it is usually included in Greek Bibles
As it stands in the Greek text this apocryphal psalm celebrates Davids rise from humble beginnings to become a famous figure in ancient Israel. After describing Davids boyhood life as a shepherd and his surprising selection by the Lord (vv. 1-5), this psalmist emphasizes Davids role as a hero responsible for the defeat of the giant Goliath who mocked the Israelite army (vv. 6-7). As such the psalm assumes familiarity with and draws ideas and phraseology from certain portions of biblical material (e.g., 1 Sam 16-17; Ps 78:70-72; 89:20; cf. 2 Sam 6:5; 2 Chr 29:26). Although in the early part of the twentieth century H. B. Swete had to acknowledge that there is no evidence that it [i.e., Psalm 151] ever existed in Hebrew (H. B. Swete, Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, 253), we now know from the Dead Sea scrolls that this psalm did in fact exist in Hebrew and was actually a part of the psalter used by the Qumran community. Psalm 151 appears along with a number of canonical and non-canonical psalms in 11QPsa, a first century A.D. scroll discovered in 1956. (The editio princeps of this manuscript first appeared in J. A. Sanders, Ps. 151 in 11QPss, ZAW 75 [1963]: 73-86, and was slightly revised in J. A. Sanders, ed., The Psalms Scroll of Qumrân Cave 11 (11QPsa), DJD 4, 54-64. On details of translation, structure, and meaning of this psalm see especially the following: P. W. Skehan, The Apocryphal Psalm 151, CBQ 25 [1963]: 407-09; W. H. Brownlee, The 11Q Counterpart to Ps 151,1-5, RevQ 4 [1963]: 379-87; J. Carmignac, La forme poétique du Psaume 151 de la grotte 11, RevQ 4 [1963]: 371-78; J. Carmignac, Précisions sur la forme poétique du Psaume 151, RevQ 5 [1965]: 249-52; J. Strugnell, Notes on the Text and Transmission of the Apocryphal Psalms 151, 154 (= Syr. II) and 155 (= Syr. III), HTR 59 [1966]: 257-81; I. Rabinowitz, The Alleged Orphism of 11QPss 28 3-12, ZAW 76 [1964]: 193-200; A. Dupont-Sommer, Le Psaume CLI dans 11QPsa et le problème de son origine essénienne, Semitica 14 [1964]: 25-62. On the Qumran evidence for the Psalter in general see the following: P. W. Flint, The Dead Sea Psalms Scrolls and the Book of Psalms, STDJ 17 [Leiden: Brill, 1997].)
In the Qumran Hebrew scroll Psalm 151 actually consists of two separate poems that have been brought together; they are now known as Psalm 151A and Psalm 151B (which is only partially preserved). The Hebrew form of the psalm is thus quite different from that known previously through Greek, Latin, and Syriac translations. In some ways the Greek version of Psalm 151 does not seem to make good sense, and the Hebrew text provides a basis for a better understanding what transpired in the creation of the Greek version. It appears that two earlier psalms have been brought together in the Greek version in such a way that their original structure and even meaning have been modified to a significant degree. In comparison to the Hebrew text Sanders regards the Greek text of this psalm to be in places desiccated, meaningless, truncated, ridiculous, absurd, jumbled, and disappointingly different, all this the result of its having been made from a truncated amalgamation of the two Hebrew psalms (see J. A. Sanders, The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll, 94-100). The present translation is based on the Göttingen edition of the Greek text, but with attention given especially to the Qumran evidence and to the Syriac translation. (The Leiden edition presents two Syriac texts for this psalm, the first being that of a number of west Syrian liturgical Psalters, and the other being that of certain east Syrian biblical manuscripts. References to the Syriac translation in the present notes have the second of these two Syriac texts in view.)
