Author Unknown
KJV: (5)…now will I arise saith the Lord; I will set him in safety from
him that puffeth at him. (6) The words of the Lord are pure words
…(7) Thou shalt keep them O Lord, thou shalt preserve them
from this generation for ever (for or to eternity).
NASV…Now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will set him in the safety
for which he longs.” The words of the Lord are pure words…
Thou O Lord, wilt keep them. Thou wilt preserve him from this
generation forever.
NIV …I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will protect them from those
who malign them. And the words of the Lord are flawless…
O Lord you will keep us safe and protect us from such people forever.
The KJV, in Psalms 12 verse 5 says, of God’s words on oppression of the poor godly man…saith the Lord, I will set him in safety. Verse 6 says God’s words are pure, and verse 7 says He keeps them. His words are pure, for He keeps them in righteousness forever for the righteous, in contrast with unkept impure words of oppressors.
The context stresses protection of the righteous, but protection is seen to depend on what saith the Lord, God’s promise. God’s words alone promise care of the righteous, and the primary emphasis is on the words by which the righteous are protected. Verse 7 emphasizes God preserving them forever, His words by which His care of the righteous is certified, not only in David’s generation, but throughout eternity. All of His words are canonical, and their declared eternal preservation identifies them as written scripture, His words still certifying protection of the righteous today and forever.
Some say them, used twice in 12:7, denotes people. But them loses certainty of meaning if separated from its immediate antecedent words in 12:6. If the people were meant, the Hebrew text would be faulty, con-fusing the sense.
Some discount the antecedent principle and say word preservation isn’t taught here due to gender discord. In 12:7 them (verb suffix) is masculine, but 12:6 words (substantive) is feminine, and Hebrew pronouns and their antecedents usually agree in gender. But Hebrew gender discord is fairly common; the Gesenius grammar says, masculine suffixes (especially in the plural) are not infrequently used to refer to feminine substantives. Some examples of pronoun gender discord are a masculine word as the antecedent to he and she in Ezekiel 12:25 and feminine daughters of Zion in Isaiah 3:16 and midwives in Exodus 1:21 as antecedents to masculine them. Gender agreement is often lacking in Hebrew language, but the immediate-antecedent principle can’t be lacking without risking confusion of sense. And in Hebrew, passage sense takes precedence over grammar issues like gender discord, and the sense of Psalm 12:7 reflects words from the 12:6 immediate context.
Psalm 12 places strong emphasis on God’s words. 12:6 likens purity of His words to that of truly refined silver. 12:7 emphasizes God Himself as word-keeper by making Thou in the first clause a separate word in the Hebrew, a device for emphasis serving to stress that God’s words are pure since He keeps them (in the Hebrew thou would normally be limit-ed to a prefix on the imperfect verb). And thou recur in the next clause on word preservation. The KJV retains this emphasis in English fashion with Thou at the start, and O Lord at the end of the first clause on word-keeping and thou repeated in the next clause on word-preservation.
The emphasis increases as Hebrew-text gender discord relates word keeping to word preservation. A masculine pronoun with feminine ante-cedent reflects Hebrew use of masculine gender to signify power/great-ness and the feminine to signify compassion/sustenance. Psalm 12:6,7 relates feminine words to masculine them to associate compassion (12:5) of the words with almighty God’s power to keep them. This agrees with prior-gender masculine language inclusive of a feminine person, a person of compassion. God’s power to keep them is certified to all believers by emphasizing preservation of the words forever to show God obligates Himself to keep them forever. The KJV has keep and preserve in the right order and rightly relates word keeping to word preservation.
Other discourses on God’s Word show gender discord (e.g. Ezk.13: 20, Is.1:6). Dr. T. Strouse, Emmanuel Baptist Sem. Newington, CT notes Ps.119:111,129,152,167 gender discord, masculine pronouns for God tied to feminine nouns (e.g. thy testimonies – see also 119:14,31,36,99). To the present writer these relate our need of God’s testimonies for sustenance (feminine) to His power as provider (masculine) to stress loving and revering His Word to our benefit, reflecting a relationship of the church to Christ, and to a degree, that of a wife to her husband.
The NASV initial them in verse 7 suggests preservation of God’s words. But him replaces the second them, improperly making verse-5 people an object of preservation rather than of word keeping. The right sense of meaning is visible, but distorted, for him ties to them and words, mixing the singular and plural to create ambiguity (them can be words, but him implies them can be the people. Him is correct Hebrew but poor English; this 3rd-person/masculine/singular pronoun signifies, not people, but 3rd-person/masculine/singular word (same as words of God).
Hebrew has no neuter gender, and him and he often refer to neuter terms rendered it or that in English (e.g. In Num.22:20 God speaks to Balaam, and the Hebrew reads, the word that I shall speak to you, him [it, that] you shall do - more examples relating to God’s Word are Ge.15:1, Is.45:23, 1 Sam.3:1, Dt.30:14, Jer.18:1, Ezk.12:25). Thus, Psalm 12:7 Hebrew reads, Thou shalt keep thy words (them) O Lord, thou shalt preserve thy word (or words) forever (thy words comprise thy word). Word, or words or them are God’s words of 12:6, and the KJV rightly uses them twice for simplicity. The Hebrew-text 12:7 shift from plural them (words) to singular him (word) has a purpose, to emphasize the written form of God’s words that speak to His people forever. Words is verbal or written scripture, but word stresses the written (God’s verbal word is like a written document - i.e. you have my word on it, not words). God preserves His Words forever to show He obligates Himself to keep them forever. A shift to word emphasizes words as the written word (implying He keeps them by the singular Living Word) by association with eternality. (The shift isn’t meant to confuse readers, though modern translators are confused). The KJV second them (it /that is awkward) doesn’t lose this meaning since the declared eternality establishes the written/living form.
The NIV pronoun use is like that of the Septuagint. It has verse-5 people as objects of word keeping and preservation, improperly using us for the double them in 12:7. Us is incorrect translation in both cases (the pointing is wrong in the second), and can’t fit passage sense without altering language/context; this generation became such people). This generation is right, reflecting scripture preservation from David’s time to forever. In the NIV this generation would suggest protecting the righteous forever from one evil generation. The righteous don’t need eternal protection from a generation that can’t live forever, so such people “preserves” NIV context, but is poor translation. And from doesn’t have the sense of, from people; this generation is that of David and joins with from and to / for to note a period from that time toeternity, or forever (this acts as a relative pronoun,* and such is poor; i.e. we read, from the generation this [which] is, toforever, not, from the generation such is, to forever).
Scholars omit God’s role in preserving scripture. That’s no surprise for those who think the true New Testament text was lost for 1400+ years.
*Gesenius said the Masora teaches that the Hebrew word is used as a relative
pronoun (2nd English edition. 1910. Clarendon Press. Paragraph 126y
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