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Psalm 77:10

"The years of the right hand" or "the right hand has changed"

Hebrew: halloti hi shenot yemin 'elyon. The KJV reads "This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High." The Greek and Latin read "Now I have begun; this is the change of the right hand of the Most High" (Vulgate "haec mutatio dexterae Excelsi").

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).

      Et dixi: Nunc cœpi; hæc mutatio dexteræ Excelsi.

      Latin numbering: Psalm 76:11. 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.

      וָ֭אֹמַר חַלּ֣וֹתִי הִ֑יא שְׁ֝נ֗וֹת יְמִ֣ין עֶלְיֽוֹן׃

      And I said, This is my sickness (or: my grief): the years (or: the changing) of the right hand of the Most High

      Hebrew numbering: Psalm 77:11. Hebrew counts the heading as verse 1.

    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).

      And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.

    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.

      Et j’ai dit: Maintenant j’ai commencé; ceci est le changement de la droite du Très-Haut.

      Greek numbering: Psalm 76:11. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text (D check); not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition (C check).

    What changed, and why

    Shenot can be "years" (from shanah, year) or an infinitive "changing" (from shanah, to change). Halloti can be "my sickness" (halah) or, as the Greek took it, "I have begun" (from a different root). Modern translations divide: "It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed" (NRSV) against the KJV's hopeful "years." The line is the hinge of the psalm, so the choice decides whether the turn is despair named or comfort found.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe Greek/Latin read "the change of the right hand."
    • DisputedThe original sense is "the right hand has changed."

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Psalm 77: I Will Remember the Years of the Most High →"I cried unto God with my voice." Through a sleepless night the speaker remembers better days and asks: "Will the Lord cast off for ever?… Hath God forgotten to be gracious?" Then: "This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High." He turns to the exodus: "The waters saw thee, O God… Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leddest thy people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron."