Psalm 110/Notes/Grammar.V. 3.802588
From Psalms: Layer by Layer
- On the text, see The Text, Grammar, and Meaning of Ps. 110:3.
- After the textual issues have been worked out, one main grammatical issue remains: what is the syntactic function of לך?
- Option 1: לך as predicate complement (lamed of possession). "The dew of your youth will be yours" (ESV, cf. KJV, JPS, REB, NET, RVR95).[1]
- Option 2 (preferred): לך as adverbial (lamed dativum) modifying implied verb. "The dew of your youth comes to you" (cf. RSV, NRSV, ZÜR; cf Targum: יסתרהבון לך ["will hasten to you"]). Cf. 2 Sam. 12:4; ; Isa. 49:18; Amos 6:1; Zech. 9:9. A verb like בוא is "implied in the preposition 'to'"[2] as well as by the other prepositional phrases which specify the location of some activity: the king's young men will come "from the womb of the dawn on the holy mountains."
- Option 3: לך as adverbial modifying טל (interpreted as a 3ms qal of טלל, cf. קל as 3ms qal of קלל). Cf. Ug. denom. ṭll to drop (dew) (1 Aqht 41, Gordon Ugaritic Textbook). According to DCH, two possible occurrences of this verb in the Hebrew Bible are in Hag. 1:10 and Deut. 33:13, though both require revocalization of the vowels). This view is unlikely because ילדות is a feminine noun.