The Meaning of Ps 109:4b

Introduction

The Hebrew text of Ps 109:4, according to the Masoretic Text, reads as follows:

תַּֽחַת־אַהֲבָתִ֥י יִשְׂטְנ֗וּנִי

וַאֲנִ֥י תְפִלָּֽה׃

Argument Maps

But I am prayer (וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה)

But I remain prayerful

"When he was attacked in a cruel and hostile manner, he did not betake himself to such unlawful means as the rendering of evil for evil, but committed himself into the hand of God, fully satisfied that he alone could guard him from all ill" (Calvin :C:).

===
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true
    shortcodes:
      ":C:": {unicode: "🄲"}
      ":G:": {unicode: "🄶"}
      ":A:": {unicode: "🄰"}
      ":I:": {unicode: "🄸"}    
      ":L:": {unicode: "🄻"}
      ":D:": {unicode: "🄳"}    
      ":M:": {unicode: "🄼"}   
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
dot:
    graphVizSettings:
        concentrate: true
        ranksep: 0.2
        nodesep: 0.2
=== 
[But I remain prayerful]: The clause וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה means "I am/remain prayerful (in the face of their accusations)."
 + <Impossible Hebrew>: The Hebrew expression וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה (lit.: "I am (a) prayer") is "impossible" ('unmöglich,' Gunkel 1926, 478 :C:; cf. Duhm 1899, 253 :C:).
  - <"Prayerful">: The expression וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה (lit.: "I am (a) prayer") can mean "I am prayerful" or "I am a man of prayer" (אני איש תפלה, so Radak :C:, Ibn Ezra :C:, JM §154e :G:), which in the context means specifically, "In response to their accusations, I will commit myself to prayer."
   + <Verbless clauses>: "The nominal (substantival) predicate is used in Hebrew in a rather broad sense," including "the substantive expressing an abstract quality or a concrete particularity" (JM §154e :G:; cf. GKC §141c :G:).
    + [Ps 120:7]: "I am for peace (אֲנִי שָׁלוֹם), but when I speak, they are for war (הֵמָּה לַמִּלְחָמָה)!" (Ps 120:7, ESV; cf. Ps 92:9 וְאַתָּה מָרוֹם; Ps 110:3 עַמְּךָ נְדָבֹת; Prov 3:17; Ezek 2:7).
 + <Context (v. 7)>:  "In light of v. 7... the petition or prayer is intended in the sense of a request or appeal by which an accused or condemned person calls on the appeal court to review or revise the proceedings—thus in the case of our psalm an appeal to YHWH as the 'higher' court" (Zenger 2011, 126 :C:).
  + [v. 7]: "They say, '... When his case comes up for judgment, let him be pronounced guilty. Count his prayers as sins" (Ps 109:6-7, NLT).
 + <Contrast in the present>: The use of waw + pronoun (וַאֲנִי) to begin the b-line sets up a contrast between the b-line and the a-line. Because the a-line has present-tense habitual semantics (yiqtol, יִשְׂטְנוּנִי: "they keep accusing me"), the b-line probably also has present-habitual semantics: "they keep accusing me, but I am (for prayer) >> but I keep praying."
  + <וַאֲנִי to indicate contrast>:
   [וַאֲנִי to indicate contrast]:
  + <Yiqtol to indicate habitual semantics>:
   + [Yiqtol to indicate habitual semantics]:

Even though I prayed (for them)

===
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true
    shortcodes:
      ":C:": {unicode: "🄲"}
      ":G:": {unicode: "🄶"}
      ":A:": {unicode: "🄰"}
      ":I:": {unicode: "🄸"}    
      ":L:": {unicode: "🄻"}
      ":D:": {unicode: "🄳"}    
      ":M:": {unicode: "🄼"}   
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
dot:
    graphVizSettings:
        concentrate: true
        ranksep: 0.2
        nodesep: 0.2
=== 
[Even though I prayed (for them)]: (Ibn Ezra :C: שהייתי מתפלל לשם בעדם)
 + <Impossible Hebrew>: The Hebrew expression וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה (lit.: "I am (a) prayer") is "impossible" ('unmöglich,' Gunkel 1926, 478 :C:; cf. Duhm 1899, 253 :C:).
  - <"Man of prayer">: The expression וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה (lit.: "I am (a) prayer") can mean "I am a man of prayer" (אני איש תפלה, so Radak :C:, Ibn Ezra :C:, JM §154e :G:), which in the context means specifically, "even though I would always pray for them."
   + <Verbless clauses>: "The nominal (substantival) predicate is used in Hebrew in a rather broad sense," including "the substantive expressing an abstract quality or a concrete particularity" (JM §154e :G:; cf. GKC §141c :G:).
    + [Ps 120:7]: "I am for peace (אֲנִי שָׁלוֹם), but when I speak, they are for war (הֵמָּה לַמִּלְחָמָה)!" (Ps 120:7, ESV; cf. Ps 92:9 וְאַתָּה מָרוֹם; Ps 110:3 עַמְּךָ נְדָבֹת; Prov 3:17; Ezek 2:7).
 + <Context (vv. 4a, 5)>: (Baethgen 1904, 332 :C:)
  + [vv. 4a, 5]: "In return for my friendship they accuse me... They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my friendship" (Ps 109:4-5, NIV).
 + <Ps 35:11-14>: Psalm 35:11-14 expresses a similar idea. There the psalmist says that he had (in the past) shown love to his accusers by praying for them when they were suffering.
  + [Ps 35:11-14]: "Malicious witnesses rise up... They repay me evil for good... But I, when they were sick—I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning" (Ps 35:13-14, ESV).
 + <Ancient versions>: A few of the ancient versions use past-tense imperfective verbs to translate the phrase ("but I would pray"), and the Peshitta explicitly adds the prepositional phrase "for them."
  + [Ancient versions]: LXX: ἐγὼ δὲ προσευχόμην ("but I, I would pray"); Peshitta: ܘܐܢܐ ܡܨܠܐ ܗܘܝܬ ܥܠܝܗܘܢ܂ ("but I was praying for them"); Jerome iuxta Hebr.: ego autem orabam ("but I would pray / was praying."

Even though I prayed for them (וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּתִי לָהֶם)

===
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true
    shortcodes:
      ":C:": {unicode: "🄲"}
      ":G:": {unicode: "🄶"}
      ":A:": {unicode: "🄰"}
      ":I:": {unicode: "🄸"}    
      ":L:": {unicode: "🄻"}
      ":D:": {unicode: "🄳"}    
      ":M:": {unicode: "🄼"}   
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
dot:
    graphVizSettings:
        concentrate: true
        ranksep: 0.2
        nodesep: 0.2
=== 
[Even though I prayed for them]: (Kittel 1929, 353-4 :C:)
 + <Context (v. 5)>: 
 + Ps 35:13
 + <Syriac Peshitta>: (BHS).
  + [Syriac Peshitta]:
  - <Free translation>: The Peshitta is giving a free translation of ואני תפלה and is not reading a different Hebrew text (Barthélemy 2005, 726).
   + <Characteristic accomodation>:"One of the most characteristic traits of \[the Syriac Peshitta Psalter\] is the clarity of its translation." It frequently "deviates from its Hebrew base text and accommodates the translation to the immediate context, following a certain logic or overcoming a certain difficulty" (Carbajosa 2020, §10.3.4.5).

