«For the Oppression of the Poor... I Will Rise»

New approach to the issue of poverty in the Psalms, exemplified by Psalm 12

Abstract

The present article proposes a new way of approaching the theme of the poor in the Psalms, which starts from the progress made in the understanding of the texts from a greater attention to the totality of the text and its structure; it continues with the "canonical" approach, which considers the literary context of the text - in this case, the Psalm - as significant and relevant in determining its final meaning and the possible historical context related to it; it asks about the theology involved in these conceptions of poverty and its relationship with God; and ends by projecting lines of hermeneutic reflection that allow the current reader a greater appropriation of the text from his or her own reality.