Property: Discussion
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
P
"A key poetic device in Psalm 4 is the way in which key words or roots are repeated, often endowing the psalm with a sense either of contrast or of reversal."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000B83-QINU`"'</br>
"The poetic structure of the psalm is particularly distinctive, and though the psalm lacks any clear metrical balance, the poet has achieved striking effect in the repeated use of the same words, or words derived from the same root... The psalm is so closely integrated by the use of double terms that the structure cannot easily be determined."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000B84-QINU`"' Despite the difficulty, there does appear to be some order to the lexical repetition, as the following table and graphic demonstrate. Several observations can be made:
*v.6 is distinguished, through lexical recursion, as the center of the psalm. The word צדק (v.6a) appears in the first line of the psalm (2a), and the root בטח (v.6b) appears in the last line of the psalm.
*Repeated words/roots are concentrated in the middle of the psalm (vv. 4-6). Three lexemes from vv.1-3 (בקראי, שׁמע, צדק) are here repeated, and four which are repeated in vv. 8-9 appear here for the first time (לב, שׁכב, בטח, אמר).
*Nearly every word in v. 5b (אמר, לבב, שׁכב) is repeated in the following verses (vv.7-8) in the order in which they appeared in v.5b. אמר (v.5b) recurs in v.7a; לב recurs in v.8a; and שׁכב recurs in v.9a. This reinforces the thematic significance of v.5b, which also happens to be the middle/longest line of the psalm.
*Recursion of רבב (vv.7a, 8b) forms an inclusion.
*Lexical recursion/repetition connects v.2 and v.4 (בקראי, שׁמע).
[[File:Psalm 4 lexical recursion.jpg|thumb|Lexical Recursion]]
{|style="border-spacing: 10px;"
|-
| 1
|-
| 2a || בְּקָרְאִי || צִדְקִי
|-
| 2b
|-
| 2c || || || וּשְׁמַע
|-
| 3a
|-
| 3b
|-
| 3c
|-
| 4a || || || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span>
|-
| 4b || בְּקָרְאִי || || יִשְׁמַע || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span>
|-
| 5a
|-
| 5b || || || || || אִמְרוּ || בִלְבַבְכֶם || מִשְׁכַבְכֶם
|-
| 6a || || צֶדֶק
|-
| 6b || || || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span> || || || || || וּבִטְחוּ
|-
| 7a || || || || || אֹמְרִים || || || || || || רַבִּים
|-
| 7b || || || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span>
|-
| 8a || || || || || || בְלִבִּי
|-
| 8b || || || || || || || || || || || רַבּוּ
|-
| 9a || || || || || || || אֶשְׁכְּבָה
|-
| 9b || || || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span>
|-
| 9c || || || || || || || || || לָבֶטַח
|}
"Four strophes clearly emerge in this psalm, the first and second ending in typical Hebraic fashion with a question, the first, second, and fourth beginning, equally typically, with imperatives."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000DAA-QINU`"'
*'''''Anaphora''''' – "Strophes 1, 2, and 4 start with a command (in prohibitive form in v.2)."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000DAB-QINU`"'
*'''''Epiphora''''' – Sections 1 and 2 are concluded with rhetorical questions.
<u>Section 1 --> Section 2</u>
*[[#Rhetorical questions|rhetorical question]] (v.4b, ''ephiphora'')
*broken-off sentence (v.4b)
*[[#Verb forms|imperatives]] (v.5a, ''anaphora'')
*[[#Addressee change|direct address to Yahweh]] (v.5a)
<u>Section 2 --> Section 3</u>
*[[#Rhetorical questions|rhetorical question]] (v.6b, ''ephiphora'')
*shift to 1st person
*terse line (7a: 2 words, 7 syllables)
*[[#Cola distribution|tricolon]]
<u>Section 3 --> Section 4</u></br>
"An almost shocking shift in topic and tone begins the final ''stanza D'' (v.9a), which creates a dramatic pause and shift of perspective within the prayer."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000DAC-QINU`"'
*[[#Verbs|2ms imperative]] (''anaphora'')
*([[#Addressee change|addressee change]] ([[#Apposition|apposition]])
*[[#Range of emotions|emotional]] change +
"God is second person in the first stanza; in the second stanza he is either absent (strophe 3) or third person (strophe 4)."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000D14-QINU`"' +
"Many in Israel and among her neighbors worshipped the heavenly bodies as divine bodies. In this pagan conception, the heavenly orbs were endowed with sentience, power, and identity. Here, they are merely objects that testify to their Creator’s glory — indeed, the psalmist belittles them by calling them the works of your fingers."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000F60-QINU`"' "The second stanza begins with the assertion that God has made human beings but a little lower than heavenly beings. This phrase plays on the ancient Near Eastern concept of the heavenly luminaries as divine beings."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000F61-QINU`"'
"Both art and text throughout the ancient world indicate that the phrase “to place under the feet” was understood as symbolic of the authority given to kings" (cf. Ps. 110).'"`UNIQ--ref-00000F62-QINU`"' +
"Psalm 3 needs a more drastic emendation than is necessary in other cases, but nothing in the meaning is changed or manipulated... I add the copula ''w<sup>e</sup> -'' to the last B-cola, vv.8d and 9b, supported by MSS and Peshitta; and in v.8c I add the suffix ''-am'' to the noun "jaw", as do Peshitta and Targum."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000B33-QINU`"'
'''v.3b.''' The phonological repetition of ים in vv.2-3 (רַבִּים, רַבִּים, אֹמְרִים) suggests אלהים as the better reading +
"The Psalm mentions God eleven times. Ten times these denotations appear in pairs, and six of these are even anaphoric and of structural importance. Their positioning is already takes care of five strophes. Strophes 1 and 2 start with the double anaphora יהוה אלהי (plus perfect), strophes 3 and 4 have יהוה in second position after an imperative, and strophe 5 has אלהים in 11a//12a. The last pair is יהוה occurring in both halves of the concluding verse."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000E0E-QINU`"'
{|style="border-spacing: 10px;"
|-
| 2a || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span> || <span style="color:#0000FF">'''אֱלֹהַי'''</span>
|-
| 2b || || || ||
|-
| 3a || || || ||
|-
| 3b || || || || ||
|-
| 4a || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span> || <span style="color:#0000FF">'''אֱלֹהַי'''</span>
|-
| 4b
|-
| 5a
|-
| 5b
|-
| 6a
|-
| 6b
|-
| 6c
|-
| 7a || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span>
|-
| 7b
|-
| 7c
|-
| 8a
|-
| 8b
|-
| 9a || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span>
|-
| 9b || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span>
|-
| 9c
|-
| 10a
|-
| 10b
|-
| 10c
|-
| 10d || || || <span style="color:#0000FF">'''אֱלֹהִים'''</span>
|-
| 11a || || || <span style="color:#0000FF">'''אֱלֹהִים'''</span>
|-
| 11b
|-
| 12a || || || <span style="color:#0000FF">'''אֱלֹהִים'''</span>
|-
| 12b || || || ||<span style="color:#00FFFF">'''אֵל'''</span>
|-
| 13a
|-
| 13b
|-
| 14a
|-
| 14b
|-
| 15a
|-
| 15b
|-
| 16a
|-
| 16b
|-
| 17a
|-
| 17b
|-
| 18a || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span> ||
|-
| 18b || || <span style="color:#FF0000"><big>'''יהוה'''</big></span> || || || <span style="color:#FFD700">'''עֶלְיוֹן'''</span>
|} +
"The diachronic, precatory development of Psalm 6 in terms of stanzas is accompanied by an interesting chiastic correspondence with regard to lexical length, with two shorter poetic units surrounded by matching longer ones: '''A''': general appeal (24 lexical units) – '''B''': specific appeal (15) – '''C''': mournful motivation (15) – '''D''': assertive trusting testimony (24). The psalm’s lexical midpoint then occurs on the border between verses 6 and 7, with 39 words in each half. This verbal symmetry is simply another aspect of the text’s overall artistic structural design.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000D4C-QINU`"' +
"The famous cry of amazement over God's singling out of man (line 5) is a particularly striking instance of the intuition of counterpoint that often guided biblical poets in their occasional use of static semantic parallelism. In every other line of the poem, there is dynamic movement between the versets: specification, focusing, heightening, or sequentiality. Here, by contrast, at the exact thematic center and in the fifth of the poem's ten lines, semantic movement is slowed to allow for the strong, stately emphasis of virtual synonymity, noun for noun and verb for verb in the same syntactical order."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000FA9-QINU`"' +
"The original thrust and context of the psalm remain uncertain."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000BFE-QINU`"' +
"The poem is a three-quarter instead of a complete alphabetical acrostic principle, as 16 of the 22 letters are used. The non-appearance of certain consonantal signs as strophe openers need not be the result of textual corruption. The text of Ps.9/10 is nearly immaculate... Moreover, Nic H. Ridderbos in BZAW 117 p.141, note 4, points out ''dass unvollständige akrostichische Gedichte keine Ausnahme darstellen''. He provides some instances."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000FE4-QINU`"'
The following is from Barthélemy's ''Critique textuelle de l’Ancien Testament'' volume on the Psalms.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000FE5-QINU`"'
For a key to the various symbols and abbreviations, click [[Key to CTAT|here]].
