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Psalm 74:8

"Synagogues of God" or "feasts of God"

Hebrew mo'ade-el: "the meeting places (or appointed times) of God." The KJV has "synagogues"; the Greek and Latin read "feasts" (Vulgate "dies festos Dei"). The word is the same; its sense is disputed, and with it the psalm's date.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

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✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

      The psalm as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

    2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

      Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Dixerunt in corde suo cognatio eorum simul: Quiescere faciamus omnes dies festos Dei a terra.

      Latin numbering: Psalm 73:8. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      אָמְר֣וּ בְ֭לִבָּם נִינָ֣ם יָ֑חַד שָׂרְפ֖וּ כָל־מוֹעֲדֵי־אֵ֣ל בָּאָֽרֶץ׃

      They said in their heart, Let us oppress them together; they burned all the meeting places of God in the land

      Hebrew numbering: Psalm 74:8.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land.

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Ils ont dit en leur cœur, et leur race, réunie au même lieu, a dit: Allons, abolissons en cette terre les fêtes du Seigneur!

      Greek numbering: Psalm 73:8. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check); not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition (C check).

    What changed, and why

    Mo'ed means an appointed time or place of meeting: the festivals (Leviticus 23:2) or the "tent of meeting." "Burned all the mo'ade-el in the land" suggests places, since feasts cannot be burned; if they are local meeting houses, the verse could reflect a time when synagogues existed, which some take as support for a Maccabean date. The Greek and Latin have "let us make all the feasts of the Lord cease from the land" (Vulgate "Quiescere faciamus"; Giguet "abolissons"), with a verb of ending rather than burning; whether the translators read a different Hebrew verb or interpreted the line is not known.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe Greek/Latin read "feasts" and "make cease."
    • DisputedThe verse refers to synagogues.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Psalm 74: The Sanctuary in Ruins →"O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever?" Enemies have roared in God's meeting place, hacked the carvings with axes like woodcutters, set the sanctuary on fire and burned "all the synagogues of God in the land." "There is no more any prophet." The people remind God of his ancient victory: "Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: thou brakest the heads of the dragons… Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces." "Arise, O God, plead thine own cause."