# So why do the Psalms we sing in church



## earl40 (Jan 10, 2016)

have such different words than what is in our bibles?


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Jan 10, 2016)

Here are first two verses of Psalm 1 in the SMV



> 1 That man hath perfect blessedness,
> who walketh not astray
> In counsel of ungodly men,
> nor stands in sinners' way,
> ...



Here it is in the NKJV



> Blessed is the man
> Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
> Nor stands in the path of sinners,
> Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
> ...



This is just one example, but they are not really that different, only moving some things around for metre purpose. It is faithful to the underlying Hebrew.


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## earl40 (Jan 10, 2016)

Backwoods Presbyterian said:


> Here are first two verses of Psalm 1 in the SMV
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That is a good example of something pretty close. What I experienced today was not so. Today was the first time in 30 plus years I have heard a Psalm sung here in a Central Florida PCA church and when the congregation sang it I did not sing because I though we were singing a hymn though it did sound mildly familiar. I now know I should have read the bulletin.


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## Backwoods Presbyterian (Jan 10, 2016)

What psalm was it and what you did you sing it out of?


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## earl40 (Jan 10, 2016)

Backwoods Presbyterian said:


> What psalm was it and what you did you sing it out of?



Psalm 85 from a projection on a screen.


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## TheOldCourse (Jan 10, 2016)

In the Trinity Hymnal as well as a few others of the like some of the "Psalms" are listed as "Based on Psalm xx" instead of merely being "Psalm xx". Those are usually very loose paraphrases and really only hymns that recall the themes of a particular psalm. It may have been one of those. There are also some pretty poor translations in the 1912 Psalter, however, or it may just be a one-off contemporary christian music retooling of a psalm.


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## earl40 (Jan 10, 2016)

TheOldCourse said:


> In the Trinity Hymnal as well as a few others of the like some of the "Psalms" are listed as "Based on Psalm xx" instead of merely being "Psalm xx". Those are usually very loose paraphrases and really only hymns that recall the themes of a particular psalm. It may have been one of those. There are also some pretty poor translations in the 1912 Psalter, however, or it may just be a one-off contemporary christian music retooling of a psalm.



So I assume it is done this way because there is no way to put them to the way we think a song should sound like?


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## TheOldCourse (Jan 10, 2016)

earl40 said:


> TheOldCourse said:
> 
> 
> > In the Trinity Hymnal as well as a few others of the like some of the "Psalms" are listed as "Based on Psalm xx" instead of merely being "Psalm xx". Those are usually very loose paraphrases and really only hymns that recall the themes of a particular psalm. It may have been one of those. There are also some pretty poor translations in the 1912 Psalter, however, or it may just be a one-off contemporary christian music retooling of a psalm.
> ...



The Scottish Metrical Psalter, Anglo-Genevan Psalter, Book of Psalms for Worship, etc. would all show that it's quite possible to translate the Psalms faithfully into singable meter without indulging in much paraphrase. However yes, the motivation behind those loose paraphases is often that a more exact translation of the Hebrew does not suit the poetic sensibilities of the writer.


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## Justified (Jan 10, 2016)

You probably got it from the Trinity Psalter, which liberally uses the 1912 Psalter, which is perhaps the most atrocious psalter known to man, with regards to being faithful to the text. Even the ones that purport to be actually psalms are usually paraphrases.

I've found, as an EPer in a non-Eper church, that I can barely sing the psalms even when we are supposed to be singing them.


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## VictorBravo (Jan 10, 2016)

earl40 said:


> TheOldCourse said:
> 
> 
> > In the Trinity Hymnal as well as a few others of the like some of the "Psalms" are listed as "Based on Psalm xx" instead of merely being "Psalm xx". Those are usually very loose paraphrases and really only hymns that recall the themes of a particular psalm. It may have been one of those. There are also some pretty poor translations in the 1912 Psalter, however, or it may just be a one-off contemporary christian music retooling of a psalm.
> ...



Actually, there is a lot more to it than just that.

The Trinity Hymnal (as distinguished from the Trinity Psalter) is a collection of hymns. The history of hymns is fairly convoluted. There was a period of time (Isaac Watts is an example) when there was a desire to update the psalms to make them more aligned with the New Testament. These often are the “based on” psalms. Sometimes the psalms were considered too harsh or foreign in their sensibilities, so those parts were tempered down.

But the psalter psalms are different. The idea there is to make the meaning and language of the psalms follow a singable meter. The result is sometimes very good, sometimes a bit awkward.

I looked at our Trinity Psalter’s rendering of Psalm 85 and it indeed is stretched a bit compared to the King James version. 

An example in verse 5: “Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?” is rendered 
“Wilt Thou ne’er the storm assuage 
On the realm of Thy desire,
Length’ning out from age to age 
Thy consuming jealous ire?”

You can see the original in there somewhere, but it looks pretty paraphrastic.

On the other hand, many of the Trinity Psalter renderings are very good. Likewise for other psalter collections. In those cases you can truly say that the desire to put the psalms to meter is what drives the rephrasing of them.


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## brendanchatt (Jan 10, 2016)

Texts for songs will often say "Based on Psalm [number]," like Chris said. Texts are also sometimes called "From Psalm [number]." Additionally, there also songs in the hymnal which I think say "Psalm [number]," then a new line stating the source, for example, "Psalter 1912," and then a new line on which is written "mod.," which I believe is short for modified or modification, indicating I think that the party adopting the song into the hymnal made modifications. 
Additionally, some translations such as the 1912 psalter are seen as not very tight in the first place. Add a modification and it might be very different from the Psalm.


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## Jeri Tanner (Jan 10, 2016)

This is a little askance of the OP, but I was thinking this morning that all who are interested should learn about singing the Psalms in plainsong (I've decided to use that term rather than "chanting"! I think it's a lovely name for it.) Then they can be sung straight from the Bible. It seems a wise thing to do in these troubled times. I've been thinking about getting a few friends together to try this.

I appreciate the metered Psalms. Both methods of singing them can be good. I visited a Lutheran church a while back where plainsong Psalms were sung and it was so wonderful to sing the text straight from the Bible.


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## Logan (Jan 11, 2016)

earl40 said:


> So I assume it is done this way because there is no way to put them to the way we think a song should sound like?



Not necessarily. My observation is that people who haven't really considered EP often aren't overly concerned with fidelity in an adaptation. They are interested in a "based on" or a paraphrase but not necessarily singing the Psalm as accurately translated as possible. Not that they are trying to obscure scripture or change it, it's just a different mindset because they are singing it for different reasons.


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## earl40 (Jan 11, 2016)

Logan said:


> earl40 said:
> 
> 
> > So I assume it is done this way because there is no way to put them to the way we think a song should sound like?
> ...



This is a good point in that the person who does the paraphrase should be worried about the fidelity in the translation. In essence they are turning a Psalm into a hymn or worse turning it into some type of sermon.


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