'''Ps 9,2(1)''' אוֹדֶה {B} MT, Gal, Hebr, S, T // facil-styl: G clav אוֹדְךָ
'''Ps 9,7-8(6-7)''' הֵמָּה: וַיהיָה {B} MT, εβρ // facil-synt: α', σ', ε', ς', Hebr, T / abr-elus: S / err-voc: G
'''Ps 9,14(13)''' מִשֹּׂנְאַי {A}
'''Ps 9,17(16)''' נוֹקֵשׁ {C} MT // exeg: G, α', Hebr, S, T
Two additional variants are provided by 11QPs<sup>c</sup>.'"`UNIQ--ref-00000FE6-QINU`"'
'''9,5''' ושׁבתה
'''9,5''' שׁפטתה +
"The poetic language is colorful and effective, employing the simile of a fierce lion (v.3), the imagery of divine weapons (vv.13-14), and the metaphor of conception and pregnancy to describe the manner in which a person conceives evil and creates deception."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000E9D-QINU`"'
In addition to these images, '''spatial imagery''' runs throughout the poem, defining its structure and underlining its message.
The first stanza (vv.2-6) ends with the image of "'''ground'''" (לָאָרֶץ) // "'''dust'''" (לֶעָפָר) (v.6bc), metonymic for defeat and death. The last word of this section is ישׁכן ("lie '''down'''). From this low-point, the psalm rises progressively to a peak in the second stanza (vv.7-10). Yahweh is called to "'''rise'''" (קוּמָה, the first word of this section), to "be '''lifted'''" (הִנָּשֵׂא), to "'''wake'''" (שׁוּבָה) and to return "to the '''highest place'''" (לַמָּרוֹם; note morphological similarities to לָאָרֶץ and לֶעָפָר) from which to judge the world (v.9a). "The upward movement has been motivated by God's anger, aims at pronouncing judgment, and ends up at God's throne."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000E9E-QINU`"' The third stanza (vv.11-17) returns down to the land as Yahweh executes the judgment he has decreed. The downward motion is emphasized as the wicked "'''dig'''" a "'''hole'''" (בּוֹר, v.16a) and "'''fall down'''" (נפל) into a "'''pit'''" (שַׁחַת, v.16b), where their violence "'''descends'''" upon them (יֵרֵד, the final word of this section). The psalm concludes with praise to יהוה עליון, '''"Most High"''' being the final word of the psalm.
Spatial imagery thus defines the basic three-part structure of the psalm:
:I. The Psalmist is brought '''down''' (vv.2-6)
:::a. (vv.2-3)
:::b. (vv.4-6)
::II. Yahweh goes '''up''' to the highest place (vv.7-10)
:::c. (vv.7-8)
:::d. (vv.9-10)
:III. The enemies are brought '''down''' (vv.11-17)
:::e. (vv.11-14)
:::f. (vv.16-17)
:Praise to the Most '''High''' God (v.18)
This interrelated complex of images underlines the message of the Psalm: When Yahweh judges the world, there is a great reversal whereby everything is set right. The righteous are brought up from the dust, and the wicked fall down into pits. In other words, when Yahweh goes up, the righteous also go up, and the wicked go down.
