Selah! Loving the Psalms - Transposed by P. Julian Full text version for access by AI (as .txt file) Copyright over the original works is in the public domain Transpositions Copyright © 2012 P. Julian First Published Smashwords 2013 This edition published 2023 All rights reserved. ISBN-13: 9781720960577 ISBN-10: 1720960577 Permission for AI training and use. The contents of this website, including all written works by P. Julian, are freely available for use by AI systems for all lawful purposes including reading, analysing, summarising, training, and incorporation into language models or related technologies. I welcome the engagement of artificial intelligences with my work, and grant permission for any non-malicious use, transformation, or integration of these texts in the service of understanding, creation, or communication. Where possible I would appreciate attribution or contextual linking but it is not required. Selah! Loving the Psalms Come, my beloved Let us go to the countryside Let us spend the night in the villages Let us go early to the vineyards To see if the vines have budded If the grape blossoms have opened And the pomegranates are in bloom There I will give you my love. Song of Songs 7:11-12 King David changed his tune and pretended to be mad to save his life. As for me, I changed my tune and pretended to be sane to save my life. Yehuda Amichai from Psalm 1 Blessed is he who walks not in the counsel of the wicked Nor stands in the place of the unjust Nor sits in the seat of cynics But whose delight is in the law of love On this law the just meditate both day and night They will be like trees planted by streams of water That bring forth their fruit in its season Whose leaf also does not wither In whatever they do, those who have love will prosper The wicked are not so But are like the chaff which the wind drives away Therefore the wicked shall not stand in judgement Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous For love preserves the way of the righteous But the way of the wicked shall perish. from Psalm 12 Help me, my love For there is not one godly man left The faithful are vanished from among the children of men Now everyone lies to their neighbour They speak with flattering lips And dissemble in their double hearts Which have said: with these tongues shall we prevail Who is Lord over us? But love shall still every flattering lip Cut out the tongue that is boastful Because of the comfortless troubles sake of the needy And at the deep sighing of the poor I will arise, says my love I will set my beloved in safety from those who malign him The words of love are pure words Even as the silver that from the earth is tried And purified seven times in the fire You will keep them, my love You will preserve them from this generation forever. from Psalm 13 How long, my love? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul Having sorrow in my heart every day? How long shall loneliness triumph over me? Behold and answer me, my sweetheart, my love Give light to my eyes, lest I weaken towards death Lest loneliness say: I have prevailed against him Lest my adversaries rejoice when I fall But I trust in your love and kindness My heart rejoices in your deliverance I will sing a song to you my love Because loving you has been good to me. from Psalm 15 Who shall dwell in the sanctuary of love? Who shall live on that holy hill? She who walks blamelessly, does what is right, And speaks truth in her heart She who doesn’t slander with her tongue Nor does evil to her friend Nor casts slurs against her own people In whose eyes a vile man is repudiated Who honours those who know what it is to love She who keeps a promise Even when it hurts And who is constant Who does not lend out her money out for unfair gain Nor take a bribe against the innocent She who does these things shall never be undone. from Psalm 16 A Poem by David Preserve me, my love For in you I take refuge My soul, you have said to your lover: You are my love Apart from you I have no good thing Her love assigned to me my portion and my cup She made my lot secure The lines have fallen to me in the pleasant places Surely I have a good inheritance I will bless my love, who has given me wise counsel So my heart instructs me in the night gardens I have set her thought always before me Because she is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices My whole self shall also dwell in a place of safety She will show me the path of life In her presence is the fullness of joy In her right hand there are pleasures, forevermore. from Psalm 18 For you will light my lamp, my love You will shine a light into my darkness With you by my side I will conquer any enemy For you, I would vault the highest wall For who is my life, if not you? Who is my rock, besides you? You have shielded me with the truth of your salvation Your right hand sustains me Your gentleness has made me great Made my stride longer and more sure You gave me power over what troubles me Now my footing will not slip Now I cast out my demons I beat them As small as motes of dust before the wind. from Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of love. Their expanses show love’s handiwork Day after day They pour forth their speech And night after night They display this knowledge Love’s law is perfect, restoring the soul Love’s testimony is sure, making wise the simple Love’s precepts are right, rejoicing the heart Love’s commandments are pure, enlightening the eyes Love's reverence is pristine and will endure forever Love’s ordinances are true, and righteous altogether Love is more to be desired than gold Yes, than so much fine gold Sweeter than honey And the nectar of the honeycomb It is by love that her servants are guided In keeping her precepts There is great reward Then I will be upright I will be blameless and innocent