Whom or What does the Lord Keep? (Psalm 12:7)

Psalm 12:7 ESV You, O Lord, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.

Psalm 12:7 CSB You, Lord, will guard us; you will protect us from this generation forever.

Translations differ in their rendering of Psalm 12:7. Who or what is the Lord said to “keep” (ESV)?

The Masoretic Text

The Masoretic Text is used most widely by both Jews and Christians as the authoritative text of the Jewish Scriptures (“Old Testament”). According to the Masoretic Text, the word for “you will keep them” is tišrēm (תִּשְׁמְרֵם). It is the verb šāmar (שָׁמַר), “to keep”, with an object suffix which indicates that its action is being done to “them”. The object suffix for “them” indicates a masculine plural referent, which are the “poor” and “needy” people in verse 5.

The Septuagint

In the Septuagint, a body of Greek translations of the Old Testament made by Jews in the third century BCE, this verse reads as follows:

σύ, κύριε, φυλάξεις ἡμᾶς καὶ διατηρήσεις ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς γενεᾶς ταύτης καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.

You, Lord, will keep us and preserve us from this generation and unto the age.

According to the Septuagint, the action of the verb φυλάξεις, “you will keep” is being done to ἡμᾶς, “us”. This may indicate that the Septuagint was translated from a Hebrew text in which the verb šāmar was spelt as “you will keep us” (תשמרנו), with an object suffix which indicates that its action is being done to “us”.

This is important because the Septuagint was produced more than a thousand years before the Masoretic Text reached its final form in the tenth century CE. Thus, it is possible that the original Hebrew text read, “you will keep us” (תשמרנו), but later copyists mistakenly copied it as, “you will keep them” (תשמרם), which was then preserved in the Masoretic Text.

The Dead Sea Scrolls

However, in the Dead Sea Scrolls manuscript 5/6Hev1b, Psalm 12:7 reads, “you will keep them” (תשמרם). This is very important because it indicates that during the same time that the Septuagint was being produced, the Dead Sea Scrolls community already possessed a Hebrew text of Psalm 12:7 which read, “you will keep them” (תשמרם).

Conclusion

So, how did Psalm 12:7 originally read?

• Some scholars think that the Masoretic Text correctly preserves the original reading, “you keep them” (תשמרם). This reading is reflected in translations like the ESV and KJV.
• Other scholars think that the Masoretic Text is mistaken, and that the original Hebrew text read, “you will keep us” (תשמרנו). This reading is reflected in the CSB and NIV.

Whichever the case, neither reading makes any difference to any essential elements of the Christian faith.