The Meaning of ענותו in Ps. 132:1

Note: This is a draft form of this exegetical issue. It has not been reviewed and is not ready for use.

Introduction

Psalm 132 begins with a petition for YHWH to remember, but the difficult word ענותו makes the precise content of this remembrance challenging to understand.

"Remember, YHWH, for David’s sake, __ כָּל־עֻנּוֹתֽוֹ __!"

The main options for what exactly the psalmist asks YHWH to remember are as follows:

1. all David's afflictions (external opposition)
2. all David's self-inflicted hardship
3. all David's humility or meekness

There are several related issues including:

• Establishing the text (MT or emendation?)
• The sense of the Hebrew infinitive from ענה
• Allusion to other traditions in the Hebrew Bible relating to bringing the ark to Jerusalem

Research

Translations

Ancient

• LXX: Μνήσθητι, κύριε, τοῦ Δαυιδ καὶ πάσης τῆς πραΰτητος αὐτοῦ (Lord, remember David, and all his meekness [Brenton LXX Translation]
• Syriac: עַנְוָתוֹ (his humility)
• Vul.: Memento Domine David et omnis adflictionis eius (Remember, Lord, David and all the affliction of him)

Modern

Humility

• Douay-Rheims Bible: O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness. 

External Opposition

• KJV: LORD, remember David, and all his afflictions:
• ESV: Remember, O LORD, in David’s favor, all the hardships he endured,
• NLT: LORD, remember David and all that he suffered.
• CEB: LORD, remember David— all the ways he suffered.
• NBS: Seigneur, souviens-toi de David, de toutes ses afflictions!
• BDS: O Eternel, souviens-toi de David et de toutes ses peines;
• PDV2017: Seigneur, souviens-toi de David et de toutes ses souffrances.
• Lutherbibel 2017: Gedenke, HERR, an David und all seine Mühsal,

Self-inflicted Hardships

• NIV: LORD, remember David and all his self-denial.
• NET: O LORD, for David's sake remember all his strenuous effort,
• Hfa: HERR, erinnere dich doch, welche Mühe David auf sich nahm!
• NGÜ: Denke an all die Mühe, HERR, die David auf sich genommen hat!

Secondary Literature

"Remember, Yahweh, in David’s favor, all his painstaking effort." MT ענותו is a pual inf. const. (GKC §75aa) with a suf. and connotes self-affliction (cf. Lev 23:27, 29) and so voluntary effortt cf. 1 Chr 22:14, where David’s preparations for the temple are associated with 'affliction' (עני)." (Allen, Psalms 101–150 [Revised], vol. 21, WBC [Dallas: Word 2002], 263; emphasis added)

"The hymn begins with a striking appeal to Yahweh to remember on David's behalf 'all his humility'. This is a quality which we find stressed repeatedly in the Psalter as the characteristic attitude which Yahweh requires of all His followers, king and subjects alike; and its use in the present connexion is then explained in terms of David's reverent concern for the Ark and his untiring determination to find a suitable home for this important cultic object, which was the guarantee of Yahweh's presence with His people . . ." (Johnson, Aubrey. Sacral Kingship in Ancient Israel. P. 18)

References

132:1