I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me. Psalm 57:2 ESV
Fulfills – “I cry out to God Most High, to God, who vindicates me.” NIV “I cry out to God Most High, To God who accomplishes all things for me.” NASB “I will cry out to God Most High, To God who performs all things for me.” NKJV “I call to God Most High, To God [who] is perfecting for me.” Young’s Literal Translation.
What a mess! At least most of the translations agree that David is crying (or will cry) to God Most High, but after that it seems to be anyone’s guess what David has in mind. Robert Alter translates “to the god who requites me,” but at least he acknowledges that his translation follows the LXX (gomel), not the MT (gomer). “Requites” is very strange, don’t you think? Is David suggesting that God is returning a favor? Perhaps Alter is using “requite” in the sense of “respond to.” But is that what David is crying out for – a response? “Oh, sure, David, I hear you.” Is that what David needs? No, I don’t think so. The LXX revision of gomer with gomel doesn’t seem to cut it.
Are the other translations any better? The NASB at least indicates that it added “all things.” The ESV doesn’t even bother to tell the reader that “his purposes” isn’t in the text. And what about the verb gomer? Can it mean “fulfills,” “accomplishes,” “perfects,” “vindicates” and “performs”? Is it both future (“is perfecting”) and present? The verb is a Qal participle. It’s not something that is going to happen. It is something happening now, a yet-to-be-completed action that is presently in progress. According to TWOT, this verb occurs only five times, all in the Psalms, and has the basic idea of “to complete or finish.”[1] What does that mean in this context? Remove the supplemental translation additions and we have “who ________ for me.” By the way, the verb also means “to avenge.” Did you see any translations that include that thought?
It seems to me that we aren’t facing a word choice translation issue here. It seems to me that we are dealing with a paradigm shift. All of our English choices shift the thought from God’s continuing progressive shaping of the clay to the thought of some final product, some goal, some fulfillment. In other words, the translations shift our understanding from the Hebraic incompleteness of God’s involvement to our contemporary ideals of finished work. They shift us from dynamic action to final state. But I wonder if that isn’t moving David out of his Hebraic worldview. Does David cry out to the God who finishes, fulfills, vindicates, accomplishes – all of which imply the end of an action, or does David cry out to the God who is in the midst of it all, acting without revealing where or what? Literally, David says, “who gomer for me.” Is that about David or about God? Is it about David’s purpose, goal, perfection or vindication – or is about whatever God is doing? And whatever God is doing drags me into His action. If you were in the cave, what would you think? What would you need?
Topical Index: gomer, paradigm, fulfills, Psalm 57:2
[1] TWOT, 363a