Van God is de aarde = The Earth is of God, 1967 - 2021

This was the first Huijbers piece I ever translated, after hearing it in a workshop about the newly-published psalm collection while visiting the Augustinian Boskapel in Nijmegen. Originally based on the 1967 text from Fifty Psalms, Oosterhuis revised this in 1983, which Huijbers and I adopted for our 2000 revision. Oosterhuis published Fifty Psalms - Seeking A New Translation as a collaborative venture with fellow poet Michel van der Plas, and with exegetes Pius Drijvers and Han Renckens, his one-time professor of biblical studies. The revision was made to refelct a better understanding of the meaning of the psalm by shedding its burden of patriarchal attributes. It now indicates a closer interpretation of the biblical concept, King of Glory, which no longer speak in a post-triumphalistic age, and instead reflect current holistic and ecological sensitivities. -- Tony Barr