"The rhetorical movement of these four units may be described as follows:
In ''stanza A'' the psalmist plaintively lays out his desperate situation before Yahweh: spiritually (v.2, God is angry), physically (v.3, the psalmist’s body is weak), and psychologically (v.4, he is terrified)—the three conditions seemingly representing a consequential progression. Pragmatically, a pair of negative appeals to God (v. 2) are followed by two positive correspondents (v.3), and then a summary, as it were, of his dreadful state that ends in the formulaic עַד־מָתָֽי (v.4), i.e., 'how long' will I have to endure such trauma?! Reinforcing his urgent plea, the psalmist invokes the divine covenantal name in every verse of this strophe, four times in total. Whatever the cause of his pitiful condition, the Lord God was the psalmist’s only viable solution.
A much more specific and logically supported appeal to the LORD to act on the psalmist’s behalf begins ''stanza B'', with three imperatives packed into v.5: “turn" (שׁוּבָה) – “rescue” (ַחַלְּצָה) – “deliver” me (ה֝וֹשִׁיעֵ֗נִי)! The requested actions are all based on that essential covenantal relationship that binds the believer with his God in the OT, namely, the key concept of “steadfast faithfulness” (חֶסֶד), which forcefully ends the verse. In the next bicolon then, the psalmist offers another cogent reason (leading off with a consequential כִּי , v. 6a) to motivate Yahweh’s positive response: a person cannot praise and glorify God if s/he is dead—the fundamental connection between deity and worshiper would be broken! (6b).
''Stanza C'' leads off with the longest line of the psalm, a tricolon. This segment expresses a doleful dirge that summarizes the psalmist’s wretched personal (physical and psychological) condition as well as his adverse social situation. He is in a miserable mental state (7), and now suddenly it appears as if many hostile adversaries or simply pestering onlookers vex him (8b), as in the case of Job (e.g., 30:1-15). These sad lines, coupled with those of stanza B include 'the three relational parties that are often names in prayers for help: God (you), the psalmist (I), and the enemies.''"`UNIQ--ref-00000DA2-QINU`"' The lament reaches its emotional peak (or nadir!) in the tricolon of v. 6 and its pitiful verbal pictures of a grievously ill and sorrowful psalmist.
An almost shocking shift in topic and tone begins the final ''stanza D'' (v.9a), which creates a dramatic pause and shift of perspective within the prayer. The basic pragmatic pattern of imperative followed by rationale continues, as in the two preceding stanzas A and B, but now the psalmist unexpectedly turns upon the hostile “mischief- makers” (פֹּ֣עֲלֵי אָ֑וֶן) just mentioned in v.8b and orders them to “get out!” (ס֣וּרוּ). How could he be so bold under the circumstances? Three subsequent cola say essentially the same thing: “Yahweh has answered my prayer!” (9b-10)—either by means of some miraculous act of restoration (from an apparent illness), or through confident anticipation, a personal reaching out in faith to what he’s sure will soon happen. In any case, the psalm’s final line proclaims the Lord’s judgment upon his erstwhile enemies, who will end up being publicly humiliated as a result of the psalmist’s divine vindication (v.11)."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000DA3-QINU`"'
"The suffix ''our lord'' also underscores the relationship between humanity and God that is at the heart of this psalm and indeed the heart of the Psalter as a whole."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000F4D-QINU`"' +
"The text appears to divide itself topically and functionally into four stanzas—two longer outer poetic units, which focus on Yahweh, and two shorter inner ones, which focus on the psalmist himself: A (1-3), B (4-5), C (6-7), and D (8-10). Most commentators combine stanzas B and C into a single poetic unit, e.g., Craigie, ''Psalms'', 92; deClaissé et al, ''Book of Psalms'', 102; Goldingay, ''Psalms'', 135; Brueggemann and Bellinger, ''Psalms'', 50." The dynamics of this discourse, however, favors four distinct poetic segments."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000DA0-QINU`"'
