Psalms Not Found in the Bible: The Syriac and Greek Apocryphal Psalms

The Book of Psalms is a collection of prayers and hymns.  Protestant Bibles, such as the King James Version, contain 150 Psalms. However, there are additional Psalms found within Judaic writings. However, five additional, apocryphal psalms have been found in various writings that are worth making publicly available.

This first Psalm, Psalm 151, is included in the Greek Septuagint and the Protestant Apocrypha. Two Hebrew Psalms discovered at Qumran may have served as the base text for Psalm 151 as it appears in the Greek Septuagint, named Psalms 151A and 151B. Psalm 151 is also attested in some manuscripts of the Syriac Peshitta. All of Psalm 151, as well as all extant text of Psalms 151A and 151B, are presented below.

Psalm 151

This Psalm is written in his own hand by David, and outside of the number, when he fought in single combat against Goliath.

¹I was small among my brothers
and the youngest one in the house of my father.
I was shepherding the sheep of my father.

²My hands made an organ;[1]
my fingers prepared a harp.

³And who will report to my Lord?
The Lord himself, it is he who will hearken.

⁴He dispatched his messenger
and raised me from the sheep of my father.
He anointed me with the oil of his anointing.

⁵My brothers were handsome and big,
but the Lord was not well pleased with them.

⁶I went out to a meeting against the foreigner,
and he imprecated curses upon me with his idols.

⁷But I, after drawing the sword from him,
beheaded him
and took away the reproach from the children of Israel.[2]

Psalm 151A

A Hallelujah of David, Son of Jesse.

¹I was smaller than my brothers
and the youngest of the sons of my father,
when he made me shepherd of his flock
and ruler over his kid goats.

²My hands made an instrument
and my fingers a lyre,
and so I offered glory to the LORD.
I said in my mind:

³“The mountains do not witness to him,
nor do the hills proclaim;
the trees have cherished my words
and the flock my deeds.

⁴For who can announce
and who can speak
and who can recount my deeds?
The Lord of all saw,
the God of all—
he heard and he listened.

⁵He sent his prophet, Samuel,
to anoint me,
to make me great.
My brothers went out to meet him,
handsome of figure and appearance.

⁶Although they were tall of stature
and handsome by their hair,
the LORD God did not choose them.

⁷But he sent and fetched me from behind the flock
and anointed me with holy oil,
and he made me leader of his people
and ruler over the children of his covenant.”[3]

Psalm 151B

¹At the beginning of [Da]vid’s po[w]er
after the prophet of God had anointed him.

²Then I [s]aw a Philistine uttering insults
from the r[anks of the enemy].
I [. . . ] the [. . . ].

 

The following Psalms follow are found in the Syriac Peshitta. Psalms 154 and 155 have also been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls; they therefore are taken from the Dead Sea Scrolls and supplemented with the translation from the Syriac wherever possible, while Psalms 152 and 153 are taken explicitly from the Syriac. These Psalms are translated from manuscript 12t4 of the Peshitta, with many important footnotes from the translation replicated here. [4]

 

Psalm 152

Spoken by David when he fought with a lion and a bear that carried away sheep from his flock.

¹God, God, come to my aid.
Help me and save me.
Deliver my soul from the murderers.

²I will descend into Sheol
through the mouth of a lion,
or a bear[5] will harm me.

³Was it not enough for them to lie in wait for the flock of my father
and to tear sheep from his flock[6]
that they also wanted my soul to slay me.

⁴Have pity, O Lord,
on your chosen one,[7]
and save your holy one from harm,
he who preserved in your praises in all his times
and who praised your great name.

⁵How did you deliver me
from the hands of the destroying lion,
and the vicious bear [8]
and how did you snatch my devastation
from the mouths of the beasts.

⁶Send quickly, O Lord,
a saviour from before you
and rescue me from the gaping death
that wishes to confine me in its depths.

 

Psalm 153

Spoken by David when he received mercy from God, when he delivered him from the lion and the bear and he killed the two of them with his hands.

¹Praise the Lord, all you nations,
glorify him and bless his name.

