new moon / full moon

In Gbaya, the notion of the bright clear moon in Psalms 81:3 is emphasized with mgbal-mgbal, an ideophone used to describe something that is clear and unambiguous (“the moon shining mgbal-mgbal“).

Ideophones are a class of sound symbolic words expressing human sensation that are used as literary devices in many African languages. (Source: Philip Noss)

inclusive vs. exclusive pronoun (Ps 81:3)

Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)

The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).

For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translations both use the inclusive pronoun, including everyone.

complete verse (Psalm 81:3)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Psalm 81:3:

  • Chichewa Contempary Chichewa translation, 2002/2016:
    “Sing a trumpet of a male sheep horn on a new moon,
    and when the moon has fully appeared, on the day of the feast;” (Source: Mawu a Mulungu mu Chichewa Chalero Back Translation)
  • Newari:
    “At new moon and at full moon,
    blow the trumpet to celebrate our festivals.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon:
    “[You (plur.)] sound the trumpet/horn to celebrate the Feast of Beginning of the Moon and the feast that we (incl.) celebrate when the moon (is) full/[lit. round].” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • Laarim:
    “You blow the horns of ram in a New Moon,
    and blow when the moon shine well on the day of our feast,” (Source: Laarim Back Translation)
  • Nyakyusa-Ngonde (back-translation into Swahili):
    “Pigeni baragumu, wakati mwezi umeandama,
    tena wakati mwezi umekomaa, siku ya sikukuu yetu.” (Source: Nyakyusa Back Translation)
  • English:
    “Blow the trumpets during the festival to celebrate each new moon
    and each time the moon is full and during our other festivals.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Psalm 81:1 - 81:3

The psalm opens with a command to the people to Sing aloud and shout for joy to God; the two verbs are used synonymously (see 20.5 and comments on “shout”). Our strength means “our defender” or “our protector”; for God of Jacob see 20.1 and comments. The two noun phrases, God our strength and God of Jacob may have to be recast in some languages as verb phrases; for example, “to God who defends us from our enemies” and “to God whom the descendants of Jacob worship” or “to God whom the people of Israel worship.”

The music (verse 2) is both vocal and instrumental. Raise a song may be vocal music (see Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “Sing to the sound of the tambourine”), but the Hebrew verb may mean to start the instrumental music that accompanied the singing. New International Version has “Begin the music.” According to some, “tambourines” (Good News Translation; Revised Standard Version timbrel; see 68.25 and comment) were not allowed to be played inside the Temple; if this is so, the music was played as the people approached the Temple. For lyre and harp see comments on 33.2. Revised Standard Version the sweet lyre is an odd phrase in English; it is the music that has the sweet quality. Something like “melodious” or “tuneful” would be better, or else Good News Translation‘s restructuring is useful.

For trumpet see 47.5 and comments. It should be noted that here the trumpet is not being used to play a tune, but to give the signal for the festival to begin. Blow the trumpet … on our feast day (Good News Translation “Blow the trumpet for the festival”) means to blow the trumpet to begin the festival, and in many languages the expression will have to be rendered in some such manner.

The new moon and the full moon probably indicate the first and the fifteenth days of the lunar month. The Festival of Shelters (also known as Sukkoth) began on the 15th of Tishri, the seventh month of the Jewish calendar; in later times there was a blowing of trumpets on the first day of this month (see Num 29.1). Most commentators believe that the Festival of Shelters (our feast day) is the one referred to here; some believe it was Passover. Many Hebrew manuscripts (also Syriac and Targum) have the plural “our festivals.”

Many commentators take verse 1 to be directed to the people, verse 2 to the Levites, and verse 3 to the priests (see a similar scheme in 150.3-5).

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .