Psalm 17 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 17:4, 17:13, 17:14, 17:15
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 17
Keep me beneath Your wings
Verse 17:1 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:1] A prayer of David.
Hear what is right, YHWH; attend to my cry;
give ear to my prayer from lips without deceit.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:1] A prayer of David.
Hear my righteousness, Lord;
attend to my petition;
give ear to my prayer, not from deceitful lips.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both present a sincere prayer for justice. Greek expressly says my righteousness, whereas Hebrew’s object is righteousness or a just cause.
Verse 17:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:2] Let my judgment come forth from Your presence;
let Your eyes behold equity.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:2] May my judgment come forth from Your presence;
let my eyes see upright things.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew asks that God’s eyes behold what is right; Greek asks that the speaker’s own eyes see it.
Verse 17:3 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:3] You tested my heart; You visited by night;
You refined me; You will find nothing.
I have resolved that my mouth will not transgress.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:3] You tested my heart; You visited by night;
You tried me by fire, and no injustice was found in me,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The divine testing agrees, but Greek explicitly names the absence of injustice. Hebrew’s difficult final resolve about the mouth has its counterpart at the opening of Greek 16:4; the verse boundary is preserved.
Verse 17:4 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:4] As for human deeds, by the word of Your lips
I have guarded against the paths of the violent person.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:4] so that my mouth might not speak human deeds.
Because of the words of Your lips, I kept hard paths.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek joins the mouth to human deeds and describes keeping difficult paths. Hebrew is provisionally a claim to guard against violent paths, with human deeds introducing the setting. The relation of guarding to the paths and the clause boundaries materially differ.
Verse 17:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:5] My steps have held fast to Your tracks;
my footsteps have not slipped.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:5] Set my steps firmly in Your paths,
so that my steps may not be shaken.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s compressed hold-fast construction is read as an assertion, though a petition is possible; Greek explicitly commands the setting of the steps and adds a purpose clause.
Verse 17:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:6] I have called upon You, for You will answer me, God;
incline Your ear to me; hear my utterance.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:6] I cried out, for You heard me, God;
incline Your ear to me and hear my words.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew grounds the call in an expected answer; Greek in a hearing already received. The ensuing requests agree.
Verse 17:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:7] Show Your steadfast love wondrously,
You who save those taking refuge,
by Your right hand, from those who rise against them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:7] Make Your mercies wonderful,
You who save those hoping in You
from those who oppose Your right hand.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s right hand is provisionally the instrument of rescue; Greek makes it what the enemies oppose. Hebrew’s attachment is compressed and could be construed differently.
Verse 17:8 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:8] Keep me as the pupil of the eye;
hide me in the shadow of Your wings,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:8] Guard me as the pupil of an eye;
in the shelter of Your wings You will shelter me,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both combine the eye’s vulnerable center with protective wings. Greek repeats shelter and has an explicit future in the second clause.
Verse 17:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:9] from the wicked who have devastated me,
my deadly enemies who surround me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:9] from the ungodly who made me miserable.
My enemies surrounded my soul.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both describe encircling enemies and distress; Hebrew’s enemies against life and Greek’s encircled soul retain their respective syntax.
Verse 17:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:10] They have closed up their fat;
with their mouth they speak arrogantly.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:10] They shut up their fat;
their mouth spoke arrogance.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both retain the difficult bodily image of enclosed fat beside proud speech, without inserting an explanatory heart into the source wording.
Verse 17:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:11] At our steps they have now surrounded us;
they set their eyes to bend us down to the earth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:11] Casting me out, they now surrounded me;
they set their eyes to turn aside toward the earth.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew begins with our steps and, following the read form, surrounded us; Greek begins with expelling me and consistently says me. The Hebrew publisher display merges written surrounded me and read surrounded us; Mechon-Mamre explicitly separates them. The closing downward intent is compressed in both. [MM-PS17] Category basis: The step/expulsion wording and singular/plural participants differ, but both clauses describe hostile encirclement and downward intent; the note does not establish a major consequence.
Verse 17:12 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:12] He is like a lion longing to tear prey,
like a young lion sitting in hiding places.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:12] They took me up like a lion ready for the hunt
and like a young lion dwelling in hiding places.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew directly compares the singular enemy to a predatory lion; Greek retains a plural verb with me as object before the lion comparison. Its verb may suggest taking up or receiving; hostile seizure is contextual.
Verse 17:13 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:13] Arise, YHWH; confront him; bring him down;
rescue my soul from the wicked by Your sword,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:13] Arise, Lord; get ahead of them and trip them up;
rescue my soul from an ungodly man,
Your sword from the enemies of Your hand.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew addresses a singular enemy and uses the sword as the means of rescue. Greek first has plural enemies, then makes Your sword another accusative object of rescue and attaches enemies of Your hand. This also draws wording from the opening of the next Hebrew verse.
Verse 17:14 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:14] from men by Your hand, YHWH,
from men of the world whose portion is in this life.
You fill their belly with what You have stored;
they are satisfied with sons
and leave their surplus to their little ones.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:14] Lord, separate them from the few, from the earth,
during their life.
Their belly was filled with Your hidden things;
they were satisfied with sons
and left the remains to their infants.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew continues the rescue request concerning worldly people; Greek requests separation from the few and from the earth. Both then describe filled bellies, sons, and provision left to children. The Greek opening is syntactically difficult and remains provisional. Hebrew stored things follows the read form tsefunekha, explicitly displayed beside the written form by Mechon-Mamre. [MM-PS17]
Verse 17:15 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[17:15] As for me, in righteousness I will behold Your face;
when I awake, I will be satisfied with Your likeness.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[16:15] But I, in righteousness, will appear before Your face;
I will be satisfied when Your glory appears.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew promises the speaker’s seeing and awakening to God’s likeness; Greek makes the speaker appear before God and makes divine glory’s appearance the occasion of satisfaction. The changed agency and event are preserved without imposing a single account of resurrection or vision.