It can be difficult as sometime translations can be inexact and thereby hide the real meaning. A good Bible commentary can come in handy. You can also keep a few different versions of the Bible handy (or check online). When I come across a verse that is confusing I will often check it in several different translations. Sometimes a different translation makes it clearer.
In this case the Revised Standard Version says: "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me." That would suggest (as noted above) that I was born with the inheritance from Adam and Eve, which is really a state of brokenness and a tendency towards sin, a state that only the Lord Jesus can heal us from.
You ask good questions. I suggest that you get a good Bible Commentary (there are a number of good ones that are discussed in the Scripture forum).
There are verses and words chosen in the original languages which will remain a mystery to the end our time. The Church Fathers debated particulars, and at times they disagreed on how to read a certain verse.
I discovered one disagreement among the Fathers when I was wondering about the use of the word Nephilim in the Genesis account of the time between the fall of man and the flood. The verse was understood by some Fathers literally, so that there was a species of a human/demon half-breed. Other Fathers took the use of the word as a symbol of pre-flood sinfulness and debauchery. This disagreement stumped me for a time, and I don't yet have a complete answer to what was meant in the verse.
However, my current thought is that the Fathers had disagreements like this for various reasons because of how they read scripture. Then how can they both be Fathers? One one think that they would be more unified on details than they were, but perhaps it are not the details which joins them to influence the Church. Instead, it was a communion of theology which unified them. Not theology as it's related to philosophy and arguments and dogma, but a theology of the heart. From the very progression of the Church as witness to the claim, there was a unity which cannot come from the human will alone, but from grace, from God's will.
The unity such as is in scripture. Scores of writers separated by generations who happen to each contribute to one narrative. Why is this? There are many answers, and if we are to seek an understanding of why there's unity, it is important to begin with faith, theology, and with prayer. Without faith we will be like the modern skeptic who says "Such a narrative indeed points to one author. That author is not God, like some say, but misogynist fourth century Churchmen who suppressed the Gospels of Thomas and Mary Madeline." Without pursuing a love of God and His ways, without theology, we may find ourselves vulnerable to the skeptic's argument. And without prayer we may lack the grace to recognize our error.
My main point in answering your question is that the study of scripture can at times be confusing and you may be conflicted at knowing what is meant, but what is most important is what scripture is focused on: the Word that became flesh and shattered the boundaries of time in order to fulfill the Father's promises. From the Torah through the histories and Psalms to the prophets the Old Testament, the Hebrew Canon, anticipated Christ's coming, the Gospels proclaimed His coming, and the epistles prepare us for living in and responding to God's will. Without a love of Christ it is impossible to appreciate scripture as it was written; without the Church's guidance it is very difficult to tread our own path to a mature understanding.
It may be best to start with a digestible overview from a credible source and then take steps to gain an understanding of scripture little by little with faith, theology, and with prayer. Don't be ashamed to ask your priest for guidance.
Although there isn�t enough time, in the fast turnaround of a forum reply, to give the verse the exegetical treatment it deserves, I thought to offer a few observations - conjectures - which, I hope, do not read into the text what isn�t there.
This Psalm is quite prominent in the liturgy of the Byzantine Rite and it is said twice, in its entirety, by the deacon at every Divine Liturgy, once when he incenses �the church� after the proskomedia and then again at the incensing before the Great Entrance. Actually, the first part of the first verse is usually not said but I think it is important - in fact it is the key - for understanding the context of the rest of the Psalm:
RSV Psalm 51:1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
So, to understand these very personal words of David it is worthwhile to read again the account of his lust for Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:2 ff), his ignoble treatment and scheming murder (2 Sam 14-27) of the noble Uriah (2 Sam 11:7-13), and the realization of his guilt and his self condemnation when confronted by the prophet Nathan (2 Sam 12:1ff) with the final denunciation RSV 2 Samuel 12:7 Nathan said to David, "You are the man.� This Psalm is, perhaps, the hymn, the prayer version of David�s anguish and self recrimination in 2 Sam 12:13ff.