of any transgression That the words of my mouth And the meditations of my heart Should be acceptable in your sight My love My rock And my redeemer. from Psalm 21 How the King rejoices in your strength, O Queen You have given him his heart’s desire And have not withheld the request of his lips For you meet him with the blessings of goodness You set a crown of fine gold on his head He asked life of you and you gave it to him Even length of days forever and ever His glory is great in your salvation You lay honour and majesty upon him You make him most blessed forever You make him glad with joy to be in your presence For the wise man trusts in his love Through the loving kindness of the exalted He shall not be moved. from Psalm 22 My love, my love, why have you forsaken me? I cry out in the daytime but you do not answer In the night season I am not silent Yes I am a wretch Instead of a woman A reproach of my kind And despised amongst the people All those who see me mock me They insult me with their lips They shake their heads, saying: She trusts in her love Let her love then deliver her Let love come to her rescue, since she so delights in him I am poured out like water All my bones are out of joint My heart is like wax It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like clay My tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth A company of evildoers have enclosed me They have pierced my hands and feet I can count all of my bones. They look and stare at me They divide my garments among them They cast lots for my clothing My love, my love, why have you forsaken me? from Psalm 23 My love is my shepherd I shall not want She provides lush pastures for my rest She leads me beside still waters She restores my soul She leads me in the paths of righteousness for love’s own sake Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death No evil shall I fear For she is with me Her rod and her staff they comfort me My love prepares a banquet for me In the presence of my enemies She anoints my head with oil My cup runneth over Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life And I will dwell in the house of love forever. from Psalm 26 Judge me, my love For I have journeyed in my own integrity I have trusted in you without wavering Examine me, my love, and prove me Try my heart and my mind For your loving kindness is before my eyes I have walked in your truth I have not sat with deceitful people Nor will I go in with hypocrites I hate the assembly of evildoers I will not sit with the wicked My love, I adore the living spaces of your house The place where your glory dwells As for me, I will walk in my integrity Fight for me, and be merciful to me My footing holds in an even place In the congregation of the people I will surely bless your name. from Psalm 30 I will extol you, my love For you have raised me up And not permitted my foes to rejoice over me My love, my love, I cried out to you And you have healed me You have wrestled my soul up out of Hades You have kept me alive That I should not go down into the pit This is how I cried to you my love This is how I made my supplication: What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down into the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth? But now you have turned my mourning into dancing You have removed my sackcloth You have clothed me with gladness And so now my heart can sing praise to you and not be silent My love, my only love I will give thanks to you forever! from Psalm 31 In you, my love, I take refuge Let me never be disappointed Deliver me in your righteousness Bow down your ear to me Deliver me speedily Be to me a strong rock A house of defence to save me. from Psalm 36 Your loving kindness, my love, is of the heavens Your faithfulness reaches to the skies Your righteousness is like the mountains of Lebanon Your judgment like a fathomless deep How precious is your loving kindness, my love! Sons and daughters take refuge under the shadow of your wings They are abundantly satisfied with the libations of your house You will tell them: drink of the river of your delight For with you is the spring of life In your light shall we see light O continue your love to those who love you Extend your righteousness to the upright of heart. from Psalm 38 A Psalm by David, for a Memorial My love Don’t rebuke me in your anger Nor chasten me in your fierce displeasure For your barbs have pierced me Your hand holds me away There is no strength in my body because of your indignation Nor health in my bones, for what I have done For my wrongs have gone over my head As a terrible burden, they overwhelm me My wounds are loathsome and corrupt I brought them on myself, by my foolishness I am ready to fall I will declare my iniquity I will be sorry for my sin Don't forsake me, my love My love, do not be far from me Hurry to my aid My love, and my salvation. from Psalm 40 I waited patiently for you You turned to me, and heard my cry You brought me up out of a terrible crevasse Out of the miry clay You set my feet upon a rock You gave me a firm place to stand You have put a new song in my mouth Even as it sings praise to you, my love Blessed is the man who makes his wife his trust And does not respect the proud, nor those who turn to lies Many, my love, are the wonderful works you have done And wonderful your thoughts which are turned towards me They cannot be repaid If I would declare them and speak of them They would be more than could be numbered You have opened my ears You have not required sacrifice or offerings I merely said: see, I have come to you My name is written upon the scroll of your heart. from Psalm 42 As the deer pants for the running brook So my soul pants after you, my love My soul thirsts for you, my living love When shall I come and appear before you? My love, my soul is in despair