Where Is Their God? (Psalm 79) - Some, uh, Theologica

¹A Psalm of Asaph. O God, gentiles have come into your inheritance: they have defiled your temple, they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. ²They have given your servants’ bodies as food for vultures, the flesh of your faithful to beasts. ³They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem —and there is no one to bury them. ⁴We have become a reproach to our neighbors, an object of mocking and derision to the nations around us. ⁵How long, Yhwh, will you be angry? Will your jealousy burn like a fire forever? ⁶Pour our your wrath on the nations that do not know you, and upon the kingdoms that do not call upon your name. ⁷For they have devoured Jacob and have devastated his dwelling. ⁸Do not remember our ancestors’ iniquities against us —hasten your mercies to meet us: for we have been brought very low. ⁹Help us, God of our Salvation, according to the glory of your name, deliver us, and blot out our sins for your name’s sake. ¹⁰Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of your servants’ outpoured blood be made known among the nations before our eyes. ¹¹May the prisoner’s groaning come to you —according to your great power, preserve those born to die. ¹²Return our neighbors’ taunts sevenfold to their bosoms, taunts with which they taunted you, My Lord, ¹³and we, your people, and the sheep of your shepherding, will thank you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Psalm 79

One often begins the enterprise of Biblical exegesis by noting the great distances in time and geography between the author of the text and the audience now reading it. One usually starts by comparing the technological, cultural, and political divide between the ancient world and our own. However, in reading this text, a French proverb kept coming to mind: Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose—The more things change, the more they stay the same.

word cloud of text of essay "Where is their God?" — Image courtesy wordle.net

To be sure, ours is a different world than that of 6th century B.C.E. Judah. We Americans live in a superpower, with an arsenal capable of annihilating all human life. Judah was a second or third-rate power, beset on all sides by powers greater than it, constantly struggling to survive. The United States of America is a large, populous nation, unparalleled in its commerce, unrivaled in its technology, unmatched in its military might. The Kingdom of Judah was a small vassal state, often behind in technology, dependent on the various trades through its territory for commerce, and dependent on the good will of the surrounding empires for its very survival.

And yet, there is one thing that our two greatly divergent nations share—the bitter pain and disorientation of having been dealt a blow that has brought us “very low.” Certainly, the very existence of our nation is not at stake. The devastation wrought on September 11, 2001 is not comparable in relative terms to the devastation wrought on Judah and Jerusalem by the Babylonians. But in a very real sense, the existence of our nation—that is, the existence of our understandings of our nation—has been reduced to rubble. We wonder about our future and the well being of our people in light of the destruction in New York and Washington. Things that were certain in our minds are no longer. Our understanding of our technological, commercial, and military strength has taken a great blow.

The particulars of our experience differ greatly—but the particulars of our reactions to that experience do not. We—like the psalmist—grieve, lament, and demand justice from a seemingly absent God.

I. ENCOUNTERING BIBLICAL TEXT

The first thing that one encounters in reading this Psalm is the raw passion and honesty of the psalmist. From the graphic descriptions of the destruction wrought upon Jerusalem to the equally stark calls for retribution against the enemy, the psalmist pulls no punches. As Walter Brueggemann notes: “What strikes one most is the guileless simplicity of strongly felt passion, which can be shared with Yahweh. There is no self-deceiving politeness, no attempt to protect Yahweh from how it really is.”¹

The biggest speed bump one encounters in this text is the transition between the calls for judgment upon Israel’s enemies in verse 12 and the vow of praise in verse 13. Vows of praise are frequently found in the conclusions of Psalms of lament, ² but the suddenness of the transition in the instant Psalm is enough to give the reader whiplash.

Similarly, one is struck by the juxtaposition of mercy (Hebrew רַחָמִים) with the demands for “avenging of your servants’ outpoured blood.” ³ The same God who is asked to hasten divine mercies is also asked to “return our neighbors’ taunts sevenfold to their bosoms….” It is a jarring contrast.

