Psalm 80 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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 80
Restore the vine You planted
Verse 80:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:1] For the director; concerning Lilies.
A testimony of Asaph. A psalm.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:1] For the end; concerning those who will be changed.
A testimony for Asaph; a psalm concerning the Assyrian.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: The performance expressions differ, and only Greek includes the Assyrian. Saints: Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 80 §1, understands the change as Christ's transforming people and reads the song through Christ and His vineyard; this is reception, not a lexical substitution (AUG-PS80).
Verse 80:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:2] Shepherd of Israel, listen,
You who lead Joseph like sheep;
You who sit upon the cherubim, shine forth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:2] You who shepherd Israel, pay attention,
You who guide Joseph like sheep;
You who sit upon the cherubim, appear.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both invoke Israel's shepherd enthroned upon the cherubim; Hebrew emphasizes shining, Greek appearing.
Verse 80:3 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:3] Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
rouse Your might;
it is for You to save us.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:3] Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
rouse Your dominion,
and come to save us.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew weləkhah is rendered as “for You,” following Rashi's explicit grammatical discussion on 80:3; Greek has an imperative “come” (RASHI-PS80). The same tribes and plea for salvation remain.
Verse 80:4 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:4] God, restore us;
make Your face shine, and we shall be saved.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:4] God, turn us back;
make Your face shine, and we shall be saved.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Restoration, the shining divine face, and salvation correspond.
Verse 80:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:5] YHWH, God of hosts,
how long have You smoked in anger against the prayer of Your people?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:5] Lord, God of powers,
how long are You angry at the prayer of Your servant,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew uses the image of smoking anger and names Your people; Greek has anger at Your singular servant's prayer.
Verse 80:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:6] You fed them bread of tears
and gave them tears to drink by the shalish.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:6] will You feed us bread of tears
and give us tears to drink by measure?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew describes past feeding of them and retains shalish, an uncertain measure or vessel; Greek asks about future feeding of us and says “by measure.” Rabbinic: Rashi on 80:6 reports several interpretations of shalish, including Menachem's vessel explanation; no modern capacity is supplied (RASHI-PS80). Saints: Augustine §4 connects the Greek measure with correction proportioned to endurance (AUG-PS80).
Verse 80:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:7] You make us an object of strife for our neighbors,
and our enemies mock them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:7] You made us an object of contradiction for our neighbors,
and our enemies sneered at us.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew ends with the third-person lamo, rendered “them”; Greek has “us.” The Hebrew pronoun's referent remains uncertain. The verbal time and strife/contradiction wording also differ.
Verse 80:8 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:8] God of hosts, restore us;
make Your face shine, and we shall be saved.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:8] Lord, God of powers, turn us back;
make Your face shine, and we shall be saved.
Diapsalma.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek includes “Lord” and the performance marker Diapsalma; neither occurs in this Hebrew refrain.
Verse 80:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:9] You uprooted a vine from Egypt;
You drove out nations and planted her.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:9] You transplanted a vine from Egypt;
You cast out nations and planted her.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both recount the vine's transplantation from Egypt after nations were expelled; the source's feminine vine is retained.
Verse 80:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:10] You cleared a place before her
and caused her roots to take root,
and she filled the land.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:10] You made a road before her
and planted her roots,
and the land was filled.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew describes clearing and the vine filling the land; Greek explicitly makes a road and describes the land passively as filled.
Verse 80:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:11] Mountains were covered by her shadow,
and her branches were like God's cedars.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:11] Her shadow covered mountains,
and her climbing branches covered God's cedars.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew's compressed second clause is rendered as a comparison with cedars, following Rashi on 80:11; Greek makes the branches cover the cedars (RASHI-PS80). “God's cedars” retains El/theos rather than silently reducing the expression to height alone.
Verse 80:12 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:12] She sent out her branches as far as the sea,
and her shoots as far as the River.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:12] She stretched her branches as far as the sea,
and her offshoots as far as the River.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The vine extends to sea and river in both sources; no river name is added.
Verse 80:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:13] Why have You breached her fences,
so that all who pass along the road pluck her?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:13] Why did You tear down her fence,
so that all who pass along the road harvest her?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew has plural fences and plucking; Greek a singular fence and harvesting the vine.
Verse 80:14 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:14] A boar from the forest gnaws her,
and the creeping thing of the field grazes her down.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:14] A pig from the woodland ravaged her,
and a solitary wild beast grazed her down.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew ziz is rendered with Rashi's field-creature interpretation; Greek has a solitary wild beast (RASHI-PS80). Saints: Augustine §8 identifies that second beast with the boar and interprets its solitude as pride; this is an attributed identification, not an additional animal name in the Greek (AUG-PS80).
Verse 80:15 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:15] God of hosts, please return;
look from heaven and see,
and attend to this vine,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:15] God of powers, turn back now;
look from heaven and see,
and visit this vine,
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The appeal asks God to turn, look from heaven, and care for this vine.
Verse 80:16 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:16] and the plant which Your right hand planted,
and over the son whom You strengthened for Yourself.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:16] and restore her whom Your right hand planted,
and upon the son of man whom You strengthened for Yourself.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Hebrew kannah is provisionally the planted stock; Greek gives an imperative to restore it and includes “of man.” The unfinished “and over/upon” construction is retained rather than silently supplying a new sentence. Saints: Augustine §9 takes the son of man as Christ, the foundation upon whom the vine is perfected (AUG-PS80). This interpretation does not settle the Hebrew syntax.
Verse 80:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:17] Burned by fire, cut down—
at the rebuke of Your face they perish.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:17] Burned with fire and dug up—
at the rebuke of Your face they will perish.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew has cutting or pruning, Greek digging up. Both move from the feminine vine to plural “they”; no explanatory plural subject is invented.
Verse 80:18 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:18] Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand,
upon the son of man whom You strengthened for Yourself.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:18] Let Your hand come upon the man of Your right hand
and upon the son of man whom You strengthened for Yourself.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The wording substantially corresponds; the human figure's identity and the hand's favorable or punitive force are not settled by the sentence alone. Rabbinic: Rashi on 80:18 identifies the man with Esau receiving punishment (RASHI-PS80). Saints: Augustine §§9,11 reads the figure in relation to Christ (AUG-PS80). These differing receptions are not counted as a difference between the ancient texts.
Verse 80:19 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:19] And we will not turn away from You;
give us life, and we will call on Your name.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:19] And we shall certainly not depart from You;
You will give us life, and we will call on Your name.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek strongly negates departure and states future life; Hebrew's imperfect is rendered as a petition in the surrounding prayer. Both promise invocation of the divine name.
Verse 80:20 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[80:20] YHWH, God of hosts, restore us;
make Your face shine, and we shall be saved.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[79:20] Lord, God of powers, turn us back;
make Your face shine, and we shall be saved.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: The concluding refrain corresponds, including the divine title in both sources.