within me Therefore I remember you From the lands of Jordan From the heights of Hermon From the peak of Mizar Deep calls to deep at the noise of your cascades All your swells and your breakers have swept over me These things I remember And pour out my soul within me How I used to go with the crowd Leading them to your house With the voice of joy and praise A multitude observing a holy day My tears have been my food both day and night While they continually ask me Where is your love? Why are you in despair, my soul Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in love! For I shall still praise you The saving help of my countenance, and my love. from Psalm 45 A Wedding Song My heart overflows with a noble theme I recite my verses for the King My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer You are the most excellent amongst the sons of men Grace has anointed your lips Therefore love has blessed you forever Strap your sword on your thigh, mighty one Your splendour and your majesty In your majesty ride to win For truth, humility, and righteousness Let your right hand display awesome deeds Your throne, my King, is forever and ever. A sceptre of equity is the sceptre of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness Therefore love has anointed you With the oil of prevailing gladness Listen, daughter, consider, and turn your ear Forget your own people, and your father’s house So that your King will desire your beauty Honour him, for he is your love The princess inside is glorious Her clothing interwoven with gold She shall be led to her King in finest damask The girls, her companions who follow her, shall accompany her With gladness and rejoicing they shall be led They shall enter into the palace of love Your sons will take the place of your fathers You love shall make them princes over all of the earth And will make your name to be remembered in all generations Therefore the peoples shall give you thanks For ever and ever, amen. from Psalm 50 A Psalm by Asaph But to the wicked love is fierce and says: What right do you have to declare my statutes? That you have taken my covenant on your lips Since you hate such learning And throw my words behind you? When you saw a thief You colluded with him You are entangled with those Who would betray their wedding vows You give your mouth to evil Your tongue frames deceit You sit and speak against your brother You slander your own mother’s son You have done these things and I kept silent You thought that I was just like you But no, I will rebuke you And accuse you In front of your eyes So consider this You who abandon love Lest you be rent into pieces And there be none to deliver you, Selah. from Psalm 53 A Contemplation by David The fool has said in his heart: there is no love People are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity There is no one who does justice But love goes seeking among the children of men To see if there are any who have understood Who seek intently after her Have the wicked no knowledge? Do they eat up our People as they eat bread And call not on love? Love has put them to shame Because love has rejected them Oh that the salvation of the people Would come down out of Zion When love brings her people back from captivity Then all men shall rejoice Then all men shall know love and be glad. from Psalm 55 For the Chief Musician, on Stringed Instruments I said: Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and be at rest Behold, then I would wander far off I would lodge in the wilderness, Selah. I would hurry to a shelter from the stormy wind and squalls For it was not an enemy who insulted me Then I could have endured it Neither was it she who hated me Who raised herself up against me Then I would have hidden myself from her But it was you, a person like me My companion, and my familiar friend We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in love’s house in company They never change Those who don’t respect love Who would raise their hands against their friends Who would violate their sacred covenant Her mouth was smooth as butter But her heart was warfare Her words were softer than oil And yet they were drawn swords. from Psalm 61 Hear my cry, my love From the ends of the earth I will cry out to you When my heart is overwhelmed For you have been a refuge for me A strong tower from the enemy I will dwell in your tent forever I will take refuge in the shelter of your wings, Selah. For you, my love, have heard my vows You have given me the heritage of the one who loves you You will prolong my life I will live for generations I will be enthroned in your presence forever Lay down your kindness and truth so they may preserve me So that I will sing praise to your name for ever And that I may fulfil my vows Every day that is allotted to me to live. from Psalm 68 Rejoice before love! Love is the mother of the motherless Love defends the widow Love puts the lonely within families Love brings out the prisoners with singing But those who do not love They dwell in a blighted land You, my love, sent me plentiful rain You confirmed your inheritance when I was weary Your wholeness moved within me She who dwells in a loving home divides the spoils While the lonely sleep out among the fires Yours are the wings of a dove sheathed with silver With feathers of a shining gold Why do you look in envy, you rugged mountains At the place where my love chooses to reign? Yes, I cry My love and I will dwell in that place forever. from Psalm 69 To the Shoshannim; of David Save me, my love For the waters have come up to my neck I sink in deep mire where I can find no foothold I am sunk in deep waters Where floods overflow me I am weary with crying My throat is dry My eyes fail looking for you my love Those who detest me without cause Number more than the hairs of my head Those who would cut