This Psalm occurs only once in the Revised Common Lectionary, and even then, only the first nine verses. ⁴ It shares the Sunday between September 18 and 24 inclusive of Year C with Psalm 4 as the designated Psalter reading. ⁵ In short, the Psalm would be heard in the churches only once out of 162 Sundays, and only partially. It does not exist as one of the Psalms to be read in the United Methodist Hymnal, nor are there any hymns or other acts of worship based upon it. ⁶ In short, one could be a faithful parishioner and attend worship every Sunday, and never hear this Psalm in the context of worship. It is read, however, in the synagogues on Tisha b’Av—the commemoration of the destruction of the Temple on the Ninth of Av. ⁷

II. CLOSE READING

A number of issues present themselves in the course of translation.

The first is found in the first verse. Most contemporary translations render גוֹיִם goyim as “the nations” (NRSV, NIV). Others render the word as “the heathen” (RSV, NEB) or “heathens” (JPS). There is no definite article on the noun, nor is it in construct with another definite noun. It therefore seems inappropriate to translate the word with any definite article. Thus the translation should at the very least read: “nations.” The usage of the term גוים goyim to indicate “gentiles” is not attested in the Hebrew Bible. Nevertheless, the Greek term εθνη ethne, usually translated “gentiles” in the books of the Apocrypha and the New Testament, is found in the Septuagint translation of this Psalm. Likewise, the Syriac text of the Psalms has the word ‘ammei, “peoples,” perhaps closer in meaning to the Greek than to the Hebrew. Additionally, given the context of the writing of the Psalm, it is not “the nations” who have entered Jerusalem and the Temple—it is rather soldiers from one nation: the Babylonian Empire. For all these reasons, I have chosen to translate גוים goyim as “gentiles” in my reader’s translation. It fits the sense of the context as well as provides a basis for the defilement referred to in the same verse. The presence of individual non-Jews in the Holy of Holies, or anywhere beyond the outer courts would defile the Temple.

An issue not so much of translation, but of punctuation presents itself in the fifth verse. This verse is variously rendered:

“How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever?/ Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?” (NRSV)
“How long, O LORD? Will you be angry forever?/How long will your jealousy burn like fire?” (NIV)
“How long, O LORD? Wilt thou be angry forever?/Will thy jealous wrath burn like fire?” (RSV)
“How long, O LORD, will You be angry forever, will Your indignation blaze like fire?” (JPS)
“How long, O LORD, wilt thou be roused to such fury?/Must thy jealousy rage like a fire?” (NEB)

The Hebrew of the Masoretic text places an athnach after לָנֶצַח lanetsaḥ ‘forever,’ signaling the end of the colon in that particular verse and placing the word in the first of the two cola. All of the above listed translations follow this pattern. The difficulty is that the symmetry of the parallelism is lost. First, let us examine the verse as it has been translated:

How long O Lord? Will you be angry forever?/Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?// (NRSV)

The only parallelism here is between being “angry forever” and “jealous wrath burn[ing] like fire.” It is an uneven parallelism, because the temporal element of the first colon is not matched in the second. However, if we were to move לָנֶצַח lanetsaḥ to the second colon, the parallelism is much clearer:

A B
How long, Yhwh, will you be angry?
A' B'
Forever will your jealousy burn like a fire?

Here there is a parallelism between the temporal elements (“How long” and “Forever”) and between the emotional elements (“be angry” and “your jealousy burn like a fire”). Based on this reasoning, I have chosen to translate the text in this fashion. (It is entirely possible, however, that the intensity of the pain felt in the passage deliberately works against any symmetry.)

One final element deserves attention. The final verse begins וַאֲנַחְנוּ, va’anaḥnu usually translated as “Then we….”⁸ The verse begins with a simple vav (ו), which is usually translated “and.” The function of the conjunction however is much more complex than that. The word can bear the meanings “and,” “also,” “now,” “so,” “so that,” and “then.”⁹ Translations have generally tended toward “then” in verse 13 because they view the final vow of praise as a bargained-for result of God’s performing the actions requested in the earlier verses. J. Clinton McCann rejects this understanding and prefers the translation “and” which he believes is more consistent with Biblical theology. ¹⁰ McCann is right that “biblical faith is remarkable!” ¹¹ Nevertheless, given the absence of the usual confession of trust (see below), perhaps there is an element of bargaining present and the Psalm is giving voice to that very kind of wounded spirituality. To preserve this tension, I have chosen to translate וַאֲנַחְנוּ va’anaḥnu as “And we…” in the literal translation and as “…and we…” in the reader’s translation. The lowercase “and” following a comma rather than a period in the preceding verse, allows for both simple affirmation and bargained-for result.

