The Psalms in Judeo-Persian
There are a number of documents and texts in Judeo-Persian from late antiquity to the recent times. The late Amnon Netzer has given a detailed exposition of the surviving Judeo-Persian literature (“Judeo-Persian Literature,” Encyclopaedia Iranica (http://iranica.com/articles/judeo-persian-ix-judeo-persian-literature), but those working on these texts are few and surprisingly, no one in Iran! The history of Judeo-Persian literature is fascinating and there are those who are interested in the pre-Mongol material (Shaked and Gindin among the most prominent) which amount to about 600 pages of documents, mainly found from the Cairo Geniza because there were Persian Jews in Fatimid Egypt in the medieval period (Shaked, “Early Juadeo-Persian Texts,” in Persian Origins, ed. L. Paul, Harrassowitz Verlag, 2003, p. 196). Then we have the post-Mongol texts which are mainly literary in nature, and include epic tales and of course translations of the Bible.
I would like to provide the translation of the first two lines of Psalm 67 as an example. The text and its transliteration, but without translation was given by J. Asmussen (“Judaeo-Persica IV: Einige Bemerkungen zu Baba ben Nuriel’s Psalmenübersetzung,” Acta Orientalia 30, 1966, p. 18). This Judeo-Persian translation was done by the great Rabbi of Isfahan, Baba ben Nuriel in the 18th century on the behest of Nader Shah Afshar (Netzer, “BĀBĀ’Ī BENNŪRĪ’EL” Encyclopaedia Iranica, http://iranica.com/articles/babai-ben-nuriel). Nader Shah Afshar was one of the most interesting rulers of the Iranian world, not so much for his conquests, but rather his attitude toward other religious groups. He is believed to have said “If God is one, religion must be one,” no doubt influenced by Akbar’s religious ideas (W.J. Fischel, “The Bible in Persian Translation: A Contribution to the History of Bible Translations in Persia and India,” The Harvard Theological Review, vol. 45, no. 1, 1952, p. 31). His order for the translation of the Jewish and Christian sacred texts was completed and between 1740 and 1741. The Psalms was translated by Baba Ben Nuri’el as such that first the translation of the Psalms was done in Hebrew characters (hence our text) and then transliterated into the Persian script by a scribe (I am doing the same here!) (Fischel, p. 34).
I will provide the image of the manuscript, transliteration and then the Persian.
btsbyh gftn dr nγmh h’ srwd ’st wtsbyh:
xd’ mhrb’ny knd bm’ wbrkt dhd bm’
wrwšn knd nwr’ xd r’ br m’ hmyšh
t’ m‘lwm br xlq’ zmyn r’h h’y’ tw
wbr grwh h’st gš’yš’ tw
به تسبیح گفتن در نغمه ها سرود است و تسبیح
خدا مهربانی کند بما و برکت دهد بما
و روشن کند نور خود را بر ما همیشه
تا معلوم بر خلق زمین راه های تو
و بر گروه هاست گشایش تو
Here is the Hebrew with English translation for comparison:
לַמְנַצֵּחַ בִּנְגִינֹת, מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר.
אֱלֹהִים, יְחָנֵּנוּ וִיבָרְכֵנוּ; יָאֵר פָּנָיו אִתָּנוּ סֶלָה
לָדַעַת בָּאָרֶץ דַּרְכֶּךָ; בְּכָל-גּוֹיִם, יְשׁוּעָתֶךָ
For the Leader; with string-music. A Psalm, a Song:
God be gracious unto us, and bless us; may He cause His face to shine toward us; Selah
That Thy way may be known upon earth, Thy salvation among all nations.