:Stanza '''A''' (vv.2-4)
:Stanza '''B''' (vv.5-6)
:Stanza '''C''' (vv.7-8)
:Stanza '''D''' (vv.9-11) +
"The unity of the psalm is... manifest by the pervasive kingship language used in the text, with all of the royal qualities being either explicitly qualities of Yahweh or qualities divinely given to others. The five words for royal qualities in the psalm are אַדִּיר, "glorious," (vv.2b,10b), הוֹד, "majesty," (v.2c), עֹז "strength" (v.3b), כָבוֹד וְהָדָר, "glory and honor" (v.6b). All of these are strong words indicating strength, power, and glory associated with God as King, Creator, and Divine Warrior. They each have shades of meaning, but they refer to essentially the same royal qualities."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000F1C-QINU`"' +
"There is no reason why the psalm could not have come from the life of David, even though it is impossible to identify an experience in his life that would be the setting."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000D86-QINU`"' +
"This poem has a tight structure with two stanzas of two strophes each, which mirror each other as 3 + 2 and 2 + 3 verses. The words support the symmetry with their own balance: 24 + 15 and 15 + 24. The fine measures of the two halves are almost the same: 94 and 95 syllables... The central position is occupied by death and illness, in strophes 2 and 3. Flanking these are two supplications (in view of the root חנן) by the speaker. He is panicking and terrified (''bhl'', strophe 1: vv.3b and 4a) and wishes his enemies the same (''bhl'', strophe 4)."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000DB4-QINU`"'
:Section 1 (3 verses; 24 words)
::Section 2 (2 verses; 15 words)
::Section 3 (2 verses; 15 words)
:Section 4 (3 verses; 24 words) +
"Throughout the first six verses of the poem, the poet has subtly woven in a motif of vertical descent:
:v.2c ''above heavens'' → v.4a ''heavens... moon and stars'' → v.6a ''but a little lower than heavenly beings'' → v.6b ''crowned them'' (a reference to the head) → v.7a ''hands'' → v.7b ''feet''
Having descended to earth, the psalmist now changes directions and describes a horizontal vector that moves outward from human society:
:''sheep and oxen'' → ''beasts of the field'' → ''birds'' → ''fish'' → ''whatever passes the paths of the seas''."'"`UNIQ--ref-00000F55-QINU`"' +
"Translations sometimes render some of the yiqtols as past or future and some of the qatals as present or precative, illustrating the way readers can work with varying understandings of the balance within the psalm. I have given weight to the fact that most of the qatal clauses refer to acts of God toward the nations, the faithless, and so on, which do not directly affect the suppliant or the community for which the psalm speaks. Only in 9:4-5 does the suppliant speak of God’s acts toward “ my enemies” (in the yiqtol) and of God’s taking decisions for me. I infer that the psalm’s qatal clauses generally refer to the way God has related to Israel in the past, not least in connection with the exodus and occupation of the land. Then 9:4-5 is the exception that proves the rule. I take its yiqtols to refer to the future act that the suppliant looks for, and its qatals as perfects dependent on those futures. In the rest of the psalm, the yiqtols are statements of ongoing truth, and the qatals support these by declaring how matters have turned out in the past."'"`UNIQ--ref-0000103A-QINU`"'
'''v.10a.''' "In poetic sections, short ''yiqtols'' are sometimes used in non-jussive contexts... e.g. Pss. 25:9; 47:4; 90:3; 104:20; 107:29; Isa. 12:1 and Joel 2:2. Waltke and O'Connor (34.2.1c) wisely remark in this regard: 'These unexpected jussive forms may be due to the confusion between the form groups or to textual corruptions; or they may represent vestiges of an earlier verbal system. Some grammarians explain them on rhythmical grounds. Because of this minor formal confounding, it is best in problem passages of this nature to be governed by sense rather than by forms.'"'"`UNIQ--ref-0000103B-QINU`"'
'''v.18a.''' יָשׁ֣וּבוּ – The form may be either imperfect or jussive. +
'''''Yahweh is the just judge of the world.''''' +