1 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.
A O LORD,
B how my adversaries have increased [Possible translation: 10,000] ! Many [Possible translation: 10,000] are rising up against me. 2 Many [Possible translation:10,000] are saying of my soul, “There is no deliverance for him in God.” Selah.
C 3 But Thou, O LORD, art a shield about me, My glory, and the One who lifts my head.
D 4 I was crying to the LORD with my voice, and He answered me from His holy mountain. Selah.
C’ 5 I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the LORD / sustains me.
B 6 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about. (1) 7 Arise,
A’ (2) O LORD;
A (1′) Save me,
B (2′) O my God!
C For Thou hast smitten
D all my enemies
E on the cheek;
E’ The teeth
D’ of the wicked
C’ Thou hast shattered
B’ 8 to the LORD
A’ Salvation belongs;
Thy blessing be upon Thy people! Selah.
Comments:
Here’s a Psalm with 2 chiasmi – back to back. The latter chiasmus is pretty obvious and fairly well known. I’ll concentrate my comments on the first chiasmi.
The A/A’ connection is obvious (O Lord/O Lord).
B/B’ has a few connections. First, “rising up” in B matches with “arise” in B’. Secondly, “increased” and “many” (used twice) matches with “10,000” in B’. In fact, “increased” and “many” can be translated as 10,000! Thirdly, there’s a contrast between hopelessness (“there is no deliverance”) in B and confidence (“I will not be afraid”) in B’. The contrast is between what others are saying (hopelessness) and what the writer is experiencing (confidence). … The source of the writer’s confidence is God.
C/C” are both positive statements about God. God is the writer’s “shield” (C), making it possible for the writer to sleep – in spite of the circumstances – and wake up again (C’). God “lifts [his] head” (C) and “sustains” him (C’). There may be a slight match between “lifts my head” in B and ‘waking’ in B’.
In D, we see that the writer was “crying to the Lord”, seeking protection and salvation and we see that God answers his request. E produces a nice center. There’s a plea and an answer from God’s “holy mountain”.
I rather like that the center basically ends* with a mention of God’s “holy mountain”. It produces a nice central illustration for the chiastic structure. An example where choice of words fits the structure’s design – the ‘center’ is the ‘high’light of the chiasmus. A central ‘peak’.
… *The center actually ends by asking the singer, listener, reader to contemplate the psalmist’s central point – God’s salvation.
We are asked to pause and consider God’s goodness.
Selah.
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Additional Comments:
1) I really like the parallelism at the end of the first chiasmus and the beginning of the second. It nicely ties the 2 chiasmi together.
1 Arise, 2 O Lord; (end of first chiasmus)
1′ Save me, 2′ O my God! (beginning of second chiasmus)
Nice touch.
2) Both chiasmi begin and end by acknowledging God. (O Lord … Arise, O Lord / Save me, O God … to the Lord salvation belongs). As well, the first chiasmus ends and the second chiasmus both begins and ends by asking for God to act on behalf of the writer. These outside themes also match the strong center of the first chiasmus: “I was crying to the LORD with my voice, And He answered me from His holy mountain.” God and his salvation is the focus of this psalm.
3) There’s a contrast between the centers of these 2 chiasmi. The center of the first chiasmus is positive, while the center of the second chiasmus is negative. As well, the center of the first chiasmi is singular (unmatched), while the center of the second chiasmus is doubled (matched). This is interesting. A chiastic writer can use a singular center when he wants to emphasize the center, and use a double center when he wants to de-emphasize the center. In effect, this writer may have chosen to chiastically emphasize the positive center of the first chiasmus while de-emphasizing the negative center of the second chiasmus, which, to me, seems fitting and wise. The positive is emphasized. The negative de-emphasized.
4) It’s interesting that the psalmist ends his Psalm with the line “Thy blessing be upon Thy people! Selah.” For one, the line stands outside of the chiasmi. It stands alone. In this way the reader/listener is asked to focus on the line by itself. The addition of the contemplative “Selah” simply re-emphasizes the psalm’s structural effect. Selah: Think about this. … Finally, the writer has switched his focus in the last line. While the 2 chiasmi are focused on the writer’s personal salvation (I, me, my), the final line is focused on God’s blessing (or salvation) for all his people. The writer extends his own experience and story to God’s people at large.
Biblical Chiasmus 