Psalms 27:8

When thou saidst, Seek ye my face - How much labor and skill have been employed to make sense of this verse as it stands in our translation! The original words are the following, from which our Version has been forcibly extracted: -

אבקש יהוה פניך את פני בקשו לבי אמר לך lecha amar libbi bakkeshu panai ; eth paneycha , Yehovah , abakkesh ; of which I believe the true rendering to be as follows: "Unto thee, my heart, he hath said, Seek ye my face. Thy face, O Jehovah, I will seek. O my heart, God hath commanded thee to seek his face." Then, his face I will seek. Which may be paraphrased thus: Unto thee, his Church, God hath said Seek ye, all who compose it, my face. To which I, his Church, have answered, Thy face, O Jehovah, I will seek. On referring to Archbishop Secker, I find that he, and indeed Bishop Horsley, are of the same mind.

I had formerly proposed another method of reading this difficult verse. Suspecting that some error had got into the text, for פני בקשו bakkeshu panay , "seek ye my face," I had substituted פניך אבקש abakkesh paneycha , "I will seek thy face;" or with the Vulgate and Septuagint, פניך בקשתי bakkesti paneycha , "I have sought thy face," exquisivit te facies mea, Εξεζητησα το προσωπον σου . And this small alteration seemed to make a good sense: "My heart said unto thee, I have sought thy face, (or, I will seek thy face), and thy face, O Lord, I will seek." I have not only done what it was my duty and interest to do, but I will continue to do it. Some have proposed to mend the text thus: לבי אמר לך לך lech lecha , amar libbi , "Go to, saith my heart," יהוה פני נבקש nebakkesh peney Jehovah , "Let us seek the face of Jehovah." This is rather a violent emendation, and is supported by neither MSS. nor Versions. The whole verse is wanting in one of Dr. Kennicott's MSS. On the whole I prefer what is first proposed, and which requires no alteration in the text; next, that of the Vulgate and Septuagint.

The old Psalter paraphrases thus: Til yhe saide my hert, the my face soght: thy face, lord, I sal seke. "The gernyng of my hert that spekes til god, and he anely heres: saide til the my face , that es my presence soght the and na nother thyng. And fra now I sal seke thy face lastandly, til my dede; and that I fynd my sekyng:" i.e., To thee, said my heart; thee my face sought: thy face, O Lord, I shall seek. The gerning of my hert , that spekes til God, and he anely heres, "til the my face"; that es, my presence soght the and no nother thyng: and fra now I sal seke thy face lastandly, til my dede, and that I fynd my sekyng:" i.e., The yearning strong desire of my heart, which speaks to God, and he alone hears; my face is to thee; that is, myself sought thee, and none other thing, and from now I shall seek thee lastingly till my death, and till that I find what I seek.