Psalm 1/Particles

Particles

Negative markers

• Verse one has a threefold לֹ֥א : the blessed one does not walk, does not stand, does not sit with the wicked.
• In v. 3, the foliage of the (righteous) tree does not wither.
• "Not so" (like the prospering tree) are the wicked, v. 4.
• Consequently, the wicked will 'not' stand in judgment / or sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

The first occurrences of negative markers are all the righteous either abstaining from wicked behaviour or experiencing the absence of results of wicked behaviour. The last two are the wicked not experiencing the results of righteousness.

• v.2 and v.6 are the only two verses in the poem without the Hebrew negative particle (לא ‘no/not’).,

Independent personal pronouns

No personal pronouns in this psalm! Perhaps because it is short? Search how many psalms have no pronouns, or pronouns per word average across the psalms.,

Prepositions

Chan argues for a chiastic structure for vv. 1-5 (A A' B' B), where the letters (A/B) represent the subjects (righteous/wicked respectively) and the chiasm is formed by distribution of the prepositions בְּ (vv. 1-2, 5) and כְּ (vv. 3-4).

vv.1-2 (בְּ)

v.3 (כְּ)

v.4 (כְּ)

v.5 (בְּ),

Waw/Vav

Coordinating words within a line

• v.2b יוֹמָם וָלַיְלָה

Coordinating lines within a unit

• v.1b --(waw + noun)--> 1c --(waw + noun)--> 1d
• v.2a --(waw + noun)--> 2b
• v.3b --(waw + noun)--> 3c --(waw + noun)--> 3d
• v.5a --(waw + noun)--> 5b
• v.6a --(waw + noun)--> 6b

Coordinating units (bicola, tricola, etc.) within a section

• v.2 --(weqatal)--> v.3

Coordinating sections (none)

The connective ‘and’ in the various parallelisms and structures of intensification require some care in the translation of those parallelisms where they occur. In some languages ‘and’ is never used for a sequential action or a next phase, the verse lines are just juxtapositioned with no connective whatsoever.,

Other particles

• אשׁר – Wordplay with אשׁרי and רשׁע. "The three occurrences of the relative particle אשר [in the first section] (vv. 1a, 3b, 3b) echo the title [אשרי האיש], thus keeping the commendable person on track, as it were, whereas the wicked are not so."
• v. 2a. כִּי אִם (also in v.4b) is contrastive, but it does not seem to be simply ‘but.’ It contrasts the type of input that the blessed man delights in with the type of input and lifestyle that he refuses to live in from the previous verse. It introduces a sudden contrast between the sinful behavior depicted in v. 1 and the godly lifestyle described in v. 2. In translation, such a connective calls for some mechanism of contrast in the TL. It doesn’t need to be a connective, although it is likely that a contrastive connective may be required.

• v. 4a. כֵן refers back to the righteous who succeed at what they do.

• v.4b. As in v. 2, the Hebrew expression כִּי אִם ִ֤(“instead”) is strongly disjunctive and introduces a consequent disparity between the prosperity of the godly depicted in v. 3 and the destiny of the wicked described in v. 4. This contrast between the righteous and the ungodly has already been strongly signaled by the initial לא כן of v. 4.

• v. 5a. The expression עַל-כֵּן may indicate either (1) an explanation of the metaphors, or (2) a definitive conclusion based on the preceding v. 4. In the case of the latter, עַל-כֵּן refers back to the fact that the wicked’s destruction will be evident as well as the prosperity of the righteous. For this reason, the wicked will have nothing to accuse the righteous with because it will be evident who is in the right.

• v. 6a. כִּי introduces the reason why the wicked will not be able to go to judgment with the righteous. Alternatively, כִּי may just have a discourse function asserting a final conclusion. Another option is to understand כִּי as introducing a ground for the whole Psalm. The righteous succeed (vv. 1-3) and the wicked come to nothing (vv. 4-5) because (כִּי) of Yahweh's action on behalf of the righteous (v. 6a grounds vv. 1-3) and because of the nature of the wicked's path (v. 6b grounds vv. 4-5).