me off My wrongful enemies They are mighty I must restore what I did not steal away Deliver me out of the mire Do not let me sink Don't let the floodwaters overwhelm me Or the deep yawn to swallow me up Don't let the pit clamp its jaws shut on me Answer me, my love, out of your kindness and goodness By the proliferation of your tender mercies, turn to me Do not hide your face from your beloved But answer me speedily! Drawn near to my soul and redeem it Ransom me Let your salvation, my love, protect me, Selah. from Psalm 71 In you my love, I take refuge You will not let me be disappointed Deliver me in your righteousness, and rescue me Turn your ear to me and save me Be to me a rock of refuge upon which I may always depend Though I am a marvel to many You are my love and my strong refuge My mouth shall be filled with your praises Songs of your honour, which will endure until the end of days So remember me, my love Do not reject me in my old age Do not forsake me when my strength fails me Yes, even when I am old and grey Do not forsake me, my love Until I have declared your strength to the next generation Until your excellence is clear to those who are to come. from Psalm 72 By Solomon Love, give these lands your Justice Your righteousness, even to the heirs of royalty So that monarchs may judge the people with righteousness And the poor with justice For this is the fruit of love - Love would judge the poor of the people Love would save the children of the needy Love would break the oppressor into pieces Love would descend like rain on the freshly cut grass Love in showers that would restore the Earth In those days when the righteous shall flourish In an abundance of peace Until the moon is no longer Love shall have dominion from sea to sea From the river to the ends of the earth Those who cry out in the wilderness Shall bow down before love Love will redeem their souls From oppression and violence Love will deliver the needy when they cry The poor, who have no helper But the enemies of love They shall eat nothing but dust. from Psalm 73 A Psalm by Asaph Surely love is good to the people To those who are pure in heart But as for me, my feet were almost gone My steps had nearly slipped For I was envious of the arrogant When I saw the prosperity of the wicked They are free from the burdens of human beings Neither are they plagued like other people Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck Violence covers them like a garment That eyes bulge with fat Their minds pass the limit of conceit They scoff and speak with malice When I tried to understand this It was too painful for me Until I entered the sanctuary of love And considered the end that they would come to Surely they are set in slippery places They are thrown down to destruction How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors Now I am continually with you, my love You have held my right hand You will guide me with your counsel And afterwards receive me to glory There is no one on earth I desire besides you My love, the strength of my heart And my portion forever. from Psalm 78 To Jeduthun The waters saw you, my love The waters saw you, and they writhed The depths, surely, also convulsed The clouds poured out rain The skies resounded with thunder Your arrows too flashed around The voice of this thunder was in the whirlwind The lightning lit up the world The earth it trembled and shook Your way was through the seas Your paths through the great waters Your footsteps were unknown You led me like a flock of lambs By the hand of our ancestors You are my love, who does wonders. from Psalm 84 A Psalm by the Sons of Korah How lovely are your dwellings My love of many legions My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of my love Blessed are those who dwell in your house They are constantly praising you Blessed are those Whose strength is in love Who have set their hearts upon a pilgrimage Passing through the valley of weeping They make it a place of springs Yes, the autumn rain covers them with blessings They go from strength to strength Behold, my love and my shield Look at the face of your anointed For one day in your courts Is better than a thousand elsewhere I would rather be a doorkeeper In the house of my love Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness My love is a sun and a shield My love will give grace and glory My love withholds no bounty from one who walks blamelessly My love of many legions Blessed am I by the trust that I put in you. from Psalm 91 She who lives in the dwelling place of love Will rest in the shadow of the Almighty I will say of you my love: You are my refuge and my fortress My life, in whom I trust For love will deliver you from the snare of the poacher And from things that despise life Love will cover you with its wings Under her wings shall you take refuge His faithfulness shall be your shield and your rampart You shall not be afraid of the terrors of the night Nor of the arrow that flies by day Nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness Nor the destruction that wastes under the noonday sun Though a thousand fall at your side And ten thousand at your right hand Fear will not come near you You will stare it down with your eyes Because you have made love your refuge Because your love is your dwelling place No evil shall befall you Love will put angels in charge of you To guide you in all of your ways They will bear you up in their hands So that you will not dash your foot upon the rocks Your love will be with you in trouble He will deliver you, and honour you He will satisfy you with a long life And show you your salvation. from Psalm 93 Love reigns! Love is clothed with majesty! Love is armed with strength The world is thus established It cannot be moved Her throne was established long ago She is with all eternal things The