How Two Famous Robots Can Help Us Figure Out Tricky Verses in the Psalms

Quality translations follow reliable exegesis. Good exegesis is especially needed for the poetic parts of the Bible, where existing translations sometimes vary widely from each other and the resources offer differing views about the meaning of certain problematic verses. In such cases, we need to study the whole psalm to see which option best fits the overall message. This can be a real challenge – even for those with advanced Hebrew, which is ideal but not always possible. All the same, even those with little or no Hebrew can learn to apply most of the commonly accepted principles for exegeting a psalm. I want to give a brief overview of the main approaches – with examples. To help you remember them, I will use the names of two fictional robots (from Star Wars) as acronyms. R2-D2 stands for…

• Reading the whole psalm several times to get the big picture co-text
• Responding with your whole being, engaging your heart, mind, and five senses
• Dictionaries, especially SDBH, to grasp the meaning of the words
• Discourse grammar, including rules of thumb to unlock the tense-aspect-mood of the verbs. C-3PO stands for…
• Context – any discernible backstory, inciting incident and/or intended occasion for use
• Communicative purpose – why is the poet communicating? What response does he want his audience to make? Which psalm genre is he using?
• Commentaries, including the Bible itself, to find answers to your questions
• Poetic analysis – uncover the functions of imagery, repetition, and other poetic devices
• Overview (big picture) – synthesize all the above to choose the option that best fits the context, and the message and purpose of the poem as a whole.