There are no apparent divisions in the Hebrew of the Masoretic Text. There is no selah or other structural or liturgical cue. The NIV follows the Hebrew indicia and makes no paragraph divisions in the text. The NRSV divides the Psalm into four sections: vv. 1-4, 5-7, 8-10, and 11-13. The JPS divides the text into two groups: vv. 1-4 and 5-13. McCann sees the structure of this Psalm as being divided into three sections: vv. 1-5 (Complaint), vv. 6-12 (Petition), and v. 13 (Promise).¹² Verses 1 through 5 identify the complaint in a they-we-you pattern outlining the actions of the enemy, the psalmist’s suffering, and the God who does not care.¹³

An examination of the Psalm verse by verse reveals a structure not easily identified.¹⁴ Verse one opens with an address, simply: “God.” The verse immediately transitions into the complaint proper immediately identifying the actions of the enemies in “they” language in verses 1-3. Verse four follows with “we” language identifying the psalmist’s suffering. It, in turn, is followed by verse 5 using “you” language, asking God the plaintive “how long?” What comes next is not easily identified. Verses 6-10 have many features of a petition, requesting specific action from God. However, almost every verse is laden with motivations: “For [they have] devoured Jacob and have devastated his dwelling,” “for the sake of your name,” and “Why should the nations say…?”

To further the dilemma verses 11 and 12 seem to be additional petitioning language where one would expect a confession of trust. This gives rise to the “speed bump” identified above. Without the confession of trust, the transition from these latter petitions to the vow of praise in verse 13 is jarring. Is the absence of the confession of trust an inadvertent break with form? Or is its absence indeed telling? Is the psalmist incapable of forming that trust in light of his experience? Or is the absence of the confession a rhetorical device to capture the attention of the listener?¹⁵

III. READING CONTEXTUALLY

There are a number of echoes in this text of other passages throughout the Hebrew Bible.

In English translation, the question “How long?” appears 54 times in 47 separate verses in the Hebrew Bible. The overwhelming majority of these instances reflect a Hebrew original of עַד–מָטַי ‘ad maṭay, literally, ‘until when?’ Less common, is the construction עַד–אָנָה, ‘ad ’anah literally ‘until where?’ which is found mostly in Job and a couple Psalms. Rarer still is the Hebrew that underlies this phrase in the present Psalm: עַד–מָה, ‘ad mah literally, ‘until what?’ There are only four other occurrences of this wording in the Hebrew Bible:

“…yet Kain is destined for burning. How long shall Asshur take you away captive?” (Num. 24:22 (NRSV))
“How long, you people, shall my honor suffer shame? How long will you love vain words, and seek after lies? Selah.” (Ps. 4:3 (NRSV))
“We do not see our emblems; there is no longer any prophet, and there is no one among us who knows how long.” (Ps. 74:9 (NRSV)); and
“How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire?” (Ps. 89:46 (NRSV)). ¹⁶

Considering that the usage in Psalm 89, verse 46, is identical to the usage in the present Psalm, there are really only two other sources to look at for help. It is extremely difficult to discern any nuance in the meaning of עַד–מָה ‘ad mah as opposed to the other variants. It is possible that the usage of מָה mah ‘what’ in this context, instead of מָטַי maṭay ‘when’ or אָנָה ’anah ‘where’ implies less certainty: there may not be a definite time that will satisfy the inquirer. מָה mah is used in other contexts to express what is an impossibility: מַה–נִּצְטַדָּק mah nitsṭadaq ‘how shall we justify ourselves?’ (Gen. 44:16).¹⁷ Therefore, though the question as translated in English has very many echoes throughout the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew itself has very few parallels, and may suggest a level of futility and despair not found in other questions asking “How long?”

Verse 12 speaks of the taunts of the enemies of Judah. Among the taunts likely being referred to is the taunt at the center of verse 10: “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’” This taunt finds a number of parallels in Hebrew scripture:

My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
Ps. 42:3

As with a deadly wound in my body, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me continually, “Where is your God?”
Ps. 42:10

Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Ps. 115:2

Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep. Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
Joel 2:17

Then my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will see her downfall; now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.
Micah 7:10

It is a familiar taunt in times of Israel’s distress. In a world where the prevailing nation was presumed to have the stronger deity, the taunt “Where is their God?” is a taunt designed to add insult to injury. A defeated nation is a defeated faith. This taunt is not unlike the delightfully anachronistic taunt by Edward G. Robinson as Dothan in The Ten Commandments: “Where’s your messiah now?” It is designed to bring the defeated even lower by reminding them that they backed the wrong horse, so to speak. It should come as no surprise that this taunt would surface often throughout Israel’s history at its lowest points.

The text of verses 6 and 7 (“Pour out your wrath…”) appears in almost identical form at Jeremiah 10:25, with a couple of minor variations. The Hebrew אֶל–הַגּוֹיִם ’el ha-goyim ‘unto the nations’ of the Psalm reads עַל–הַגּוֹיִם ‘al ha-goyim ‘upon the nations’ in the Jeremiah version.¹⁸ Additionally, the phrase וְעַל–מַמְלָכוֹת v’al mamlachot ‘and upon governments’ appears in Jeremiah as וְעַל–מִשְׁפָּחוֹת v’al mishpachot ‘upon the families.’ It is hard to say which version is the original. If the oracles in Jeremiah 10 indeed took place prior to the destruction of the Temple, the psalmist might very well be quoting or paraphrasing the Jeremiah language. However, the subtle differences described above might indicate that both are cribbing from a prior source.

These verses also occur in a section of the Passover liturgy entitled שְׁפֹךְ חֲמָתְךָ sh’phoch ḥamat’cha after drinking the third cup of wine and before the Hallel.¹⁹ The two verses from the Psalm are followed by a verse from Psalm 69 (“Pour out your wrath on them; may your blazing anger overtake them.” Ps. 69:25) and Lamentations (“Pursue them in wrath and destroy them from under the heavens of the Lord!” Lam. 3:66). ²⁰ Does the inclusion in the Seder liturgy indicate ancient origin for a tradition of demanding that oppressors be brought to divine justice? It is likelier that the Passover rite incorporates demands from throughout the tradition in the development of its rituals.

The Psalm is one of the community lament Psalms. This Psalm served as a vehicle for the community to express its grief over in the context of worship while feeling abandonment by the very God being worshiped.²¹ The sense of abandonment is not changed by the Psalm, rather, it is simply voiced. Psalm 79 becomes then a method by which the community of Israel can express its grief over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Exile in the context of worship. As Pleins notes, the statements that begin the Psalm “exhibit a theological perspective that is born out of the profoundly concrete experience of war and the aftermath of exile.” ²²

The obvious historical circumstance surrounding the creation of this Psalm was the destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.E. and the beginning of the Exile in Babylon. ²³ The connection between the destruction of the Temple and the Psalm is evident in the language used during the complaint of verses 1-5: “…gentiles have come into your inheritance…they have given your servants’ bodies as food for vultures, the flesh of your faithful to beasts….” The images are vivid recollections of the destruction that set the stage for the questions that are to follow.²⁴

McCann points out: “The nations are not alone in asking ‘Where is their God?’”²⁵ It is a pointed question. Unlike the gods of Israel’s neighbors, Yhwh is invisible. God cannot be seen in the Temple, or in figures carved from wood. Israel is being taunted with the question of her invisible God’s very existence. The question stings because it hits close to home. The question voiced by Israel’s enemies is an echo of Israel’s own “deepest doubts and fears.”²⁶

