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:

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

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

Argument Map(s)

Reading 1

The first interpretive option takes the word as a noun, humility, meekness. This reading is reflected in the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible: "O Lord, remember David, and all his meekness."


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[The text should be repointed to the nominal form עַנְוָתוֹ]: Instead of MT pu. inf. constr., the noun form ('humility', 'meekness') is the correct reading.
 + <Ancient versions>: This reading is supported by the LXX and Syriac.
  + [Evidence for supporting argument]: Evidence.
 + <Ideological consistency>: The quality of humility is stressed throughout the Psalter, and is demonstrated here in David's determination to find an appropriate home for the ark (Johnson, 18 :M:).
  <_ <Undercutting argument>: This is an undercutting argument. #dispreferred
 - <Refuting argument>: refuting. #dispreferred
  + [Evidence for refuting argument]: This is evidence for the refuting argument. #dispreferred

Reading 2

The second interpretive option for this phrase understands it to refer to external opposition.


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[The phrase refers to external opposition]: Statement.
 + <Supporting argument>: Explanation.
  + [Evidence for supporting argument]: Evidence.
  <_ <Undercutting argument>: This is an undercutting argument. #dispreferred
 - <Refuting argument>: refuting. #dispreferred
  + [Evidence for refuting argument]: This is evidence for the refuting argument. #dispreferred

Reading 3


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[Reading 3]: Statement.
 + <Supporting argument>: Explanation.
  + [Evidence for supporting argument]: Evidence.
  <_ <Undercutting argument>: This is an undercutting argument. #dispreferred
 - <Refuting argument>: refuting. #dispreferred
  + [Evidence for refuting argument]: This is evidence for the refuting argument. #dispreferred

Conclusion

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 effort; 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

The Meaning of ענותו in Ps. 132:1