Psalm 9 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 9:21
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 9
The judge remembers the afflicted
Verse 9:1 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:1] For the director. Almuth-labben. A psalm of David.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:1] For the end, concerning the hidden things of the son. A psalm of David.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The Hebrew technical expression Almuth-labben remains untranslated because its interpretation is uncertain; Greek explicitly speaks of hidden things of the son. Both attribute the psalm to David.
Verse 9:2 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:2] I will give thanks, YHWH, with all my heart;
I will recount all Your wonders.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:2] I will give thanks to You, Lord, with my whole heart;
I will recount all Your wonders.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Wholehearted thanksgiving and the telling of all divine wonders agree.
Verse 9:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:3] I will rejoice and exult in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, Most High.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:3] I will rejoice and exult in You;
I will sing praise to Your name, Most High.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both join joy in God with praise of the Most High’s name.
Verse 9:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:4] When my enemies turn back,
they will stumble and perish before You,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:4] When my enemy turns back,
they will grow weak and perish before You,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew has plural enemies and stumbling; Greek begins with a singular enemy, then retains plural verbs and speaks of weakness.
Verse 9:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:5] for You have upheld my judgment and my cause;
You sat on the throne, judging righteously.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:5] for You have upheld my judgment and my cause;
You sat on a throne, You who judge righteousness.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both ground the enemy’s defeat in God’s judicial vindication; the Greek participle explicitly identifies the One seated as judge.
Verse 9:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:6] You rebuked nations; You destroyed the wicked one;
You erased their name forever and ever.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:6] You rebuked nations, and the ungodly one perished;
You erased their name forever and for the age of the age.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew directly makes God the agent of destroying the wicked; Greek says the ungodly one perished. The erasure of their name remains God’s action in both.
Verse 9:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:7] The enemy is finished—in ruins forever;
You uprooted cities;
their very memory has perished.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:7] The enemy’s swords failed utterly, and You pulled down cities;
their memory perished with a noise.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s compressed opening portrays the enemy’s enduring ruin; Greek makes the enemy’s swords the subject of failure. Hebrew emphasizes their own vanished memory, whereas Greek adds an audible crash or noise. The images of destruction substantially differ. Category basis: Both columns depict defeat, ruined cities and vanished memory. Swords versus the enemy and the added noise change particular images without establishing a major change in the defeat described.
Verse 9:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:8] But YHWH sits enthroned forever;
He has established His throne for judgment.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:8] And the Lord remains forever;
He prepared His throne for judgment,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew describes enduring enthronement; Greek enduring presence. Both explicitly retain the throne and judgment.
Verse 9:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:9] He will judge the world in righteousness;
He will judge peoples with equity.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:9] and He will judge the inhabited world in righteousness;
He will judge peoples with uprightness.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The universal, righteous judgment of peoples agrees.
Verse 9:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:10] May YHWH be a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of distress.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:10] And the Lord became a refuge for the needy,
a helper at fitting times in distress.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew repeats stronghold in a petition or prospective assertion; Greek states that the Lord became refuge and helper and adds the sense of opportune times.
Verse 9:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:11] Those who know Your name will trust in You,
for You have not forsaken those who seek You, YHWH.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:11] Let those who know Your name hope in You,
for You have not abandoned those who seek You, Lord.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The same assurance supports Hebrew trust and Greek hope; Greek expresses the first clause as an exhortation.
Verse 9:12 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:12] Sing praise to YHWH, who dwells in Zion;
declare His deeds among the peoples.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:12] Sing praise to the Lord, who dwells in Zion;
announce His deeds among the nations,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both call for public proclamation of the deeds of Zion’s divine inhabitant.
Verse 9:13 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:13] For the One who calls bloodshed to account remembers them;
He has not forgotten the cry of the afflicted.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:13] for He who calls bloodshed to account remembered them;
He did not forget the cry of the needy.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both connect the investigation of bloodshed with remembering the vulnerable. Hebrew’s them is explicit; Greek’s pronoun can attach to the bloodshed or to those remembered.
Verse 9:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:14] Be gracious to me, YHWH;
see my affliction from those who hate me,
You who raise me from the gates of death,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:14] Have mercy on me, Lord;
see my humiliation from my enemies,
You who raise me from the gates of death,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The plea and rescue from death’s gates agree; hatred and affliction correspond to enemies and humiliation.
Verse 9:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:15] so that I may recount all Your praises
in the gates of daughter Zion;
I will rejoice in Your salvation.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:15] so that I may proclaim all Your praises
in the gates of daughter Zion;
I will exult in Your salvation.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Deliverance enables praise at Zion’s gates and rejoicing in salvation.
Verse 9:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:16] Nations sank into the pit they made;
in the net they concealed, their foot was caught.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:16] Nations became fixed in the destruction they wrought;
in this trap they concealed, their foot was caught.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew explicitly names a pit and a net; Greek uses destruction and a trap. Both preserve the reversal by which the makers are caught.
Verse 9:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:17] YHWH has made Himself known; He has executed judgment;
the wicked one is ensnared by the work of his own hands.
Higgaion. Selah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:17] The Lord is known as He executes judgments;
the sinner was caught in the works of his own hands.
A song of Diapsalma.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The judicial self-entrapment agrees. Hebrew’s Higgaion and Selah are preserved as distinct technical terms; Greek supplies a song of Diapsalma.
Verse 9:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:18] Let the wicked return to Sheol,
all nations that forget God.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:18] Let sinners turn back to Hades,
all nations that forget God.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both consign the God-forgetting wicked and nations to the realm of the dead, named independently as Sheol and Hades.
Verse 9:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:19] For the needy will not be forgotten forever,
nor will the hope of the afflicted perish for all time.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:19] For the poor will not be forgotten utterly;
the endurance of the needy will not perish forever.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew speaks of hope; Greek of endurance or patient waiting. The Hebrew first negative is understood to govern the parallel second clause; Greek repeats the negative explicitly.
Verse 9:20 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:20] Arise, YHWH; do not let mortal man prevail;
let nations be judged before You.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:20] Arise, Lord; do not let a human being grow strong;
let nations be judged before You.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both ask that human strength yield to divine judgment of the nations.
Verse 9:21 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[9:21] Set fear upon them, YHWH;
let nations know that they are mortal.
Selah.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[9:21] Appoint a lawgiver over them, Lord;
let nations know that they are human beings.
Diapsalma.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew requests fear, with the unusual form morah provisionally understood in that sense; Greek explicitly requests a lawgiver, nomothetēs. The means of humbling the nations therefore changes from dread to an appointed authority. Greek Psalm 9 continues in the next Hebrew psalm.