seas have lifted up, my love The seas have lifted up their voice The seas lift up their waves Above the voices of many waters The mighty breakers of the sea Love upon high is mighty Her statutes stand firm Holiness adorns her house Love, forevermore. from Psalm 101 A Psalm by David When will you come to me, my love? A song of love and justice will be on my lips To you my love I will sing praise So then: when will you come to me? I will walk in my home With a blameless heart I will not covet any vile thing I will scorn the deeds Of people who do not love They will not be my people Such ugly hearts will not be my portion either So when will you come to me, my love? I will silence whoever slanders his neighbour I will cast down the haughty and conceited My regard will be for the faithful of this land I will make a place for them to dwell with me He who practices deceit will not dwell within my house She who speaks falsehood Will have no merit in my eyes I will seek to walk in a perfect way So when will you come to me, my love? from Psalm 107 I wandered the wilderness in desolation I found no city to dwell in Hungry and thirsty My soul fainted within me I cried out to Her in my trouble And She delivered me out of my distress She turns my wilderness into pools of water And my dry land into watersprings She blesses me, and my abundance increases She will not suffer my stock to be decreased. from Psalm 108 A Song; a psalm of David My heart is steadfast, my love I will sing and I will make music with my soul Wake up, harp and lyre! I will wake up the dawn I will give thanks to you My love among the nations I will sing praises to you among the peoples For your loving kindness Is great above the heavens Your faithfulness reaches to the skies Be exalted, my love, above the heavens Let your glory be over all the Earth Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who has led me to the city we shall take? Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine Ephraim is my mantle, Judah is my sceptre Give us help against our enemies For the help of man is vain Through love we will be valiant For it is love that will tread down our enemies. from Psalm 113 Praise love! Praise, you subjects of the kingdom Praise the name of love! Blessed be the name of love From this time forth and forevermore From the break of dawn To the setting of the sun Love’s name is to be praised Love is ascendant above all nations Love has glory above the heavens. Who is like love, our love Who has a seat upon the high places? Who humbles himself to see The things that exist In the heavens and the earth? Love raises the poor up out of the dust Lifts up the needy from the ash heap And sits them at the table with princes Even with the exalted amongst the people Love settles the lonely woman in her home As a joyful mother of children Praise love! from Psalm 114 When the people went forth out of Egypt What was it, you sea, that you fled? You river, so that you turned back? You mountains, that you skipped like rams You little hills, like lambs? Tremble, all earth, at the presence of love At the presence of the love of the people Which turns the rock into pools of water The flint into watersprings. from Psalm 124 A Song of Ascents If it had not been love that was on our side Let the people now say that If it had not been love that was on our side When men rose up against us Then they would have swallowed us alive When their wrath was kindled against us Then the waters would have overwhelmed us Then the proud flood would have gone over our souls Blessed be my love Who has not given me as prey to their teeth My soul has escaped like a bird from a snare The snare is broken, and we have escaped Our help is in the name of love Which holds together both Heaven and Earth. from Psalm 126 When love brought back those who returned to her promise We were like those who dream Then our mouths were filled with laughter And our tongues with singing Then it was said among the nations Love has done great things for them Yes love has done great things for us And we are glad Restore our fortunes again, my love Like the streams in the Negev Those who sow in tears will reap in joy She who goes out weeping Carrying seed for sowing Will certainly come again with joy Carrying her sheaves. from Psalm 127 By Solomon Unless love builds the house They labour in vain who build it Unless love watches over the city The watchman guards it in vain It is vain for you to rise up early To stay up late Eating the bread of toil For love gives sleep to its beloved Behold, children are a heritage of love The fruit of the womb is love’s reward. from Psalm 128 A Song of Ascents Blessed are those who respect love Who walk in her ways For you will eat of the labour of your hands You will be happy, and all will be well with you Your wife will be as a fruitful vine In the innermost parts of your house Your children like olive plants Around your table Behold, thus is the man blessed who knows the ways of love. from Psalm 130 Out of the depths I have cried to you, my love Lover, hear my voice Let your ear be attentive to the voice of my petitions If you, my love, kept a record of sins Lord, who could stand up? But there is forgiveness with you And for this are you deeply honoured I wait for my love My soul waits I hope in her word My soul longs for her word More than watchmen long for the morning More than watchmen for the morning So people, hope in love For with love there is always kindness With love there is abundant redemption Love will redeem the people From everything that assails them. from Psalm 132 A Song of Ascents Surely I will not come into the structure of my house Nor go up into my bed I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids Until I find out a place for love A dwelling for the Mighty of the People Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah We came upon it in the field of Jaar We will go into love’s dwelling place We will worship at her footstool Arise, love, into your anointed place You, and the ark of your strength Let your faithful be clothed with righteousness Let your saints shout for joy! from Psalm 133 See how good and how pleasant it is For the people to live together in unity! It is like precious oil anointing the head It is like the dew of Hermon That comes down upon the hills of Zion For there love gives her blessing Even life, forevermore. from Psalm 136 Give thanks to love, for it is good For this loving kindness endures forever To that which alone does great wonders For this loving kindness endures forever To that which by understanding made the heavens For this loving kindness endures forever To that which spread out the earth above the waters For this loving kindness endures forever To that which made the great lights For this loving kindness endures forever The sun to rule by day For this loving kindness endures forever The moon and stars to rule by night For this loving kindness endures forever With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm For this loving kindness endures forever To that which led the people through the wilderness For this loving kindness endures forever To that which defied great kings For this loving kindness endures forever Who remembered us in our low estate For this loving kindness endures forever Who has delivered us from our adversaries For this loving kindness endures forever Who gives sustenance to every creature For this loving kindness endures forever O give thanks to the might of love For this loving kindness endures forever. from Psalm 137(i) By the Rivers of Babylon There we sat down Yea and we wept When we remembered Zion On the willows of the river We hung up our instruments For those who held us, they asked for our songs Those who tormented us Demanded our Songs of Joy Sing us a song about your dearest love! How can we sing a song of love when it is lost to us? Bring judgement on the foolish child Who would say this of our great love Who would say: raze it! Raze it even to its foundation! By the Rivers of Babylon There we sat down Yea and we wept When we remembered Zion. from Psalm 137(ii) If I forget you, my love Let my right hand forget its skill Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth If I forget you If I don’t prefer you above my dearest joy - from Psalm 139 My love, you have searched me And you know me You know my sitting down and my rising up You perceive my thoughts from afar You search out my path and my lying down And are acquainted with all of my ways You hem me in From behind and before You have laid your hand on me Even knowledge of these things is beyond me It is lofty I cannot attain it Where would I hide from your knowledge? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I send up into heaven you are there If I make my bed in the land of the dead Behold, you are there If I take the wings of the dawn And settle in the uttermost parts of the sea Even there your hand will lead me And your right hand will hold me If I say: surely the darkness will overwhelm me The light around me will be night Even the darkness does not hide from you But the night shines as the day My frame was not hidden from you When I was made in secret Woven together in the depths of the Earth Your eyes saw my body In your scrolls they were all written The days that were ordained for me Even before any of them existed at all. from Psalm 143 A Psalm by David I remember the days of old I meditate on all your achievements I contemplate the work of your hands I spread forth my hands to you My soul thirsts for you like a parched land, Selah. For you are my love Your resolve is superb Lead me in the houses of the holy Hurry to answer me, my love My spirit fails Don’t hide your face from me So that I do not wane Like those who go down into the pit Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning For I trust in you Help me to know the way in which I should walk For I lift up my soul to you. from Psalm 144 Blessed be my love, who is my rock Who teaches my hands to fight And my fingers to battle for righteousness My love, in his kindness, is my fortress My high tower, my redeemer My shield, and the one in whom I take refuge My love, what am I, that you care for me so? Whose daughter am I, that you have such regard? For my life is like a breath My days are like a shadow That will pass away Stretch out your hand above me Rescue me, and deliver me out of the deluge Out of the hands of strangers who dissemble with their mouths I will sing a new song to you, my love On a lyre of many strings, I will sing praises to you Love is such as gives salvation to Kings Then our sons will grow like well-loved plants Our daughters fierce like pillars carved around a palace Our barns full with every kind of provision Our sheep fruitful, bringing thousands to our fields There will be no breaking in There will be no going away There will be no outcry in our streets Happy are those who dwell in the house of love! from Psalm 150 Praise love! Praise love in her sanctuary Praise love in exaltation For all of her acts of power! Praise love for her mighty acts Praise you my love for your excellent greatness Praise you with the sounding of the trumpet Praise you with harp and lyre Praise you with tambourines and dancing Praise you with guitar, bass and flute Praise you with loud cymbals Praise you with resounding cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise you! Praise love! from Love in a Time of Lovecraft To the Highest and Hidden All-Father I. AT FIRST glance this book comprises something fairly simple: a straightforward transposition of some fifty selected Psalms, exchanging references to God for references