There is nothing wrong (וְאֵין תִּפְלָה)

===
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true
    shortcodes:
      ":C:": {unicode: "🄲"}
      ":G:": {unicode: "🄶"}
      ":A:": {unicode: "🄰"}
      ":I:": {unicode: "🄸"}    
      ":L:": {unicode: "🄻"}
      ":D:": {unicode: "🄳"}    
      ":M:": {unicode: "🄼"}   
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
dot:
    graphVizSettings:
        concentrate: true
        ranksep: 0.2
        nodesep: 0.2
=== 
[There is nothing wrong]: (Gunkel 1926, 478 :C:)
 + <Parallel חִנָּם>:
 + Job 1:22; Ps 59:4ff

I must stand judgment

===
model:
    removeTagsFromText: true
    shortcodes:
      ":C:": {unicode: "🄲"}
      ":G:": {unicode: "🄶"}
      ":A:": {unicode: "🄰"}
      ":I:": {unicode: "🄸"}    
      ":L:": {unicode: "🄻"}
      ":D:": {unicode: "🄳"}    
      ":M:": {unicode: "🄼"}   
selection:
    excludeDisconnected: false
dot:
    graphVizSettings:
        concentrate: true
        ranksep: 0.2
        nodesep: 0.2
=== 
[I must stand judgment]:

Conclusion

Radak: אני איש תפלה כלומר הם אנשי המלחמה עלי ואני איש תפלה הייתי עליהם, ואדוני אבי ז"ל פי', ואני אין בידי כי אם תפלה לאל שיצילנו מידם:

Some are of opinion, that these words refer to David’s pouring out a prayer for his enemies at the very moment when they were furiously assaulting him, and with this opinion corresponds that which we have stated in Psalm 35:13. But the more plain, and, to me, the preferable interpretation, is, that when he was attacked in a cruel and hostile manner, he did not betake himself to such unlawful means as the rendering of evil for evil, but committed himself into the hand of God, fully satisfied that he alone could guard him from all ill. (Calvin)

Research

Translations

Ancient

• LXX: ἐγὼ δὲ προσευχόμην
  • "but I, I would pray"
• Aquila: καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι προσευχή
  • "and I am (a) prayer"
• Symmachus: καὶ ἐγώ εἰμι προσευχή
  • "and I am (a) prayer"
• Peshitta: ܘܐܢܐ ܡܨܠܐ ܗܘܝܬ ܥܠܝܗܘܢ܂
  • "but I was praying for them."
• Jerome (iuxta Hebr.): ego autem orabam
  • "but I would pray / but I was praying"
• Targum: ואנא אצלי
  • "yet I pray."

Modern

I prayer (וַאֲנִי תְפִלָּה)

But I respond with prayer

• but I am a man of prayer (NIV)
• but I give myself to prayer (ESV)
• and all I can do is pray!
• but I continue to pray (NET)
• ich aber bete (LUT)
• ich aber bete weiter zu dir (HFA)
• Ich aber bleibe unbeirrt im Gebet (NGÜ)
• Ich aber bin ⟨stets im⟩ Gebet (ELB)
• ich aber bete (EÜ)
• pero yo hago oración (DHH94I)
• et moi, je suis en prière (TOB)
• moi, je recours à la prière (NBS)
• Mais moi (je recours à la) prière (NVS78P)
• mais moi, je prie pour eux (PDV2017)
• pourtant, moi, je ne fais que prier (NFC)
• mais moi, je recours à la prière (S21)

While I (continue to) pray (circumstantial)

• während ich im Gebet verharre (ZÜR)
• mientras yo permanezco en oración (NVI)
• tandis que moi, je suis en prière (BDS)

Even though I was praying

• aunque yo oraba (BTX4)
• pero yo oraba (RVR95)

Even though I was praying for them (תְּפִלָּתִי לָהֶם)

• even while I make prayer for them (NRSV)
• even though I love them and have prayed for them (GNT)
• even as I am praying for them! (NLT)
• I had pity and prayed for my enemies (CEV)
• ich aber habe für sie gebetet (GNB)

I must stand judgment

• and I must stand judgment (NJPS)

Nothing unseemly (וְאֵין תִּפְלָה)

• though I have done nothing unseemly (NEB)
• though I have done nothing wrong (REB)

References

109:4