Psalm 110/Notes/Verbal.V. 5.372297

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  • The tense(s) of the verbs in vv. 5-7 (smashed... will rule... filled... smashed... will drink... will lift) are another point of difficulty in these verses. The sequence of verb forms is qatal-yiqtol-qatal-qatal-yiqtol-yiqtol. Some translations render all of the verbs as future tense (NIV, NLT, ESV, GNT, CEV, LUT), some as present (JPS85, NJB, NET), and some with a combination of past and future tense (LXX, Jerome, Peshitta; cf. NEB).[1] It is clear that these verbs describe events that will take place in the future: "the day of his anger" (בְּיוֹם־אַפּוֹ) (v. 5b). Why, then, does the author repeatedly uses the past-tense verb form qatal? This use of qatal is the so-called "prophetic perfect" use of qatal,[2] the examples of which "are not all to be understood as one use of qatal but rather as several distinct ones."[3] In many cases of the "prophetic perfect," the author has used a past tense form because he/she is describing "events which occurred in a vision or in a dream."[4] For example, in his "oracle" (נְאֻם) Balaam says, "I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star has marched (דָּרַךְ) from Jacob, and a scepter has risen [or, will arise?] (וְקָם) from Israel..." (Num. 24:17; cf. Isa. 8:23-9:6; 22:1-14). Since Psalm 110, like Num. 24:17ff, is a prophetic oracle (נְאֻם) presumably communicated to the prophet in a dream or a vision, the qatal verbs in vv. 5-6 may refer to the events which took place in the dream/vision. If this interpretation of the qatal verbs in vv. 5b, 6ab is correct, then how should we interpret the yiqtol verbs in vv. 6a, 7ab? These yiqtol verbs are probably future with respect to the events described in vv. 5b, 6b: "having smashed kings he will rule and drink..." In other words, all of the qatal verbs in vv. 5-7 (smashing heads and filling with corpses) refer to events that happen on the day of his wrath, while all of the yiqtol verbs in vv. 5-7 (judging the nations and drinking from the wadi) describe events that happen after the day of his wrath. Once YHWH has destroyed all of the kings, he will drink from the wadi, and he will rule the nations.[5]
  1. ↑ The LXX, Peshitta, and Jerome agree in translating all of the verbs in vv. 6-7 (qatal and yiqtol) as future tense. LXX: κρινεῖ...πληρώσει...συνθλάσει...πίεται...ὑψώσει; Jerome: iudicabit...implebit...percutiet...bibet...exaltabit; Peshitta: ܢܕܘܢ...ܘܢܦܣܘܩ...ܢܫܬܐ...ܢܬܬܪܝܡ. They further agree on translating the qatal verb in v. 5 as past tense. LXX: συνέθλασεν; Jerome: percussit; Peshitta: ܬܒܪ).
  2. ↑ JM 112h; cf. IBHS 30.5.1; BHRG 19.2.4
  3. ↑ Rogland 2003, 113.
  4. ↑ Rogland 2003, 71
  5. ↑ Niccacci's view of verbs in Biblical Hebrew poetry ("The Biblical Hebrew Verbal System in Poetry" 2006) allows for another possibility. Niccacci argues that in BH poetry when a yiqtol occurs among qatal verbs in a past tense context, the yiqtol may indicate "repetition, habit, explication or description" (256). He also argues that in such cases the yiqtol clause is often subordinate to the qatal clauses at a discourse level. If this conclusion is applied to Ps. 110:6a, then we might read: "Executing judgment against the nations, he has filled (the earth) with corpses."