Biblical Acrostics (2 of 3)

Don't knock Knox!

I’ve been digging into ancient acrostics and the idea of translating them into English as acrostics. Last time out, we covered Biblical acrostics in general as well as Psalm 119 more specifically. Prior to that was the acrostic in Proverbs 31:10-31. All biblical acrostics are alphabetic, going through all twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet in order—more or less.

That “more or less” can result in a few headaches. For example, most sources claim an acrostic kicks off the book of Nahum (one of the minor prophets). However, it’s a very “broken” acrostic, representing only half the alphabet and sometimes not using the initial letter in a verse. Some scholars argue that it’s not meant as an acrostic at all.

A similar problem besets the two-part acrostic at Psalms 9-10: it starts out with two verses for each letter, but there’s a major interruption in Psalms 10:3-11 and some other irregularities.

This may be why neither of these acrostics made it into the Knox Bible, otherwise a worthwhile source of acrostic-to-acrostic translations. Knox also counts 9-10 as a single psalm, which throws its numbering off compared to more common translations.

Here’s its version of what most people call Psalm 25, Psalm 34, and Psalm 145. Each of these are basically one letter to a line.

Knox does get a little creative about which twenty-two letters of our alphabet should correspond to the Hebrew acrostic: the first psalm here is A-V, the second swaps out W for V (and includes a concluding non-acrostic line), while 145 skips K.

Psalm 111 and 112 show similar flexibility, though their format is two letters to a line, as in Knox’s rendition of 111’s first verse: “All my heart goes out to the Lord in praise, before the assembly where the just are gathered.”

Psalm 37 goes in the other direction: it has one letter to every two lines. Here’s how this one starts in Knox:

1 (Of David.) Art thou impatient, friend, when the wicked thrive; dost thou envy the lot of evil-doers?
2 they will soon fade like the grass, like the green leaf wither away.
3 Be content to trust in the Lord and do good; live on thy land, and take thy ease,
4 all thy longing fixed in the Lord; so he will give thee what thy heart desires.
5 Commit thy life to the Lord, and trust in him; he will prosper thee…

Just to be thorough, here’s a link to the Knox version of Psalm 119, the one we went over last time. This version opts to skip Q. None of the Knox translations opted to start any lines with X or Z, so it’s clear that Monsignor Ronald Knox did not believe in seeking out grace through suffering.

Next time out: Lamentations, the last major landmark in ancient acrostic history and a pretty fascinating work in its own right!