IV. ENGAGING THE TEXT

The main issues the ancients had to address were that of the presence and power of God. Had the God of Israel, who had entered into covenant relationship with that people, abandoned the covenant? Had Yhwh forsaken his nation? The children of Israel would have been well within the traditions of the times and of the surrounding nations to have abandoned Yhwh as their national God. Clearly God had failed to protect the people from their enemies—perhaps a stronger god, say, Marduk, would fit the bill. They might also have determined that their God was punishing them—that theirs was a wrathful and vengeful deity, forever inflicting great woe on the people.²⁷

What is striking—almost subversive—about the Psalm, is that it does not adopt either position.²⁸ Rather, it chooses to end with affirmation and a promise of praise. The psalmist does not provide any answers to the difficult questions raised in the lament. There is no answer to the questions of “How long?” or “Where?” The psalmist leaves us in a very disorienting tension—the tension between the God we have faith in and the world we observe on a daily basis.

This remains a powerful message. If nothing else, the psalmist reminds us that it is still possible to continue in relationship—even a relationship that involves praise and worship—when God seems very far away. Even in the depths of our despair, alienation, and disorientation, we can continue in our walk with God. This is a message that the church needs to hear. The psalmist challenges the church to incorporate lament into worship, not to segregate them. The psalmist offers us a vision of worshipful relationship with God in the context of lament and despair. Further, it is a vision that does not seek to offer any simple answers. It trains us in a tolerance for ambiguity that we would do well to adopt for those long, difficult times “in the meanwhile.”

The letter vav (ו) is the second smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, but the space occupied by the vav that begins the final verse is enormous. The distance between verse 12 and 13 is a vast gulf separated by great spans of time. It is a phenomenon not unknown in scripture²⁹ and the absence of the description of the intervening time is not a statement as to the lack of such time. Here, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.

But if the psalmist was vague on the length of time from lament to praise, he was very clear that there would be a return to praise. This then is our hope: that in the depths of our despair we are still in relationship with God—even if we perceive God’s absence and the lack of God’s justice. The psalmist articulates our assurance that though we know not how long, we will not be disoriented forever. We who are suffering disorientation, lament, and pain can know that we, too, can join with the psalmist in proclaiming: “We—your people and the sheep of your shepherding—will give thanks to you forever, from generation to generation we will recount your praise.”

