The Rejected Stone Reaches the Place of Honor

“His mercy endureth for ever” is the Levites’ refrain, sung when David brought up the ark (1 Chronicles 16:34), at Solomon’s dedication (2 Chronicles 7:3) and at the foundation of the second temple (Ezra 3:11). This psalm opens and closes with it.

“Let Israel now say” is a call for a spoken response, and the refrain in reply is four Hebrew words, ki le‘olam chasdo. The whole nation is summoned first, the broadest of the three groups that also appeared in Psalm 115:9–11.

The priests answer second. The order in which the groups are called, nation, priesthood, God-fearers, is identical to Psalm 115, which suggests a fixed liturgical sequence in which each company in the temple courts knew its turn.

The third call completes the round, and each of the three has the same small word “now”, na, pressing for an answer at once. Whoever the God-fearers were, they are given the same line to say as the priests.

“Distress” is metsar, a narrow place, and “a large place” is merchav, open ground. The Hebrew twice uses Yah, the short form of the divine name first sung in Exodus 15:2: out of the strait I called on Yah, Yah answered me with the wide place.

Literally “the LORD is for me”. Psalm 56:11 asks the same question, “what can man do unto me?”, and Hebrews 13:6 quotes this verse. The confidence is not that there are no human enemies but that they have been put in proportion.

Literally “the LORD is for me among my helpers”: he is counted in the ranks of the speaker’s allies, and outnumbers them. “See my desire upon them” means to look in triumph on defeated enemies, as in Psalm 54:7.

Two different verbs for trust. The first, chasah, is to take refuge, to shelter as under a rock; the second, batach, is to rely on. The comparison is between hiding in God and leaning on a man.

The previous verse returns with one word changed, and the step is upward: from man in general to princes, the nobles and rulers who could actually do something. Psalm 146:3 says it without the comparison: “Put not your trust in princes.”

“Destroy” is amil, from the verb mul, which elsewhere always means to circumcise. Most translators take it here as “cut them off” or “cut them down”; the Greek Bible guessed “I warded them off”. Whether a grim pun on the uncircumcised nations is intended has been argued over since antiquity.

The Hebrew stacks two forms of the same verb, sabbuni gam sevavuni, “they surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me round”. The sound imitates the thing: the line itself closes in. The refrain “in the name of the LORD” holds its place against it.

Bees swarm and sting, as the Amorites chased Israel “as bees do” in Deuteronomy 1:44. A fire of thorns blazes loud and dies almost at once; Ecclesiastes 7:6 compares a fool’s laughter to the crackling of thorns under a pot. The attack is fierce and short.

The speaker suddenly addresses the enemy in the second person: “thou hast thrust sore at me”, literally “pushing, you pushed me to fall”. The Greek and some other old versions read “I was pushed”. The turn is abrupt, a shout at the attacker between two confessions of help.

This is a word for word quotation of the Song of the Sea (Exodus 15:2): “The LORD is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2 quotes it too. The survivor borrows the first victory song Israel ever sang.

“Tabernacles” means tents, the dwellings of the righteous, where the sound of rejoicing is heard. “Doeth valiantly” is oseh chayil, does a mighty deed; chayil can also mean an army. Exodus 15:6 again lies behind the “right hand of the LORD”.

The phrase “the right hand of the LORD” is said three times in two verses, in a rhythm meant for a crowd. “Exalted” is romemah, raised high, the arm lifted to strike. The second half repeats the end of verse 15 exactly.

Luther, sheltering at Coburg Castle in 1530 during the Diet of Augsburg, wrote this verse in Latin on the wall of his study, Non moriar sed vivam. “Declare” is saphar, to recount in order: survival is for the sake of telling what happened.

The Hebrew doubles the verb, “chastening, he chastened me”, the language of a father disciplining a son (Proverbs 3:11–12). The speaker admits that the hard blow came from God as well as from the enemy, and draws the line he did not cross: death.

The scene moves to the temple gates, as in Psalm 24:7 and the entrance questions of Psalm 15. “Gates of righteousness” names the gates by who may pass through them. The speaker, alive, asks to be let in.

The answer seems to come from inside, from priests or gatekeepers: this is the LORD’s gate, and the righteous enter it. The shift of speaker is not marked in the text, but the exchange reads like a liturgy performed at the threshold.

Inside the gate, the Exodus line of verse 14 is spoken again, now to God directly: “thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.” What was said about God outside is said to him within.

“Head stone of the corner” is rosh pinnah, either the cornerstone that squares a foundation or the capstone that locks an arch or wall; scholars divide. Jesus quotes the verse of himself (Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17), and Peter uses it before the council (Acts 4:11) and in 1 Peter 2:7.

Literally “from the LORD this has come”. “Marvellous” is from pala, the root of the word for God’s wonders in Egypt (Exodus 3:20). Mark 12:11 includes this line when Jesus quotes the stone verse, so the reversal is credited to God, not to the builders changing their minds.

In its setting “the day” is the day of this deliverance and festival, not every day in general. The last two Hebrew words can mean “rejoice in it” or “rejoice in him”; bo carries both, and the King James chose the day.

“Save now” is hoshi‘ah na, the phrase that became “Hosanna”, cried by the crowds as Jesus entered Jerusalem (Matthew 21:9). “Send now prosperity” is hatslichah na, give success. Each half has the pleading na twice over.

The crowds shouted the first line at the entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:9), and Jesus quotes it in Matthew 23:39. The second line has a plural “you”: the priests bless the whole arriving company from inside the temple, as Numbers 6:23 commissioned them to.

“Shewed us light” recalls the priestly blessing, “the LORD make his face shine upon thee” (Numbers 6:25). The second half is obscure. Chag can mean the feast itself or the festal procession, and many read it as “bind the procession with branches up to the horns of the altar”, a Tabernacles rite; the King James takes it as the victim.

“Thou art my God” is said twice, and “I will exalt thee” echoes the Song of the Sea once more: “he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him” (Exodus 15:2). The last personal word of the psalm is still borrowed from Moses.

The opening line returns exactly, closing the frame. This is the last psalm of the group Jewish tradition calls the Egyptian Hallel, and the “hymn” sung after the Last Supper (Matthew 26:30) was very probably these psalms, ending here.