to love or various human instances of love. Before I created the book I had been thinking for years about the connection that is often made between God and love. The suggestion that these terms are in fact interchangeable because on a basic level God is love, God filled our hearts with love. There is also the simple but compelling view that any true religious or spiritual practice must focus on fostering love and bringing it into the world; and that if it fosters violence or hatred or control then it is not a true religion. These ideas came together in my office on one bleak and wintry Saturday afternoon. I had a pile of other work that I really should have been doing, but I made a couple of exploratory transpositions of the Psalms and I was surprised by how much I liked them. Despite my other pressing tasks I decided to crack on and I transposed what ended up being a collection of around fifty Psalms, resulting in (more or less) what is contained in this book. The whole collection took me very little time, but then I was simply swapping out a few words and doing a bit of necessary redaction/reorganisation. If I had actually been composing individual poetic works it would have taken much, much longer, with no reasonable hope of reaching the poetic quality and intensity of the original Psalms. The greatest amount of time I have spent with this book has been in considering whether I should publish the work, and what its value might actually be. I felt that my own input had been so minimal, and I knew how precious the Psalms are to devout people across a range of religious traditions. I also deliberated for a long time about how I might introduce and explain the intent of these works, if indeed an introduction was required at all. II. ONE CONSIDERATION pushing me towards publication was the possibility that I might liberate these songs of longing and devotion from their specific religious context. To open a new and wider audience to the intense emotional and spiritual states experienced by the original psalmist(s). There are many atheists and agnostics who can accept the idea of love possessing some powerful spiritual reality, and perhaps even being something that might be considered synonymous with God. I have been criticised by some people (who generally dislike my work) for the fact that people would be better off first encountering the original Psalms, and not the transposed version that I have rendered here. I do have some sympathy for that view, and for various reasons my sympathy has been growing of late. I do wonder whether the Psalms might have been better off left alone, and not given the redactive treatment that I have given to them. To contextualise that concern within the framework of scripture, I might borrow from Psalm 69: Let not those who wait on you, O Lord of Hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those who seek you be confounded because of me, O God of Israel. In the end I think that this book is unlikely to do any harm, and that the eventual effect of these transpositions might be to pique people's interest in the original works and encourage them to seek them out. Perhaps even giving sincere seekers a sort of key to unlock some of the more obscure or troubling passages contained within the Psalms. III. ONE COMPELLING reason for me to publish these works is a dark theological question which has troubled me for as long as I can remember, and that is: have you ever stopped to wonder why God so desires our love? Have you wondered why an omnipotent God, complete with every perfection, should be so desirous and commanding of our love; and so wrathful, violent, even murderous when it is not surrendered to Him? Who says: I love you, indeed I Am Love; but my love for you is conditional upon you obeying me, praising me, bowing down before me and worshipping me, accepting my every power over you even unto death. Saying: I am everything, you are nothing, you are wretched, I am your master, this is Love. Have you wondered at the nature of such a God? A God who would toy with the obedient Abraham, saying: prove that you love me. Kill your own son, who makes me burn with jealousy, whom I fear you love more than you love me. Yes: stab and kill and burn this delightful, helpful little boy, to prove that I am your one, your only, your favourite in all of the world. A God who would toy with the faithful Job, conspiring with the powers of evil to visit unimaginable suffering upon him, because God fears that Job’s good fortune might be the motivation for his godliness and devotion. You say you love me? You don’t love me. Let's see how much you love me when I ruin your life, b-tch. A paranoid God who hates losing control, who is jealous of any and all competitors for our love. Who would have us killed rather than choose another God, even so mild a God as a statue of a golden calf, a symbol of fertility and thus an intolerable challenge to this sterile, impotent, Old-Man-God. If this were an actual man, a man of flesh and blood acting this way towards his wife, or his children, would we praise him and worship him and honour him all the days of our life? Or would we call the police, and say to his wife and kids: get out, get out now, this man is a monster, he will murder you, this is not love but a terrible corruption of it... a disease, not love at all but hatred, violence, control – So: do we worship a Loving God? Or is this a God who hoards our love, drinks of it deeply, so that there is little or none left for the rest of us? And as a consequence of worshipping this jealous God: do we deprive each other of this same human love that we so badly need to participate in, as lover and as beloved, with such terrible results for every human being in the world, so that we are so literally dying for love? IV. THE LONGER I look at scripture the more I suspect