NOTES

[1] Brueggemann, Walter. The Message of the Psalms: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg (1984), p. 71
[2] Hopkins, Denise, A Journey Through the Psalms, Ch. 5 “Life in the Meanwhile: The Process of Lament”
[3] All translations, unless otherwise indicated are my own. A translation of the entire text is appended.
[4] Langford III, Thomas Anderson, Susan M. Morrison, and J. Lavon Wilson, eds. The United Methodist Book of Worship. Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1992, p. 235.
[5] September 11, 2001 took place during year C. This reading would have been among the readings read in churches only a week and a half after the events of that day.
[6] See, Young, Carlton R., ed. The United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House, 1989, pp. 923-5
[7] McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, “The Book of Psalms,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 4: 1 & 2 Maccabees, Introduction to Hebrew Poetry, Job, Psalms, by Leander E. Keck, Sr. Editor. 12 vols. Nashville: Abingdon Press, (1996), p. 996.
[8] So NRSV, NIV, JPS, RSV, but cf. “So we…” (KJV).
[9] Gesenius, William. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Edited by Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. Translated by Edward Robinson. Originally published as Handwörterbuch Über Das Alte Testament. 1906. Reprint. Oxford: Clarendon (1951). [hereinafter “BDB”]
[10] McCann, supra, at 996.
[11] Id.
[12] McCann, at 994.
[13] McCann, id. See, also, Hopkins, supra.
[14] Lament structure form taken from Hopkins, supra, and from class handouts.
[15] A New Testament parallel is that of the Epistle to the Galatians. Unlike Paul’s other epistles, Galatians lacks a thanksgiving, heightening the tension in the epistle and the perceived speed with which Paul composed it.
[16] This last example, while very similar to v. 5 of Psalm 79, has its own problems in translation. First, it seems to suffer the same imbalance in parallelism as the corresponding verse in Psalm 79, described above. Second, unlike the corresponding verse in Ps 79, the translators have supplied another “how long?” that does not exist in the Hebrew original.
[17] Genesius, supra, at 553
[18] Most translations render the phrase using ‘on.’
[19] See, e.g., Passover Haggadah: Deluxe Edition. Maxwell House, n.d., p. 38.
[20] Some modern Jews have reacted against the seeming militancy of these lines of the Haggadah. Either they are left out of more liberal versions, or their language is softened. Others have preferred to add language rather than subtract. One such addition adds an entire paragraph: שפך אהבתך על הגוים אשר ידעוך ועל ממלכות אשר בשמך קוראים בגלל חסדים שהם עושים עם יעקב ומגנים על עמך ישראל מפני אוכליהם. יזכו לראות בסכת בחיריך ולשמוח בשמחת גוייךָ “Pour out your love on the nations who have known you and on the kingdoms who call upon your name. For they show loving-kindness to the seed of Jacob and they defend your people Israel from those who would devour them alive. May they live to see the sukkah of peace spread over your chosen ones and to participate in the joy of your nations.”
[21] Pleins, J. David. The Psalms: Songs of Tragedy, Hope, and Justice. The Bible & Liberation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, (1993), p. 32.
[22] Pleins, supra, at 33.
[23] McCann, at 995.
[24] Pleins, at 36.
[25] McCann, at 995.
[26] Id., citing Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51-100, WBC 20 (Dallas: Word, 1990), 301.
[27] See, McCann, at 997 (“The temptation was and is to view the suffering of the faithful as a sign of God’s weakness—God no longer rules—or as a sign of God’s punishment—God is forever angry.”)
[28] To be fair, the prophets of Israel did maintain that God was the author of their suffering (e.g., Jeremiah 21:7), but this was in answer to a question of God’s sovereignty. To the prophets the only thing more troubling than the notion that God was the author of their suffering was the notion that God was not in control at all.
[29] The amount of time covered by the words וַיֵּצְאוּ לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן וַיָּבֹאוּ אַרְצָה כְּנָעַן And they went out to go to the land of Canaan, and they came to the land of Canaan, from Genesis 12:5 is not insignificant—perhaps decades.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barker, Kenneth, ed. The NIV Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, (1985).

Brueggemann, Walter. The Message of the Psalms: A Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg, (1984).

Davidson, Robert. The Vitality of Worship: A Commentary on the Book of Psalms. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, (1998).

Ebor, Donald, ed. The New English Bible. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961. Reprint. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1970).

Frick, Frank S. A Journey Through the Hebrew Scriptures. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace & Company (1995).

Gesenius, William. A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Edited by Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs. Translated by Edward Robinson. Originally published as Handwörterbuch Über Das Alte Testament. 1906. Reprint. Oxford: Clarendon (1951).

Hopkins, Denise, A Journey Through the Psalms, Ch. 5 “Life in the Meanwhile: The Process of Lament”

Langford III, Thomas Anderson, Susan M. Morrison, and J. Lavon Wilson, eds. The United Methodist Book of Worship. Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House (1992)

McCann, Jr., J. Clinton, “The Book of Psalms,” in The New Interpreter’s Bible: A Commentary in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 4: 1 & 2 Maccabees, Introduction to Hebrew Poetry, Job, Psalms, by Leander E. Keck, Sr. Editor. 12 vols. Nashville: Abingdon Press, (1996).

Meeks, Wayne A., ed. The HarperCollins Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version, with Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books. 1st ed. New York: HarperCollins, (1993)

Passover Haggadah: Deluxe Edition. Maxwell House, n.d.

Petersen, David L. and Kent Harold, Interpreting Hebrew Poetry, Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, (1992)

Pleins, J. David. The Psalms: Songs of Tragedy, Hope, and Justice. The Bible & Liberation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, (1993).

Rudolph, W., and K. Elliger, ed. Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia. 4th ed. 1967. Reprint. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft (1990).

Stein, Rabbi David E. Sulomm, ed. JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society (1999)

Young, Carlton R., ed. The United Methodist Hymnal. Nashville, Tennessee: The United Methodist Publishing House (1989).