Two Versions of Psalm 143 in Paraphrases of Russian Poets of the Late 18 – First Half of the 19 century

Abstract

The final verses (12–15) of Psalm 143 (144) are read differently in Greek and Jewish versions: the first is about the temporary well-being of sinners, while the second is about the bliss of the righteous. In the Church tradition, the Greek version, which included all the Patristic interpretations adopted by the Orthodox and Catholics, was considered canonical. The Jewish version in Russia was known from foreign translations until 1822. The first biblical paraphrases in Russian poetry of the 18th century were the paraphrases of Psalm 143, made in 1743 by Lomonosov, Trediakovsky and Sumarokov according to the Greek-Slavic version. This article discusses some later paraphrases of Psalm 143, the authors of which also had to make a choice between two versions of the original text. The example of Lomonosov was followed by N. P. Nikolev, G. A. Pakatsky and V. K. Kuchelbecker, as well as E. V. Karneev. The Jewish version was used by A. M. Kotelnitsky and N. M. Shatrov. The paraphrase of F. N. Glinka was regardless of the discrepancy between two versions of Psalm 143. The most interesting are the poems of Kuchelbecker and Shatrov. The article also clarifies the circumstances of the creation of some paraphrases and notes cases of their textual dependence on the “Psalter in the Russian Language” published by the Russian Bible Society and “Commentary on the Psalter” compiled by Archbishop Irenaeus (Klementievsky).