Psalm 121

I can no longer remain silent on the subject of the Catholic translation of the Psalms currently in use.  Last weekend it was 'the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C' so at Mass we had the excruciating version of what they call Psalm 120. It is from the Grail Psalter, which I dislike. Firstly: I was brought up with the Prayer Book (Book of Common Prayer) and therefore with the Coverdale Psalms which use the Hebrew (Masoretic) numbering and so I consider the number for this Psalm to be 121. It is known as Psalm 121 by English people and is familiar to everyone -  I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. See - you recognise it don't you and you would NOT call it number 120. Now Myles (Coverdale) did a fine job as was his wont when he translated this one.

 

Levavi oculos with admirable chant by J Turle :

Copyright information: this is from the Parish Psalter SH Nicholson publ 1932

I don't like the pointing in verse 6 here, but apart from that the whole thing is splendid. ["So that the sun shall not burn / thee by / day : nei/ther the / moon by / night",  it ought to be. I know best.]


And here's what we get at the Sacred Heart (God bless it). No chant neither.


from the Grail Psalms copyright 1963 The Grail

 

This one completely lacks the poetry of the Coverdale one. Which is more charming -

Behold he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

or

No, he sleeps not nor slumbers, Israel's guard.?

This is very poor grammar, apart from anything else. It's practically slang. Compare "Yeah, I'm well 'ard, me." The syntax is identical. 

 
I defy you not to wince at hearing       May he never allow you to stumble!
with its superfluous exclamation mark, when you could have

He will not suffer thy foot to be moved.

The meaning may be similar, but that Grail one puts it in such a childish patronising way that it is far less uplifting than it might be eg. as it is in the Prayer Book translation.
 
Whoever wrote these Grail ones had a tin ear, that's for sure.
 

The Lord will guide your going and coming.

What on earth was the thinking behind that? No-one says 'going and coming', even in ordinary speech. They say 'coming and going'. Coverdale on the other hand, by using

The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in

gets the message across faultlessly : i) 'shall' conveys more definite confidence than 'will'; ii) preserving is more useful than guiding, thanks; iii) going OUT and coming IN is more expressive and makes the phrasing sound better. Going out and coming in are actually things people do, with a purpose. 'Coming and going' is a cliché meaning milling about achieving nothing and it's not much good God guiding us when we're doing that. He should send us off to do something constructive instead.

 
I love the Psalms and find comfort in them but this would never have happened if I had not had the Prayer Book version forced upon me in my younger years. It is unhelpful, nay, wicked, to make people use these silly other translations because they will then never bother to look at the Prayer Book Psalms or the King James Bible ones and thus will deprive themselves of a marvellous gift. Everyday language is no use to me when I want major serious help in spiritual matters. 

 
Therefore these are the final scores  :  Coverdale  1,  Vatican  nil.