Although Scripture has a universal message, this is the very personal psalm of the sinner who stands alone in his sin. As such it is appropriately expressed in terms of I-me, rather than some general statement about Man/Adam, Mankind: it is not a formulation of a theological anthropology (although some general inference can be made) but the confession of guilt and plea for forgiveness of the individual sinner. I can see, for instance, how David in Psalm 51:14 (50:16) �Deliver me from blood(guilt), O God, thou God of my salvation,� could have in mind his murder of Uriah and the fear of a retribution like that of the avenger of blood in Num 35:19.
This psalm is, perhaps, also a scriptural foundation for the Slav aphorism that we are saved with others but damned alone.
The verse in question has RSV Psalm 51:5 �Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.� The Hebrew word for brought forth (the same word in Job 15:7, Pro 8:24-25) is from a root that can mean to dance but in the tense here it means, in a related sense, to twist or writhe, as in childbirth: an image of struggle - turmoil - from the beginning that only produced here, we are told, iniquity (the LXX has anomiais - nomos=law - i.e. lawlessness) in the speaker.
More �earthy� though is the word translated, with some softening, as �conceive.� It is found in Gen 30:41, 31:10 and, as there, applies to the breeding of animals. Here again I don�t think David is commenting on his mother but is referring to himself: his first son by Bathsheba was the result of his lust but he considers himself as one begotten - figuratively - in a way not even rising to the cognizant level of lust. Having realized the immenseness of his sins, he is heaping contempt upon himself.
The universal applicability of this psalm comes when each of us steps in for David. We come not with his sins of course but our own. But we find his word, his lament, true for us also, and so we take up his cry of anguish as our own, his plea for forgiveness and cleansing our request for salvation (Psa 51:6).
And as this is a Psalm of David, the sinner, it is also a psalm of hope, so long as we keep our heart�s true to the LORD even as that great sinner, David, did (1 Kings 11:4; 15:3).
Wow!, Beautiful doesn't quite grasp the whole gist of it.
The feeling that I get while listening to the Psalm sung like that is " a very tender and gentle Love, not too anguish in tone but more of a childlike plea". Antiquity. Do you know if there is a CD with that song and others on it to buy?
You can put the right words where they belong for me to understand! Thank You so much for your time & effort in posting. Keep it Going! ( keep doing what you do)
the two greatest singers of this music that you'll find on the Internet in Arabic are: Fayrouz (Orthodox) and Sr Marie Keyrouz (Melkite).
The following are some links to their music used in Holy Week, and specifically for Good Friday (the lamentations you were seeking).
Fayrouz singing "al-yawm", which is the prayer from Orthros of Good Friday (celebrated on Thursday night of Holy Week). In English: "Today was hung upon the cross, he who hung the earth upon the waters."
You can hear them sung by Sr Marie Keyrouz here: http://www.keyrouz.com/engbyzantine.html . You are looking for audio tracks numbers 9, 10, 11 specifically. As with Fayrouz, many of the chants start in Greek and then turn to Arabic or alternate with it.
I take this verse to heart, and it speaks to my own experience. We are born already broken, flawed, and in need of healing. We are born into a world that is broken, flawed, and in need of healing. We need to be made whole again, even before we are conscious of our brokenness.
I don't take it to teach so much about the way I am created (an act of God and my parents), as much as a statement that from the very beginning of my existence, I need God.
The verse names all human experience, and points to the reason our Saviour has come. He has come to heal, cure, and make us whole again. And everyone who is created, from the moment he is created, stands in need of salvation in Christ.
Thanks be to God, it is offered freely to all!
the unworthy, Elias
Father Elias:
Father bless!!
Thank you for this insight into the the meaning intended here. It dovetails with the way I have understood sin for some time now: as an acronym for "separation/self-centeredness/separation IS normal/natural/nice." And that this separation (our brokenness) is from our God with Whom we were created to have communion (the ongoing relationship of "coming into union").
Viewed with your insight, it says that my parents themselves were broken--because they were human--and I am broken like them because I, too, am human. It says my parents needed a Savior and so do I. And, boy, there are plenty of days when that comes home.
Asking for your blessing and continued holy prayers,
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