Who’s Who in Psalm 7:12-14

[Quasiblogo]

I find it bumpy when reading Psalm 7:12-14. Perhaps this is due to the Bible version I use. This has to do with whether a line is referring to God or man.

The Interlinear on biblehub.com is in-line with the NASB-1995 (perhaps I should say the reverse). But with the way I read, my preference is to understand all the “he’s” in verses 12-14 as “he” (man). For instance…

Verse 12: the unrepentant will futilely ready his own sword and bow, that is, invent his own machinations (and this easily flows into verse 13, if one views verse 13 as referring to man as well)

Verse 13: the unrepentant continues to devise evil means, and…

Verse 14: the unrepentant one ends up not gaining anything, except that he is really fighting (“travails” in vain) against evil itself (kind of like the confusion in the camp when the Assyrian’s besieged Jerusalem. That army self—destructed).

Has anyone had a similar challenge in reading these verses/accepting the prevailing translations?

If I’m incorrect about this, I can accept that, since I know very little about the correct way to translate from Hebrew to English.

Perhaps I just want everything neat and clean when it comes to verse 12. Does this verse really shift from “he”, where it starts with “If a man does not repent” to “He/His” (God) in the remainder of the verse?

 

[Mark Quayle]

I find it bumpy when reading Psalm 7:12-14. Perhaps this is due to the Bible version I use. This has to do with whether a line is referring to God or man.

The Interlinear on biblehub.com is in-line with the NASB-1995 (perhaps I should say the reverse). But with the way I read, my preference is to understand all the “he’s” in verses 12-14 as “he” (man). For instance…

Verse 12: the unrepentant will futilely ready his own sword and bow, that is, invent his own machinations (and this easily flows into verse 13, if one views verse 13 as referring to man as well)

Verse 13: the unrepentant continues to devise evil means, and…

Verse 14: the unrepentant one ends up not gaining anything, except that he is really fighting (“travails” in vain) against evil itself (kind of like the confusion in the camp when the Assyrian’s besieged Jerusalem. That army self—destructed).

Has anyone had a similar challenge in reading these verses/accepting the prevailing translations?

If I’m incorrect about this, I can accept that, since I know very little about the correct way to translate from Hebrew to English.

Perhaps I just want everything neat and clean when it comes to verse 12. Does this verse really shift from “he”, where it starts with “If a man does not repent” to “He/His” (God) in the remainder of the verse?

I suggest reading it in the NIV. Not saying it is correct in its use of the original, but what it does, does make sense.

 

[Quasiblogo]

I suggest reading it in the NIV. Not saying it is correct in its use of the original, but what it does, does make sense.

Thank you, Mark. I agree with you. In the NIV, It is a thoughtful rendering.