Psalm 131 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 131:2
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 131
The quieted soul
Verse 131:1 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[131:1] A song of the ascents. Of David.
YHWH, my heart was not lofty,
and my eyes were not raised high;
I did not walk among great things
or things too wondrous for me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[130:1] A song of the ascents. For David.
Lord, my heart was not exalted,
nor were my eyes raised high;
I did not walk among great things
nor among wonders beyond me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The David heading and humility declaration correspond. The final phrase concerns things beyond the speaker without naming an unprinted class of forbidden knowledge.
Verse 131:2 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[131:2] Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child upon its mother,
like the weaned child is my soul upon me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[130:2] If I was not humble-minded,
but exalted my soul—
like the weaned child upon its mother,
like repayment upon my soul.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew im lo is read as emphatic assurance and repeats the weaned-child image. Greek has an explicit conditional, but exalted, and ends with repayment rather than a second weaned child. Its incomplete oath-like syntax is retained without adding an unprinted curse or harmonizing quietness and exaltation; specialist review is required. Reception — Rashi glosses the child as a nursing infant resting upon its mother, a different lexical construal from the weaned-child rendering used here. Augustine, sections four–six, discusses both an oath-like warning against premature separation from milk and a positive reading of growth into maturity; he favors the warning in light of the child still upon its mother. These interpretive alternatives do not silently supply the missing Greek conclusion. [RASHI-PS131-ROOT; AUG-PS131-ROOT]
Verse 131:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[131:3] Let Israel hope in YHWH,
from now and forever.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[130:3] Let Israel hope in the Lord,
from now and forever.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The communal call to continuing hope is equivalent.