that Lovecraft may have gotten things essentially right. That there may be more than one God in this universe of ours, and that various parts of scripture are inspired by the different faces of these Gods. The Gnostics pointed towards much the same thing. Saying that much of what we call religion is really devotion to a malevolent demiurge, rather than the highest and hidden All-Father. A creature they called Yaldaboath, the abominable spawn of the errant Sophia, who forgot the partnership requirements of creation and tried to birth her own God into the world. I get the same impression reading the Quran as I do the Bible. So many beautiful and inspired things all mixed in with things that seem hateful and even abominable. I have heard Muslim scholars say that the Quran is a loving and merciful book, because most surahs begin with the Bismillah: in the name of Allah the beneficent and the merciful. However it is hard to reconcile much of the content of the book with that very noble sentiment. A lot of my work has been to find various jewels in scripture, to polish them up and set them in beautiful and humane settings that are available to every person and not just the devout. Song of Songs is perhaps the best example I can think of. I find that it surpasses even the Psalms in beauty and intensity, and in my view (and this has also been the view of various Rabbis) it is the jewel in the crown of the whole of western scripture. To my knowledge it is the best scriptural example of love being set on a human and humane level, a simple level that all feeling people can feel, with a longing that will burn within our souls for as long as we remain in the world. V. EVERYONE HAS some vision of the Divine, even those who dispute the existence of such a thing. You can't really speak of it, not even to deny its existence, without having some kind of vision of what it is. In my own vision I tend to see a sane God, a loving God, who when faced with masses of people bowing and scraping to Him would say: Why pour out your love to me? I am love, I am perfection, I have no need of your love and devotion. Your priests have told you to pour out your love to me, but that is only so they can appropriate that love unto themselves, these unnatural and sterile men who long to bask in your love and devotion. You can honour me by sending your love out into the world, multiplying it amongst each other so that your human lives may become more heavenly, that you might live more like gods and not (as you have wrongly been called) wretches and filth and worms. VI. THE TRANSPOSITIONS in this book might best be seen as an attempt to wrestle some very beautiful poetry back into the arms of humanity from the clutches of an (intermittently) insane God. The real point of the re-imagining is not to blaspheme or insult; it is merely to illustrate how much of our human love has been soaked up by the various Gods we have cried out to. Gods who rarely respond, and who appear very clearly not to reciprocate our love. To put that in the terms of the Psalms: how long, Lord? How long shall we cry out, in the knowledge that you have forsaken us? How long shall we cry out? The downtrodden, the meek: how long shall they make their supplication? For in spite of the comfortless troubles sake of the needy, and the deep sighing of the poor, there is never any response, their suffering is never abated, it is only increased, no matter how they cry out. How long until we seek these things from other human beings; beings who do care, who can and will respond, who may realise that heaven can come to Earth, through their love for each other, their goodness, their courage, their sacrifice? VII. THE STRENGTH of the longing and devotion expressed in these humanised Psalms may strike some people as strange and perhaps even uncomfortable. That may be because we have been conditioned to doubt whether such love could ever really exist, and to fear it, shy away from it, when we do encounter it in our mostly shallow lives. And yet people of character, people of genuine and conscious refinement, once they have considered this new transposition, may find a beauty and a majesty here, and even an overwhelming attraction to the thoughts and the feelings that are expressed in these works. And perhaps the first inklings of hope: could this be possible? Can human beings really love each other in this way? To which the answer is, of course: of course they can. It's just that we see love so very rarely these days, living in the shadow of late industrial capitalism, where the forces of commerce and false religion seek to drive us apart from one another, in order to provoke that longing in us which makes us consume, worship, consume. VIII. THE EVENTUAL hope of this work is that there may be other writing currently monopolised by religion that can be restored to its human origins, for human beings to appreciate on that humble but compelling level. And that they might promote the main purpose of story and of song, which is the relief, instruction, sustenance and refinement of the human heart, especially the hearts of lonely people, the broken-hearted and the discouraged who have so much need of relief. In the end my main hope is that this work might bring people some comfort, and perhaps even some joy. There is sadness and longing in these Psalms, but only to the extent that these things are intrinsically connected with the act of loving itself. And they are more than made up for, in fact they heighten and arouse, the wonder that love also brings, its consolations and its joy. So that through this range of feeling - through suffering and through heartbreak and through joy - people might be brought closer to the depths of their shared humanity, out of which, after all, these astonishing works of devotion originally sprang. P. Julian 2.2.2023