²For he redeemed the soul of his chosen one from the hands of death
and he saved his holy one from harm.

³Yes, from the snares of Sheol he delivered me
and he brought my soul out from the inscrutable abyss.

⁴Because almost, before my salvation came to pass before him,
I became two parts through the two animals.

⁵But he sent his messenger
and shut the gaping mouths from me.

⁶My soul will praise him and exalt him
on account of all his blessings,
which he gave and gives me.

 

Psalm 154

Prayer of Hezekiah when his enemies surrounded him.[9]

¹[With a loud voice glorify God;]
[in the congregation of the many proclaim his splendor.]
²[In the multitude of the just glorify his name,]
[and with the faithful celebrate his majesty.]
³[Unite] your souls with the good ones
and with the perfect ones
to glorify the Most High.

⁴Form a community to make known his salvation,
and do not hesitate in making known his might
and his majesty to all the simple ones.[10]

⁵For it is to make known the glory of the Lord
that Wisdom has been given,
⁶and it is for recounting his many deeds
she has been revealed to humanity:
⁷to make known to the simple ones[11] his power,
to explain his greatness to those lacking sense,
⁹those who are far from her gates,
those who stray from her portals.

⁹For the Most High is the Lord of Jacob,
and his majesty is upon all his works.
¹⁰And the person who glorifies the Most High is accepted
like one who brings a meal offering,
¹¹like one who offers rams and calves,
like as one who fattens[12] the altar
with many burnt offerings,
as a sweet-smelling fragrance
from the hand of the righteous ones.

¹²From the gates of the righteous her[13] voice is heard,
and her song from the assembly of the pious.[14]
¹³When they eat until they are full she is mentioned,
and when they drink in community together, [15]
¹⁴their meditation is on the law of the Most High,
their words on making known his power.

¹⁵How distant from the wicked is her[16] word,
from all arrogant people is it to know her.[17]

¹⁶Behold the eyes of the Lord have pity upon the good,
¹⁷and he increases his mercy upon those who glorify him;
from the time of danger he will deliver [their] soul.

18 [Bless] the LORD who redeems the humble[18]
from the hand of foreigne[rs]
[and deliv]ers the pure from the hand of the wicked,
¹⁹[who establishes a horn out of Ja]cob
and a judge of the peoples out of Israel.

²⁰[He will spread out his tent in Zion,]
[and will live forever in Jerusalem].[19]

Psalm 155

When the people received permission from Cyrus to return to their land.[20]

¹O Lord, I have called to you,
listen to me.
²I spread forth my palms to your holy dwelling;[21]
³incline your ear and grant me my petition,
⁴ and do not withhold my request from me.

⁵Build up my soul[22] and do not cast it down;
⁶and do not abandon it in the presence of the wicked.[23]

⁷May the Judge of Truth turn back from me the rewards of evil.[24]
⁸O Lord, judge me not according to my sin;
for no living person is righteous in your presence.

⁹Give me discernment, O Lord,
in your law and teach me your precepts,
¹⁰so that many may hear of your works
and nations may honor your glory.

¹¹Remember me and do not forget me,
and lead me not into what is too difficult for me.
¹²Cast far from me the sin of my youth,
and may my transgressions not be remembered[25] against me.
¹³Purify me, O Lord, from the evil plague,
and let it not again turn back[26] on me.
¹⁴Dry up its roots from me,
and let its le[av]es not flourish within me.

¹⁵You are (my) glory, O Lord,[27]
therefore my request is fulfilled in your presence.
¹⁶To whom can I cry and he would grant my request?
And as for mere humans—what more can [their] streng[th] do?

¹⁷My trust, O Lord, is befo[re] you.
I cried “O Lord,” and he answered me,
[and he healed] my broken heart.

¹⁸I slumbered [and sl]ept,
I dreamed;
indeed [I awoke.][28]

¹⁹[You supported me, O Lord,]
[and I invoked the Lo]rd [my deliverer.]

²⁰[Now I will behold their shame;]
[I have trusted in you and will not be ashamed.]
[Render glory forever and ever.]

²¹[Save Israel, O LORD,]
[your faithful one,]
[and the house of Jacob, your chosen one].[29]

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[1] Or instrument.

[2] This is taken from Ken M. Penner et al., The Lexham English Septuagint: A New Translation 2^nd ed. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2019). I have chosen this edition for its readability; another excellent translation of the Septuagint for a more scholarly audience is Albert Pietersma et al., eds., A New English Translation of the Septuagint: And the Other Greek Translations Traditionally Included under That Title (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2007). Most translations that include the Apocrypha, such as the New Revised Standard Version, also contain this Psalm.

[3] Psalms 151A and 151B are found in Martin Abegg, Jr., Peter Flint, and Eugene Ulrich (trans.), The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible: The Oldest Known Bible Translated for the First Time into English (New York, NY: Harper Collins, 1999), 585–586. All citations from these (sometimes fragmentary) psalms will be silently altered to better show the verse format.

[4] All references to the Syriac Peshitta will come from H. F. van Rooy, Studies on the Syriac Apocryphal Psalms Journal of Semitic Studies Supplement 7 (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999), 4–10.

[5] Syriac manuscript 12t4 (from which this translation is based) reads “lion” while other manuscripts read “bear.” I have altered the translation to read as “bear” accordingly, as the superscript to the Psalm would imply that to be the stronger reading.

[6] All other manuscripts read “the flock of my father.”

[7] The phrase “on your chosen one” is omitted in other manuscripts.

[8] Rather than “the destroying lion, and the vicious bear,” manuscript 12t4 reads “the destroying death.” I have altered the translation to replicate this potentially stronger reading, although the context of verse 6 could offer support for manuscript 12t4’s reading as well.

[9] The heading to manuscript 12t4 reads “The one hundred and fifty fourth. Prayer of Hezekiah when the Assyrians surrounded him and he asked God for deliverance from them. When the people received permission from Cyrus to return to their own land and they asked God to fulfil their expectation.”

[10] The Peshitta reads “Come together to make known his power, and do not refuse to declare his salvation and his power and his glory top all the innocent.” Manuscript 12t4 omits “and his power,” however.

[11] The Peshitta reads “innocent.”

[12] The Peshitta reads “anoints.” In Hebrew, the word “fatness” is connected with oil, which may have led to this textual variant.

[13] The Syriac read “his” throughout the verse, although it can be read alternatively as “her” to match the Hebrew. Here, the woman referred to is Wisdom.

[14] The close to this parallelism in the Peshitta reads “and from the voice of the just his/her exhortation.”

[15] The Peshitta reads “And regarding their food there is plenty in truth, and regarding their feast they drink together” or “regarding their feast, it is in fellowship together.”

[16] The Peshitta reads “his,” but could alternatively be read as “her.” See note 13.

[17] The close of this parallelism in the Peshitta reads “and his knowledge from all the evildoers.”

[18] The Peshitta reads “poor ones.”

[19] Alternatively, the Syriac may be translated as “so that he may prolong his stay in Zion, and may cause adornment in Jerusalem forever and ever.” This Psalm has been taken from Abegg et al., Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 572–573.

[20] Manuscript 12t4 of the Peshitta reads “The one hundred and fifty fifth. Prayer of Hezekiah when the Assyrians surrounded him and he asked God for deliverance from them.”

[21] The Peshitta reads “your holy heavens.”

[22] The Peshitta manuscript 12t4 reads “Seek it for me,” with a marginal gloss of “Build it for me” to match the other manuscripts and the Hebrew text.

[23] The Peshitta reads “Do not make it known before the wicked.”

[24] The Peshitta reads “Turn away from me those who let evil spring up, O Judge of Truth.”

[25] The Peshitta reads “and may they not call to mind.: Manuscript 12t4 offers a closer match to the Hebrew, but contains a marginal note with the alternate reading.

[26] The Peshitta uses the verb “come,” but manuscript 12t4 reads “return,” matching the Hebrew more closely.

[27] The Peshitta reads “You are strong and great, O Lord.”

[28] Most manuscripts of the Peshitta read “Also I am helped.”

[29] This Psalm is taken from Abegg et al., Dead Sea Scrolls Bible, 579–580.